With 2024 now at an end and the new year in full swing, I thought it would be a good time to look back at 2024.
Some big things happened in the world of squash, both on the professional circuit and for the sport as a whole, so, I'll be reviewing some of the highlights of the year.
It was certainly an up-and-down year for me too and you're probably sick of hearing about my injury updates by now, but, I still thought I'd finish this article with a short update on myself with a review of my 2024 as well.
The PSA Squash Tour
One of the first big changes of the year was the rebranding and restructuring of the PSA at the start of the 2024/25 season.
The changes came into effect on August 13th and involved changing the name of the PSA World Tour to the PSA Squash Tour, which was quite a big change in and of itself!
The PSA also announced that there would be four event divisions (World Events, Challenger Events, Satellite Events, and Federation Events), and, a maximum of 57 men’s and 57 women’s World Events per season.
These changes also involved the introduction of two new event tiers – Diamond and Copper – with the Diamond tier offering a minimum of $600,000 in total player compensation (a figure that will increase each season).
The purpose of these changes was to create a stable and more long-term structure in the build-up towards squash's exciting debut in the 2028 LA Olympics (which I will also cover later in this newsletter), as well as to increase earning potential and playing opportunities for the pros.
So far, things seem to be going well! I haven't heard a lot about the impact that these changes have had from any players themselves just yet, which could be good news or it could be bad news.
However, I think it's great that large active changes like this are being made in the lead-up to the LA28 Olympics.
The Players
When it comes to the players, there's a heck of a lot to talk about!
There have been some massive highlights over the past year with many players climbing higher in the rankings, underdogs taking big scalps and titles, and, younger players showing us what the next generation of squash is looking like.
First off, you might remember that I wrote an article on 'the new Joel Makin', in which I talked about my view that he'd taken another big step in his squash in 2024.
It wasn't necessarily like his game was missing something in previous seasons, my opinion was just that it seemed as though Makin had a little bit more to give. There's no doubting that he'd been putting in the work and I always thought he deserved more titles.
This season seems to be a big one for Joel in which he's made a very visible leap in standard, now pushing those players above him in the rankings even more consistently.
He seems to have gotten a lot more proactive on the T by relentlessly volleying, taking the ball in short, and also hitting his length targets again and again.
The Welshman has also seemed that little bit more confident in himself this season which has been great to see so far.
Mazen Hesham is another name I wanted to mention as he's pushed into the upper echelons of the top 10 this past year.
The Egyptian currently sits at World No.5, however, he's been in the lower end of the top 10 since the start of 2022 until the end of 2023, never getting above World No.7.
Hesham has struggled (and I believe still struggles) with issues and injuries to his shins, bringing a physio to most of his tournaments.
In past seasons this has certainly worried me as he's one of my favourite players, but, he's clearly got it in him to keep pushing higher as he reached World No.6 at the start of 2024, then jumped up to World No.5 in May.
He's held his ground there ever since, only dropping to World No.6 once before hopping straight back up again. This currently puts him above Joel Makin, Tarek Momen, Mohamed ElShorbagy, Karim Abdel Gawad, and many other big names in the sport.
To reach this spot is one thing, but to hold onto it against such intense competition is really awesome to see.
Olivia Weaver is, in my opinion, a similar case to Hesham's but in the women's tour.
Weaver currently sits at World No.4 which is her highest ranking of all time, however, up until this past year or so, she's generally sat at the lower end of the top 10.
She did reach World No.7 in the first half of the 2023 season, but, she dropped back down to stay around World No.9 up until the start of 2024.
Perhaps Weaver spent this period refining her technique and fitness, making some changes that have clearly worked.
She's made a very noticeable jump up the rankings, reaching World No.4 by around May time.
Weaver has impeccable fitness, great pace, and a relentless drive to win. She's got that warrior mentality that has really made her shine as a stand-out player this season so far.
Then we've got our younger stars who have been demonstrating what the next generation of squash is going to be like...
Amina Orfi is probably the best example of this. Sitting at World No.8, her highest ranking yet, it's clear that the 17-year-old is nowhere near her limit yet.
Recently, Orfi won the Squash On Fire Open, the Malaysia Squash Cup, and most impressively, the Singapore Squash Open, beating World No.3 (Hania El Hammamy), in a five-game thriller.
These are unbelievable results for a player as young as Amina and it's pretty obvious that she's set for squash greatness. I'm certainly excited to see what she'll bring in 2025...
