You might have heard the name Victor Crouin popping up a lot over the past couple of weeks and there's a good reason for that...
The young Frenchman recently displayed an absolute masterclass in the 2022 Qatar Classic and then followed it up by beating Marwan ElShorbagy in the final to win the Open De France De Squash and has pretty much been on fire since the season began.
I write a lot of player profiles for up-and-coming squash professionals in the On The 'T' Newsletter and, after watching Victor Crouin's recent performances, writing one about him seemed like a no-brainer...
Aged just 23, Victor Crouin is a French squash player who, after graduating from Harvard University, is currently undergoing his first year as a full-time pro.
Following an awesome run to the final of the recent Qatar Classic platinum event followed by his home win in Nantes, France in the Open De France, Crouin currently sits at World No.10 which is an incredible achievement in itself.
He actually had his professional debut all the way back in 2014 so, considering his young age, he has a pretty strong level of experience in the professional squash world.
I'm aware that Crouin had a pretty strong junior career too. In fact, a couple of my friends played against him and watched him in some big tournaments, they all say he's come on unbelievably fast since then and you can certainly tell!
His first PSA title came in 2017 when he won the Open International d’Angers, and up until now, he has claimed a total of 16 titles.
2021 seemed to be a particularly great year for Victor in which he won the PSA Challenger 10 Le Reve Nancy and the Cognac Open (both on home soil) and then also managed to beat ex World No.1, James Willstrop, to win the Squash on Fire Open too.
A total of five titles in 2021 took Victor Crouin into the top 20 for the first time and since then I've began following him a lot more closely...
Victor Crouin's stats from the PSA website (155 wins to 71 losses)
I think it's safe to say that Crouin is in the big leagues now as he's really been pushing those other top 10 players. Towards the end of last season, Crouin took current World No.2, Paul Coll, out of the Canary Wharf Classic and reached the quarter-finals of the renowned Tournament of Champions to bring him up to World No.18.
Victor Crouin's consistency in climbing the rankings is really evident and I'm thoroughly excited to see how far he can get.
As I mentioned in the introduction, Crouin recently had an awesome run all the way through to his first platinum final in the 2022 Qatar Classic and he was an absolute pleasure to watch.
The Frenchman took out a number of seeded players on his journey through the tournament including Joel Makin (World No.7), Patrick Rooney (World No.20), and Tarek Momen (World No.6).
Crouin lost out in a very tough final to 'The Beast' (aka Mohamed ElShorbagy), three games to one.
There's something about Victor's style of play that is really mesmerising to me, his swing technique and movement are both very fluid and smooth.
If there is anything sitting up in the middle of the court, particularly on the backhand side, Crouin can put it away with unbelievable accuracy. I've absolutely loved watching him play so far this season.
I remember in one of the first rallies of his final against ElShorbagy, he looked so relaxed as he slotted a beautiful winner into the front left. Considering this was his first platinum final, his nerves didn't show too much throughout the match.
However, it was clear that Mohamed ElShorbagy's many years of experience at the top of the PSA World Rankings gave him the edge.
Photo credit: Steve Cubbins
Then, in the Open De France De Squash final, he managed to wow an unbelievably fun home crowd by beating Marwan ElShorbagy 12-10 in the fifth in a high-intensity thriller.
Crouin's length game is also impeccably tight and his dying lengths seem to win him a lot of points. His racquet of choice is the Dunlop Sonic Core Revelation Pro Lite (I believe), which is a pretty maneuverable frame geared towards dynamic control, perfectly complimenting his style of play
Crouin is on the smaller side at 170cm (5ft 7in), and it's pretty clear that this does not hinder his squash at all. He's incredibly fast into the front corners and can produce a powerful lunge when needs be.
Whilst his height could potentially hinder his reach, Crouin still has a very positive stance on the T and takes volleys whenever he can.
Similarly, Gregory Gaultier is also on the smaller side at 176 cm (5ft 9in), and his movement was unbelievably explosive and fast.
Greg Gaultier is widely seen as the best French squash player of all time having won three British Open and spending a total of 20 months as World No.1.
As expected, Crouin has drawn comparisons by the squash media to Gaultier as well as recently retired female French squash legend (and ex World No.2), Camille Serme, which must put a lot of pressure on him to strive for a similar legacy.
However, in a recent interview with the PSA, Crouin was asked about this and he had a great response. Victor mentioned that he is on his own path and is not trying to compare himself and his goals to Gaultier or Serme who, of course, had completely different squash journeys.
This leads to another aspect of Crouin's game that I love, his sportsmanship and personality both on the court and off the court.
On the court, you can see the sheer concentration in his game, he gets very pumped after big rallies which is a real crowd pleaser, but, he also plays through lots of interference, is very honest with pickups, and is incredibly humble towards his opponent.
Off the court, his humbleness also continues to shine through too (judging from his post-match interviews and PSA content featuring him).
Screenshot from Victor Crouin's Twitter of him and Mohamed ElShorbagy after their Qatar Classic final
I can spot very few issues with Victor Crouin's game if I'm being honest. If I was going to be super critical, I might say that he can be a little too eager to take the ball in short and could play with a bit more patience and consistency to the back instead...
However, it could also be argued that this is one of Crouin's most powerful weapons.
He doesn't often miss those shots to the front of the court and, if his opponent knows that he will take them in at any chance he gets, they're going to have to be ready for it and cover it every single time they play a slightly loose shot, which will get pretty tiring!
Other than that, it seems as though the only other ingredient Crouin needs to move further up those rankings is experience, and of course, that will come with time.
In his Qatar Classic final against ElShorbagy, Victor really didn't look like he did much wrong (although he made a few mistakes here and there), but ElShorbagy's experience seemed to allow him to dominate the match.
But he must have learned something from that big final considering he managed to take out the current World No.7 (Marwan).
A point that I'd like to finish on is that Crouin's rise in the rankings does not look like a one off hot streak, he's been on a constant upwards trajectory for some time now and, if he maintains the same level of consistency he's showing at the moment, he'll be in the top 10 in no time.
I'm truly excited to see how far he can get this season and I'll definitely be rooting for him.
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