MEET A PRO - 7

There aren’t too many bigger names in squash than this one. We are exceedingly privileged to be able to speak to a current legend of the game, with a record that only a select few humans can compare. Joining the world tour as a 15 year old in 2006, he won his first title just a year later, and then went on to win back to back world junior titles in 2008 and 2009. In 2013 he claimed his first World Series event in Qatar, and in 2015 he won the esteemed British Open beating Greg Gaultier in the final. From December 2015 to April 2016 he had a remarkable run of 6 consecutive World Series titles, and in 2017 he won his first World Open title beating Marwan El Shorbagy in the final. He also currently owns 4 British Open titles, 3 Hong Kong Open titles, 3 Tournament of Champions titles, 3 US Open titles, and 2 Windy City Open titles. He has been ranked inside the world’s top ten (unbroken) since December 2010, and inside the top 3 since Aril 2014. One of consistently hardest hitters of the squash ball, nicknamed “The Beast of Alexandria”, and the current world number 1…

 

MEET… MOHAMED EL SHORBAGY

The Squash Joint (TSJ): G’day Mohamed and welcome to The Squash Joint! At only 29 years old, you have already had an extraordinary career winning pretty much every major title there is. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement to date and are there still some goals that you are still striving to achieve?

MoES: I have to say my greatest achievement is not any match or any title but it is without a doubt how I have always came back to world number 1 every time I had it taken from me. Every time I came back was harder and I had do something very differently, whether moving or hitting and had to change it up a lot both in my style of training, technique and tactics. I am still not done and I know if it will be taken off me again and then I will again have to evolve and try to get it back. Obviously I am getting older and it will become harder and harder and one day I will not be able to reclaim my position at the top of the sport but until then I will keep pushing my limits and trying to do something new in this era of the sport that nobody has done before.

TSJ: That’s really interesting mate; what did you do different this time?

MoES: I had to improve my movement, it was the thing my generation were beating me at because Ali is quick and Gawad moves smoothly. The other times I have lost the world number one was never to my own age group but older generations like Nick, Greg and Ramy. I was by myself for a long time waiting for my generation to catch up and join me at the top of the sport. Gawad and Ali were the only two who I lost to in the season where Ali overtook me as world number one. For sure on his day Gawad is unplayable

but most of the times where he beat me I would have won if I had moved slightly better. I know I will never be able to move as well as them but this was the area they were so much better than me and while they will probably always move far better than I, my focus was to narrow this gap.

TSJ: There are not many players on the tour that you have a losing record against. In fact of the current players, I couldn’t find any! However, the recently retired Ramy Ashour seemed to be a little bit of an Achilles Heel for you. What made him so difficult to play against and do you wish he was still playing?

MoES: The thing is that me and Ramy only played 12 times, it’s not like me and nick who played 27 times and me and Greg played 25, me and Ali already played 25 times and all our meetings were in finals. I actually lost 13 straight matches with Greg before I beat him so to be honest I think I worked out Ramy much quicker. I do feel that with Ramy our matches together brought something special because I was the only one who went after him at his own game and fought fire with fire. All of the other top guys tried to minimize his strengths, tie him up, and slow him down. I had no interest in that and I just said OK, you want to play fast, let’s see how fast you can play when someone does this back to you! As it turned out, Ramy could play pretty darn fast and I feel like doing this raised the level of squash at the top of the sport. I really miss getting to play him, I wish our rivalry had lasted longer - and we had a huge rivalry - but maybe our story had to be this way, cut short by his injuries. Grasshopper Cup was a perfect end to his career against me and beating me in 3 games. He was so technically unique which made him so hard to read and to play but his mental strength was the scariest thing for me. He could be out for 6 months and not play one match and come back even stronger than when he left from that first match. Even if you are 2-0 up and 10-0 up he can still come back and beat you. He was never phased on court, even if in round 1 he is 2-0 down he never cared because he knew if he turned it on he would win emphatically. For me if I am 2-0 down in the first round you can see I get tense and nervous but that is something we never saw from him, he always backed himself to pull the cat out of the bag no matter how far his back is up against the wall and to me that is so special and I have tried to learn this from him.

TSJ: In every sport there is a lot of talk about the greatest player of all time and I know that you don’t like the comparisons across generations who didn’t play each other. Of the generation that proceeded the group you have played against there were three guys who stuck out above the rest; Nicol, Power and Palmer. Since it is a direct comparison I am wondering who you thought was the best of the three and why?

MoES: The three had different achievements. Nicol stayed number one for 58 months, I have been world number one for 48 months and I can tell you this is the hardest thing to do and this is brutal. Obviously Palmer was my coach for a couple of years and he told me Power was extremely hard to play but quite easy to beat and that Peter Nicol was so easy to play but very difficult to beat. Palmer is so hard to look past though because his sheer determination meant that he won two world championships and four British Opens which is more than the other two guys. The thing was Palmer wasn’t as consistent in the smaller events so only spent a relatively short time at world number one, but on the biggest stages, when it came down to the one huge match you always knew that Palmer would show up ready to die on the court, and not only that, if Palmer got the opening he would never miss the big shot to close out a big match.

