ElShorbagy: I’m Hungry for More

World No.6 Marwan ElShorbagy has started the season in great form, he’s reached three finals as well as a Platinum event semi-final and is hungry for more.

We caught up with the Egyptian to get his thoughts on his start to the season and what his improvement comes down to.

“I’m really happy with the start of the season,” says ElShorbagy.

“I knew the start of the season was going to be very important for me. So I was happy with the way I played in Qatar, I didn’t get the result that I really wanted, I would say, in Qatar or even in Egypt, but I knew that the squash was there. I knew I was paying well, I knew I was back to hitting the ball pretty well again. So I knew it was just a matter of time to start getting the results that I was I was working for. I remember Rodney [Martin] kept telling me to be patient. Of course I was disappointed to lose in Nantes, I was disappointed to lose in Qatar and especially in Egypt to lose to Diego [Elias], I felt that I had my chances and I actually I think I had my chances in Qatar and in Egypt, but I was still not able to get those wins. 

“But overall, I was happy with the way I’ve played. I had to be patient, as Rodney told me, and I knew the results were just a matter of time. I feel I’m playing better in each tournament and each match. I know I was getting myself back to playing well again, so I’m happy with that. The start of the season was very important because I was trying to get back inside the top 10 as soon as I can. It helps in the draws, you don’t have to play the top players in the first round. So that was my aim and I’m happy with the six events I’ve played so far.

“I’ve made a lot of changes during the summer. I’ve started working with Rodney [Martin], and it’s been pretty good so far. Rodney has got me back to playing my best squash again. He got me back to hitting the ball well again. That’s what he’s good at, getting his players to hit the ball well with good accuracy, and I felt I lost that last season, I felt I lost my strength last season a little bit. I lost motivation because I was not getting the results that I was working for. I was still training very hard last season, but I was not getting the results, which was very disappointing for me and made me lose a lot of motivation in my training. And it’s harder when you go from an event and you lose because you have momentum of just losing from one match to another from one tournament to another and I wasn’t getting those results. It was pretty disappointing.

“I really appreciate the work that Rodney has done for me. Every day I’m learning something new, he teaches me something new and I’m always learning from him. That’s why I decided to work with him because we go through all those tough sessions and hard sessions, but we always go through them with a smile on our faces. He’s such a great guy as well, I’ve enjoyed getting to know him as a person, he’s just someone that inspires me a lot. I’m quite thankful to him because he made me motivated again, he got back my hunger and my belief back again, and now I believe I can go to every tournament wanting to win. He has got me back to believing that I can beat anyone, so I’m really happy and I really love working with him. I really love those sessions, He’s been a World Champion, so he knows what it takes. I’m looking forward to the next phase of the season with him.

“The mental approach, of course, in the matches is very important. But I think confidence is a key factor. When I lost my confidence last season, I felt like I had no belief in my squash. But now, I know I had to work pretty hard, especially at the beginning of the season, to get my confidence back. I know every player that goes on court with me believed that they could have beaten me. And they also had nothing to lose, which is the worst combination, to be honest, when you go up against someone. I had to work pretty hard and the first couple of rounds would always be the toughest rounds for me because I know when it gets to the quarters and the semis, the matches that are a little bit different. I would say confidence is the key factor and luckily I have someone like Danny Massaro (ElShorbagy’s Psychologist) and someone that I would call my friend now. He knows me so well and he knows how we both work together on preparing ourselves for the matches, and we try to think of most of the situations that might happen before the matches. We try to see what we want and think about what would we do if this happens, or that happens and about how I am going to deal with it? I’m one of the players that is a bit more emotional, and it’s something that I had to work on during the summer.

“I’m just taking this season step by step, I’m not really thinking too much ahead. I’m just thinking about the next event. My plan at the beginning of the season was just to try to get back to the top eight as soon as I can. So at least it helps my seedings in the major events. That was my main focus, but now that I have done that I’m looking at how to break into the top four. I think the level is so close, anything could really happen in any event, anyone could win the event, I think the level is just really, really close between all of us.

“I just want to focus on myself and try to improve myself, I feel like there is still a lot of room for improvement. But I just want to win every event as the start has been good. So I’ve taken a good break after Switzerland, to just refresh my mind and kind of appreciate what I’ve done in the last phase in the last four or five months. But I’m hungry. Now I’m back to training, I’m hungry, I feel like I can have another good patch and hopefully end the year well in Hong Kong.

“This season, I would like to win a Platinum. I felt I was a bit close at the US Open, I feel like I’m getting closer with every event, so I’m just excited. I’m just really happy that I feel like I’m excited for the next tournament and the tournament after and I feel like I’m close to getting the big results again. 

“I wouldn’t really say there is a specific thing that I’m aiming for but if I can keep winning, then the titles will take care of themselves and ultimately I want to try to win the World Championships. I’m not really targeting a specific ranking or a specific tournament, you just try to win as many tournaments that you enter, and you try to get to the best ranking possible. But I’m just trying to improve on myself on a daily basis.”

“Of course, I doubted myself, I would be lying if I said I didn’t doubt myself. But I mean, I doubted myself the whole season. The hardest thing is when you keep losing and losing and losing and losing. And then because you start to question yourself, you started to start to question what you’re doing. But I had the belief within myself that I can come back. I’ve played for a long time on the PSA Tour. In 12 years, I’ve had 11 good seasons, every season I’ve progressed. But last season was the first season that I thought it was a bad season, but a bad season for me was still inside the top 10, so I didn’t think it was the worst season. I was doubting myself from one event to the next. But to be honest, going to Rodney was the key because he tells me what to do. And I listen to him, I believe in my coach so much that I just listened to him and I know that he makes a difference.

“I wasn’t going to give up. I was still going to push myself on because to be honest, I love playing. I love competing. I love being on tour. I appreciate the life that we have. So I wasn’t willing to give it up just yet. Actually, it was the opposite. I wanted to come back. I wanted to come back and still win and still prove to myself that it was just a bad season. I can still achieve all I want. I feel like I’m still young, and I’m still physically fit. I’m still hungry for more and I’m still aiming for way more.”