In the men's, two young players have made themselves known in 2024.
Egypt's Mohamad Zakaria (current World No.28, aged 17) and England's Jonah Bryant (current World No.49, aged 19) have been incredibly exciting to watch.
They've both taken some big scalps so far, however, they also both seem to have now endured the 'initiation' of being dismantled by players much more experienced than themselves.
This is a bridge every player has to cross in their career, and, once they do so, they often make another big jump by learning from the experience.
Zakaria and Bryant are two players I think we're going to be seeing a lot more from in 2025.
Mostafa Asal is another name I'll have to mention. Currently sitting at World No. 2 (and having reached as high as World No.1 in the past), Asal is now aged 23.
I guess he's not as young as he was when he joined the PSA World Tour, but, in the grand scheme of things, he's still in the early phases of his career.
Asal has divided the world of squash with his questionable on-court antics, and, I must admit, I wasn't a huge fan at first. But, I've started to come around and have been enjoying watching him more and more this season.
Whatever your feelings are about Mostafa, there's absolutely no denying how good he is at squash.
He hits with unbelievable power due to his stocky frame, however, he also somehow still manages to move insanely fast, reaching ridiculous balls that have no business being picked up.
Asal seems to be the biggest threat to Ali Farag's dominance as World No.1, however, Farag has managed to hold onto his throne for the entire year.
It seems like he's been World No.1 forever!
Farag seems to win almost every event he enters and there's a good reason for that, he rarely ever makes mistakes and he's unbelievably patient and consistent.
His movement may look a little strange, but, it works to his advantage very well.
Farag's tall, slim build allows him to glide smoothly from corner to corner, pick up almost any drop his opponent throws at him, and makes it look ridiculously easy while he does it!
I'm honestly not sure what to expect in 2025. I do have a feeling that Farag will cling tightly to the top spot, however, I can certainly see Asal threatening it again since he's overtaken Farag in the past... but time will tell!
The recent dethroning of Nour El Sherbini by Nouran Gohar is another pretty massive event that occurred just the other week!
Similar to Ali, Nour has really dominated that World No.1 ranking for the past couple of years, however, the fierce rivalry at the top of the women's rankings has meant that the spot is under contest a little more often than the men's top ranking.
Without going into too much detail, the women's World No.1, 2, and 3 (Nouran Gohar, Nour El Sherbini, and Hania El Hammamy) all have a pretty strong rivalry between themselves.
Any time one of them comes up against the other, you just know it's going to be a monstrous battle.
Nouran's jump to the top spot came from her overcoming El Sherbini in the final of the recent Hong Kong Squash Open, beating her 3-1 in a tight final.
Gohar has held this spot before, however, I think she's going to have to defend it with everything she's got in the second half of the season, as Sherbini is going to want her crown back!
Lastly, I'd like to mention my favourite underdog story of 2024...
Sivasangari Subramaniam made a name for herself by winning the 2024 GillenMarkets London Squash Classic, beating Nour El Sherbini, Nele Coll (formerly Nele Gilis), and Hania El Hammamy, one after the other.
Siva, who is currently ranked at World No.10, was an absolute treat to watch in that event. She was smiling and seemed to love every minute of it.
She looked pretty unstoppable and I'd love to see that from her again in 2025!
There are a bunch more underdogs I could mention, however, at the risk of going off on a tangent, I'll jump onto the next topic...
Image credit: Steve Cubbins
Olympic Inclusion
I have to mention squash's Olympic inclusion...
I know, technically this isn't a 2024 piece of news, but, it did happen toward the end of 2023, and, with so many steps being taken to change and prepare the sport for the LA28 Olympic Games, I just wanted to touch on it again since I haven't talked about it that much since the sport was officially accepted!
The news has undoubtedly been great for the sport so far with there now being plenty of examples of coverage of squash on mainstream news channels since the announcement was made (which is an awesome way to get the sport in front of new people).
In just the past few weeks, I've seen squash articles and interviews with big names like Mostafa Asal, Nicol David, and Sivasangari Subramaniam all being featured on the official Olympics website.
Of course, within the squash world, players have been doing all they can to promote the sport, however, to have entities outside of squash promoting the sport to people who may not have been exposed to it much before can only be a good thing.
Financially, it's great news too.
