A couple of years back, I wrote an article in which I combined the strongest attributes of the strongest players all together to create an imaginary unstoppable squash player.
I really enjoyed writing that one and, since it popped into my mind the other day, I thought I'd create another one.
In the original one, I took attributes such as Ali Farag's consistency, Ramy Ashour's deception and creativity, Karim Gawad's touch and deception, Nour El Tayeb's retrieval and flexibility, and Amanda Sobhy's spirit.
Many of the players I used for that are retired, or, are veterans of the game (not all of them, but many. So, for this one, I wanted to update things a bit and bring in some of the younger (or less talked about) players and their accolades to build a new dream player.
Jonah Bryant's Retrieval
If I'm building the ultimate squash player, I need someone who can keep a rally alive when it really shouldn't be alive, and Jonah Bryant is one of the first names that comes to mind.
The young Englishman has a reputation for being a ridiculous retriever.
If you've ever watched him play, you'll see time and time again how willing he is to throw himself around the court and keep points going.
It's not just about getting to the ball, though. Bryant has the speed and athleticism to recover quickly and get himself back into the rally, meaning that opponents can't simply assume a good shot has finished the point.
At just 21, he's already established himself as one of the most exciting young players on the PSA Tour, currently sitting at his career-high World No.10.
And while there are plenty of players who are capable of producing spectacular retrievals, I love the sheer determination Bryant shows when he's chasing a ball down.
So, if my imaginary player is going to have one person's retrieval skills, I'm giving them Jonah Bryant's.
With that said, this can go too far.
Against Diego Elias at the 2026 Optasia Championship, Bryant launched himself into the front corner and landed awkwardly on his shoulder in the process.
I believe he's been struggling with an injury from this ever since, which is a real shame to hear.
Noor Zaman's Winners
Next up, I'm giving my imaginary player Noor Zaman's ability to hit winners.
I've written about Noor before, and one of the things that immediately stands out when watching him is just how willing he is to go for something.
He's got incredibly quick hands, plenty of creativity and a very unpredictable style that makes it difficult for opponents to know exactly what is coming next.
But it's his ability to actually finish the rally that I particularly love.
Noor can take a ball that looks relatively harmless and suddenly turn it into a winner, whether that's with a deceptive hold, a beautifully disguised drop or by finding an angle that leaves his opponent stranded.
He's also not afraid to take the ball early and attack when the opportunity presents itself.
That willingness to back his own shot-making is a big part of what makes him so entertaining to watch, and we've already seen him produce some huge results despite being just 22.
There's still plenty of development to come from Noor, but he's already in the world's top 30, won five PSA titles, and established himself as Pakistan's leading player.
Amina Orfi's Relentless Power
When it comes to power, there are plenty of players on the PSA Tour who can absolutely smash a squash ball.
But for my Frankenstein squash player creation, I don't just want someone who can hit the ball hard, I want someone who can do it over and over again.
Amina Orfi's game is built around relentless, high-tempo lengths.
She hits the ball hard and low, repeatedly driving her opponents deep into the back corners before stepping forward and taking control of the middle.
It's a remarkably simple concept, but when Orfi is executing it properly, it becomes incredibly difficult to stop.
Given the fact that she's only 19, and has a deceptively small build, her power is crazy.
What's particularly impressive is how little respite she gives her opponent.
There isn't necessarily a single enormous shot that wins the rally; instead, it's the sheer accumulation of hard, accurate drives that gradually takes the opponent out of the game.
We've seen just how effective this can be at the very highest level, too.
Orfi's 2026 World Championship final against Nour El Sherbini lasted 106 minutes, with Orfi eventually winning 14-12 in the fifth to become the youngest women's World Champion in history.
And that's exactly what I want from my imaginary player, the power to hurt an opponent, but the consistency to keep applying it for an entire match.
Anahat Singh's Error Count (Or Lack Thereof)
There are plenty of players on the PSA Tour who can hit winners, but what I really want from my ultimate squash player is someone who can hit winners without giving away points at the other end.
For this, I'm taking Anahat Singh's remarkably low error count.
Anahat's ability to combine attacking squash with very few mistakes is one of the things that makes her such an exciting prospect.
A great example came at the 2026 Squash on Fire Open, where she beat Georgina Kennedy in straight games in the final.
She hit an incredible 26 winners against just 7 unforced errors, giving her a +19 differential across the three games.
I found this in an awesome article from Cross Court Analytics.
That statistic is even more impressive when you consider the way Anahat plays.
She's not just keeping the ball deep and waiting for her opponent to make a mistake, she's actively looking to attack and create opportunities.
As the analysis of the match pointed out, over 70% of Anahat's pre-winners came from behind the back of the service box, showing just how often she was able to create attacking opportunities from deep.
It's this combination that I really like.
You normally associate an attacking player with taking risks, and therefore making more errors, but Anahat seems remarkably good at finding that balance between being aggressive and being accurate.
At just 18, there's obviously plenty of development still to come, but if my imaginary player could combine Anahat's attacking instincts with her ability to keep the error count so low, they'd be an absolute nightmare to play against.
As I write this, I just watched her beat Nele Gilis at the London Squash Classic, so as I've said in other previous newsletters, keep an eye on her!
Photo credit: Steve Cubbins
Nele Gilis' Length Game
If there's one thing I want my imaginary squash player to be able to do, it's make the court feel absolutely enormous for their opponent.