I tell you what it is though man, for a one off big match if I had to bet everything I owned on one of them to beat the others in a one off big match on a big stage my money would be on Palmer. If I had to put money on one of these guys to be world number one at the end of the year I take Nicol. If all three were to play the best level squash match they ever played at the same time against each other in a round robin event Power would win because on his day he was the one capable of playing the highest level of squash.

TSJ: Let’s lighten the mood for a minute. Tell us your favorite…

1. Relaxing activity… Going for a coffee

2. Non-squash sporting hero…Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan

3. Tournament venue…Cartagena (Colombia)

4. Unhealthy food…Burger

5. Movie…Anything with Denzel Washington

6. Country to visit (except Egypt and England)…Mexico or Colombia

TSJ: Who was your greatest squash idol growing up? Who was your most influential coach?

MoES: Squash idol as a kid was obviously Shabana, he pioneered the game. Most influential coach would be Gamal Awad. He provided me with the foundation and belief that I could be very good. He always believed I would be world number 1 and I proved him right. Jonah Barrington also had a huge impact on my career and taught me so many valuable things when I was still very young. All my coaches were great for different reasons.

TSJ: I just realized I don’t have any idea how you started playing squash?

MoES: My uncle played for fun, I used to be a swimmer and my uncle took me one day to play squash when I was 8 or 9 and I never looked back.  

TSJ: When did you know you wanted to play pro?

MoES: I wanted to be world number one from when I was 11 years old. But really my goal was never to be world number one, my goal was bigger than that. Even aged 11 or 12 my goal was to be number one and stay there for as long as possible, to win as many world championships as possible and to dominate the sport. 

TSJ: For the club player, it’s impossible to fathom the amount of training and fitness required to compete at a world class level year after year. What would a typical Mohamed El Shorbagy day look like when you are in full training mode?

MoES: 6am I wake and have breakfast, then around 730 I go for fitness training. After I do a session with a coach and then at night, I do condition games or match play. Sometimes I mix in some yoga or stretching, and I see the physio 4 times a week which is why I have never been injured because I invest so much in my body.

TSJ: Stu and I have recently been discussing the standard of referring at professional tournaments. Lately, we have been more and more baffled at the decision making. Since you have been in tour for 14 years now, what changes have you seen over this time in regards to the let rule and has it altered the way you approach your matches?

MoES: All the referees are trying to do is make people go and play the ball. It gets confusing sometimes because they try and make people play the ball when they actually can’t. The thing we must remember is they are doing it for the love of the sport. Back when I started the game was a lot more physical with Greg, Nick, Palmer, Darwish, El Hindi, Barker, etc, because we used to block each other a lot more but to the ref it didn’t matter if you played a good shot. Now we must give access to the player or there is a stroke against you. I think it’s a good thing, but it happened in the middle of my career, so it is something I had to adapt and evolve to learn what is now allowed. So long as the referring is consistent, I don’t mind if I agree or disagree with the decision, so long as we know the line the ref is taking in the match because then we know what to do.

TSJ: What areas of your game do you think need improving?

MoES: As I mentioned earlier my movement is the main area for improvement, but I also think that my short game needs improved because most of the other Egyptians are still better at this than me. Just like with my movement I feel that trying to be better than them at this is not achievable anytime soon and so my aim is just trying to narrow that gap as much as possible to allow me to at least compete in this space of the court with them. I think that mine and Ali’s basic game is too good compared to Gawad and Tarek and I think a solid basic game will always beat a good short game over time. They will always be good for a one-off win but having a good short game will not make you consistent enough to be world number one.

TSJ: Let’s think like a coach. Do you recommend players work more on their strengths or weaknesses?

MoES: Both, but I think work more on the weaknesses defiantly but don’t forget about your strength.

TSJ: What should the on-court v off-court training ratio ideally be for aspiring junior players?

MoES: It is important to train the fitness on track and the gym, but it is equally important to play a lot on the court and do a lot of solo. Go for any shots they want and then when they are mature enough you can structure the game but don’t structure a junior game when they are young. This is what makes the Egyptian juniors so good they have no structure until pros - when they need it. It is easier to hit a straight length than a straight drop.

TSJ: What do you think the recommended balance is between taking a lesson and match play with your peers?

MoES: No matches for juniors in the off season at all and then 3 weeks before the season start playing matches. In the off season they should train hard and routines and conditions only.

 

We can’t thank Mohamed enough for his time and candor. It’s not often we get the unique perspective of a current world number 1. The PSA squash tour has just started back up again, albeit with a very limited schedule, and Mohamed won the Manchester Open final on Tuesday this week beating Karim Gawad 3-1 in the final. Clearly the 6 month break hasn’t stopped his domination. This victory has put Mohamed 5^th on the all-time PSA tournament win list with 42 titles. He has 7 more winner trophies to raise to catch the current 4^th best Peter Nicol, and a staggering 57 titles to match Jahangir Khan’s 99. He is unlikely to reach that milestone, but even if he retired tomorrow, Mohamed El Shorbagy has cemented himself as a true legend of the sport. As mentally exceptional as he is, it will be very interesting to see how long he can hold onto the top spot over the next few years.