Hana Moataz: 2022 Year In Review

As we come to the end of 2022, we have taken the time to speak to some of the Tour’s stars of the year, and this time, it’s the turn of Egypt’s Hana Moataz.

Moataz was the Challenger Tour’s leading light in the women’s game, as the only female player to win four Challenger Tour titles, including two Challenger 20 level victories.

The Egyptian won both the Richmond Open and Hamilton Open in the United States this year, along with a further two victories later in the year.

After starting the year just inside the world’s top 60, Moataz has risen 17 places and now occupies the World No.42 spot, a career-high up to now.

Hana Moataz

World Ranking – January: World No.59
World Ranking – December: World No.42 (career-high)
Titles Won: 4
– Richmond Open (Challenger 20 level)
– Life Time Chicago Open (10)
– Hamilton Open (20)
– London Open (10)

Take a look at what the young Egyptian had to say about her 2022 here.

“I think it’s been the best thing. I think it’s been the best I’ve played in so long. So I want to say it’s probably my, I’m playing my best squash in a while, so I’m pretty happy about it.

“I feel like I’ve just been enjoying the game more in general and I’ve been more excited just to be on court and be able to compete. And I think that’s when I give it my best. And then I think it’s always better when I’m enjoying it than when I have so much pressure and so many other things to think about. So I think that’s one of the biggest reasons.

“Yeah, I think for me, I want to say, I think my biggest strength is my length in general and just striking the ball so I feel like once I have that and once I feel like confident in my length and then I feel like I’m playing my best and I’m doing well and definitely movement. I don’t want to say, I’m not the fastest player, but I feel like when I’m moving well and I feel like I’m getting the ball back a lot, I feel more confident.

On graduating from college and her first win at the Richmond Open…

“So I just graduated last May from college. I was at Harvard so I wasn’t playing that much, like professionally, at tournaments or anything. I was kind of more focusing on college squash and I knew I wanted to go pro after for sure, but I didn’t play that many tournaments.

“So I wasn’t always sure where I stood compared to all the other players. So when I played that tournament [Richmond Open] and I won, I mean like a couple of upsets and I feel like I played really well.

“I think it definitely gave me a confidence boost and then it made me more excited to like turn pro and then just start the new season. And it’s, I would say it’s very competitive. I played like Farida Mohamed who’s World No.15 and I played Siva [Subramaniam], she’s been at 13 or something and they’ve all been, they were all really close matches and really good matches.

“And just the whole season in general, I would play a lot of matches. And I feel like college squash is, is becoming more and more competitive now, which is a really good transition from a junior player to college squash and then professional.

“I’ve always wanted to and I was always planning on going pro after, I just.. I didn’t play that much throughout college. I played like every now and then, but I just, I feel like I wanted to focus more on, college squash and just enjoying my time in college. Definitely playing them during the season and then seeing how I was doing and Sabrina [Sobhy] and Gina [Kennedy] and Amanda [Sobhy] and all these top players and how they came from their college squash.

“And then they went into tour and they did really well. I feel like it definitely gave me a motivation and it made me believe that if they could do it, I feel like I could definitely do it. And I mean, I was going hoping that I would win at least one because I was playing like four consecutive tournaments. So I was going hoping that I would at least win one. That was my goal.

“But I was also just trying not to put too much pressure on myself. And I was just I feel like I was just more excited to be able to compete and just go fully pro again after college. I was just really excited to be playing, so I was trying not to put too much pressure on myself when I was just trying to think that one time, like one match at a time and just like not think ahead and it worked.

On working on her weaknesses…

“Yeah, I think, I think that’s definitely difficult because I feel like one of my biggest weaknesses, before was that I kind of like, I think I used to crack under pressure a lot and I wouldn’t perform that well. I feel like I’ve been working a lot on it and just the mental side of the game a lot. And I feel like it’s kind of slowly trying to pay off and show in my game.

“I feel like the biggest change was during my time at Harvard because Mike Way was the head coach at the time and he’s working with like Ali [Farag] and Victor [Crouin] and Gina [Kennedy] and all that. And I feel like he’s really good with the mental side and I feel like he really helped me through that. And just like, I don’t know, it’s hard not to think ahead for sure, but I was just trying to focus on one match at the time.

“I feel like he definitely gives me a perspective on life in general. And then, like, I don’t know, I feel like he helps put you in like a good mindset of if you lose the match, it’s not like the end of the world. It’s not the result that you want, but it’s not like, you’re not going to die. Like that’s fine.

“You can just see what you did wrong and improve and move on. And if you like that, maybe just relax my head a bit and it made me focus more on my squash and less on the end result. 

On winning the London Open and being away from Egypt for such a long time…

“I think it was definitely a tough one and especially in the final, because I’ve played like Georgia [Adderley] two times already before and they were all pretty close and she’s a really, really tough player so I was going into the finals and I was like, okay, hopefully I can win again.

“But I feel like by the end because I was, by that time I was away for like almost a month and a half. So I was kind of just trying to push through the last couple of matches and then just go home even for a day.

“Yeah, I feel like because I’m used to just being away for a while that it wasn’t that bad. Like it was fine I think just training was, it could be challenging at times because then you have this big chunk of ten days in between tournaments or something and I have a really good base in Egypt so it’s kind of tough, just like trying to find people to train with wherever you are. But I think it was fine and I think it was worth it.

“Since I moved back here.. So I train, my coach is Omar Abdel Aziz and I’ve been with him for, I don’t know, like six or seven years. And since I moved back, I feel like we’ve been working really, really hard. It seemed like we could achieve whatever we want. And I feel like it’s been working great and I’m really happy about it.

On her original goals for 2022, and moving into 2023…

“So yeah, it’s hard to say that I don’t think about ranking at all, but I feel like especially in the beginning because I was like 70-something. So it’s kind of just harder to get into tournaments.

“I feel like my goal was to try to make it into the top 50 by the end of the season so I can get into the Platinum events and I’m happy I was able to achieve that. But I feel like it always feels better when you have a big win or if you’re playing really well then just having your ranking jump up a little bit, at least for me.

“Well, for starters you’re just surrounded with like, all the best players in the world. So I feel like it’s different just to see how they go on their days or how they prepare for the matches. I don’t know.

“It’s like so many people and it’s just like more focused, I feel like it’s always like more focused on like Platinum events. So it’s kind of like a complete different atmosphere. I feel like I still want to have a mix of both.

“So I always do want to play all the big events, but I also still want to play the smaller ones because I don’t know, I feel like playing big events is great and it’s really exciting, but also playing smaller events and knowing that you have a chance to win the tournament, it kind of gives you a confidence boost.

“I feel like I’m hoping I end up being in the top 30, maybe 20 if I’m doing really well. But I feel like I want to at least beat a couple of the, top players because I feel like that’s just going to make me feel like I’m moving into the right direction. So I think that that’s the two main things.”

You can see the full interview with Hana on the Challenger Tour YouTube channel here ⬇️