And few players are better at doing that than Nele Gilis.
The Belgian has built her game around incredibly accurate, disciplined length.
She can repeatedly find the back corners, keeping the ball tight to the wall and making it extremely difficult for her opponent to create an opening.
It's not necessarily the most spectacular part of squash, and, of course, she has other skills under her belt, but when Gilis gets her length right, it can completely dictate a match.
We saw a great example of this at the 2025 London Squash Classic, when Gilis faced Satomi Watanabe in the semi-finals.
From the very beginning, she kept the ball deep and gave Watanabe very few opportunities to attack.
Even when Watanabe tried to change the tempo and bring the ball short, Gilis simply went back to her game plan and regained control.
That's what I like about Gilis' length.
It's not just about hitting the ball to the back of the court, it's about using that length to control where the rally is played.
When the ball is consistently dying in the back corners, the opponent is forced to work harder just to stay in the rally, while Gilis can patiently wait for the right opportunity to take the ball early.
And considering she's still competing at the highest level in 2026, there's plenty of evidence that this isn't a style that has gone out of fashion.
Gilis reached the final of the 2026 German Open and also played her sister Tinne in the New Zealand Open final earlier in the season.
So, while it might not be the flashiest attribute on this list, it's an absolute necessity for a great squash player.
Get the ball to the back, keep it tight, and make your opponent earn absolutely everything.
Diego Elias' Movement (and Height)
I'll hold my hands up and admit that I used Elias' movement last time, however, I promise that this is the only one that's a copy!
The reason being, I don't think there's another player on the PSA Squash Tour who moves as seamlessly as Elias does.
It looks like he uses next to no effort no matter how far away the ball is.
There's something incredibly satisfying about watching him move around the court.
He seems to glide into position rather than sprinting towards the ball, and his recovery is so efficient that he's almost always ready for the next shot.
It's a huge part of what makes him so difficult to break down, because even when you think you've moved him out of position, he's somehow back in the middle before you know it.
And then there's the added bonus of his physical stature.
Standing at 6 feet and 2 inches tall, his reach is superb for picking off volleys, while his long stride means he can cover an enormous amount of the court without appearing to move particularly quickly.
At 188cm, he's one of the taller players on the PSA Tour, but his movement is a great example of how height doesn't necessarily have to come at the expense of agility.
We've seen the combination work to devastating effect this season, too. Elias won the 2026 PSA Tour Finals, beating Paul Coll in the final, and also claimed the El Gouna International earlier in the year.
So, if I'm building a player who can cover the court effortlessly, get to seemingly impossible balls and still have the reach to take volleys early, I'm more than happy to break my own rules and take Diego Elias' movement again.
Paul Coll's Fitness
I believe I used Joel Makin's fitness in the previous ultimate player newsletter and Paul Coll is the other player that instantly springs to my mind when I think of sheer fitness.
There's a reason Coll has earned a reputation as one of the fittest players on the PSA Tour.
The New Zealander seems to have an almost ridiculous ability to keep the intensity high deep into matches, constantly chasing down balls and forcing his opponent to play one more shot.
And it's not just about being able to survive a long rally.
What makes Coll's fitness so impressive is that he can maintain the quality of his squash while doing it.
He doesn't simply keep running and hope his opponent breaks down, he continues to apply pressure, move the ball around and make good decisions even after an hour on court.
We've seen that repeatedly in 2026.
His Australian Open final against Joel Makin lasted 90 minutes, while his semi-final at the PSA Tour Finals against Mohamad Zakaria went for 69 minutes.
Despite the physical demands, Coll was able to step up the intensity late in both matches.
That's exactly what I want from my ultimate player.
Someone who can still be running at full speed, thinking clearly and hitting quality shots when their opponent is desperately looking for the final point.
If you can make it through a 90-minute battle with Joel Makin and still look ready to play another one, you're probably doing something right.
Miguel Rodriguez's Experience
There aren't many players I could pick for experience quite as comfortably as Miguel Rodriguez.
I did use him in the last ultimate player article, however, I used him for his passion and love for the game, this time, it's his veteran status that I want to use!
The Colombian has been competing professionally since 2005, meaning he's now spent more than 20 years playing on the PSA Tour.
In that time, he's played 320 PSA events, reached a career-high World No.4 and collected 31 PSA titles.
And what makes that experience even more impressive is that he's still putting it to good use.
At 40 years old, Rodriguez won the 2026 Bermuda Open, beating the tournament's top seed Kareem El Torkey in five games in the final.
A few months later, he also reached the final of the 2026 Pan American Championships and won a record 20th Colombian National Championship.
You can tell that he's not just simply hanging around the PSA Tour because he doesn't want to retire.
He's still capable of beating some of the best young players in the world, and I think a huge part of that comes from knowing exactly how to manage a match.
He's seen pretty much everything a squash court can throw at him.
Different generations of players, different styles, different situations and, presumably, just about every possible way of losing a rally.
That knowledge allows him to change the pace, disrupt an opponent's rhythm and make the right decisions when a match gets tight.
His 2018 British Open title is probably the perfect example. Rodriguez became the first South American to win the tournament, beating World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy in a five-game final.
I don't just want this player to have the physical attributes of the world's best. I want them to have two decades of knowledge stored away in their head, too.
Rodriguez is the perfect final touch!
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