I read an article just the other day on the England Squash website that UK squash will be receiving £500,000 over the next four years to support British squash players in the build-up to LA28.
The money is part of a record-setting £330 million funding pot (announced by UK Sport) from the Government and National Lottery.
Apologies, as I haven't yet seen any similar news for Canada, but, I'm so happy to see this happening in my home country of England!
I don't actually know too much about the format of squash in the Olympics just yet, however, I do know that two medal events will be played; the men’s and women’s singles competitions.
Otherwise, I'm not sure how scoring will work, I'm not sure how markers will be chosen, I don't know who will be commentating (if there is commentary at all), and I don't know what the venue will look like.
I have read rumours online that it will be two men and two women that will compete from each country, so, with regards to the players themselves, there is definitely a lot to consider too.
But, one thing is for sure, as soon as I spot any further news, I'll be featuring it in our ATW sections below.
I'm so happy for all the players who will finally be able to fulfil their dream of being an Olympic athlete. Regardless of whether or not they win a medal, just to be a part of such an awesome event will be an unforgettable experience.
My 2024
I'll keep this short and sweet, but, as most of you know, I've been injured since the start of summer.
However, I will say that I did have a great second half of the season (last season) when it came to squash.
Of course, this was before the injury, but, it was around this time of year that I came back from travelling in South America, so, after some time off the court, it was definitely a challenge getting back into the swing of things.
I jumped straight back into training and playing team matches and was loving every second of it. I even played a couple of tournaments and it didn't take too long to feel like I was back to the standard I was playing at pre-travelling.
But, unfortunately pretty much as soon as the season came to an end, I rolled my ankle on a trail run with some friends. It was a grade 3 ligament tear and was a bit of a nightmare to heal.
As many of you know, I love running (and obviously squash too), so, not being able to do either of these things throughout summer was really frustrating.
I saw a physio who gave me some great rehab exercises to regain the range of motion in my ankle and then begin to rebuild my ankle's strength too.
I'd been hitting the gym almost daily, doing both weights and rehab, until I felt like I was able to get back on court again.
I was hitting lightly on and off and even managed to go to the Squash Junkies 2024 tournament in Amsterdam.
I couldn't play all of my matches as my ankle did start hurting, so listened to my body and pulled out, letting some other players take my spot. This tournament is more of a massive, fun social event, so it wasn't a huge deal.
But, a month or so later, tragedy struck yet again when I pushed it a little too far.
I was doing some squash drills with a friend of mine and my back was a little sore at the start of the session, however, I foolishly carried on playing.
Even though the pain got worse, I think I was just so frustrated from being off court for so long that I blocked it out mentally so I could carry on hitting the ball.
Well, that's proven to be a massive mistake as I've had pain in my lower left back since then. I've seen two different physiotherapists as well as two different doctors about this, and they all seem to think different things.
I'll not bore you with all the possibilities of what the injury might be, I'll just let you know that it's been miserable, even more so than the ankle injury. I think that's because there was definitely an end in sight for my ankle.
It may still be swollen, but it's certainly fine to play squash on now.
My back, on the other hand, is really frustrating because I've got no idea what the problem is and can't seem to find anything that will fix (or even help) it.
The problem isn't necessarily just my back, although that's where the pain is, the pain seems to come when I put strain on my left leg or hip, but, I digress.
Since I can't deal with simply sitting at home doing nothing, I've been lucky enough to carry on going to the gym and lifting weights (making sure I don't do any motions or exercises that put strain on the area of my back that's sore).
Joining a gym and getting stronger was actually one of my new years' resolutions for 2024, so, even though I was kind of forced into it, it's kind of a silver lining.
My other resolution was to sort my sleep out (as I struggle to fall asleep and often stay up late). Since I go to the gym in the early hours of the morning every day before work, this has also solved the sleep problem as I'm out like a light every night now!
So, another silver lining I guess.
For now, I'm going to carry on going to the gym, however, I've also recently bought a new mountain bike and have started taking that to the trails.
This doesn't seem to be hurting my back injury at all (which I'm incredibly thankful for), so, hopefully I can continue to do this to get outdoors and keep fit.
Anyway, hopefully this week's newsletter was an interesting read, and, I hope you all had a great 2024 too and that your 2025 is off to a great start!
I hope you all get lovely new squash racquets and shoes from Santa Claus and you can use them to bring your A-game in the second half of the season...
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