“My Goal is to Break Top 40” – Salah Eltorgman on 2023 Success, Goals for Next Year and Men’s World Teams

Rising Canadian star Salah Eltorgman is targeting a spot in the world’s top 40 in 2024, having won his first three PSA Tour titles across the last two months. 

The 21-year-old was ranked at 190 as recently as August of this year but has flourished in recent weeks, climbing more than 100 spots to his current and career-high ranking of No.77. 

That ranking is just reward for the hard work Eltorgman has put in across the second half of 2023, which has seen him record a first World Tour win at the Windsor Cup before claiming titles in Gatineau, Vancouver and Edmonton, the latter two coming in back-to-back events. 

Even more impressive is the fact that the young Canadian wasn’t intending to have such a busy schedule, given that he’s currently still studying at the University of Western Ontario. 

“I wasn’t planning on playing that many tournaments, I played six in a row,” he said. 

“I’m still in school but I took a gap semester, so once I had that free time, I saw the PSA schedule and I thought… ok, this could be beneficial for me.  

“Early in the season, I was lucky, I got the wild card for the Windsor Cup and I had my biggest win to date. I beat Rui Soares – who was World No. 56 – in the first round, so that was a big breakthrough for me.  

“Then I got the wild card as well for the Nash Cup and I had another big win in the first round against Tom Walsh, who was No.73 in the world at that point.  

“But after Nash Cup, I was still not planning to play any of these tournaments, I was planning to go to school and continue there.”

Eltorgman in action.

His win at the Bronze level Windsor Cup had moved him inside the world’s top 150 for the first time, but having decided to take some time away from his studies, Eltorgman set himself an ambitious target for the rest of the year, one that even his friends thought was perhaps a step too far.  

“Once I took the decision to take a gap semester and then played these six tournaments, it was honestly very tough. 

“After the third tournament, my body was hurting a lot, and I was a little bit tired. 

“But it was so good for me because my goal after the six tournaments was to break top 80. 

“Some of my friends actually said, ‘maybe top 80 is a bit of a stretch, let’s aim for top 100’ because I started the season at 190″ 

“But then after the fourth tournament, right before the back-to-back wins, I did the math and saw that I needed to win the last two tournaments to break into the top 80, so I knew I had to grind out the last two, and I was lucky to get those wins.” 

As well as being a testament to his recent hard work, Eltorgman’s success is also reward for his dedication to the sport across the last 15 years. 

Born in Egypt, Eltorgman started playing squash at the age of six, along with tennis, football – or soccer as he now calls it – and basketball, before focusing on squash around the age of eight or nine. 

He enjoyed success as a junior in Egypt before moving to Canada with his brother at the age of 13, playing winter seasons in the ‘Great White North’ and heading back to Egypt in the summers. 

He’s now reaping the benefits of putting so much into his game, but despite a somewhat meteoric rise in the last few months, he’s got his sights set on climbing higher still. 

“My goal is hopefully to break the top 40 in 2024,” he said. 

“Title wise, obviously the aim is to get as many titles as I possibly can, but there’s not a specific number in my head that I want to finish the year with. 

 “I have a statistic I really like, which is that I’ve played three finals, and I won all three, so hopefully I can keep that win percentage in finals at 100% throughout next year, but it’s going to be very difficult, obviously. 

Asked what the secret to his success in finals was, Eltorgman revealed that he enjoys playing when there’s more riding on the match. 

“Even when I was a kid, in very crucial matches and when the pressure was on, I always performed,” he said.  

“I honestly perform a lot better when there’s pressure on and there’s something on the line, rather than just being laid back, like there’s not really anything on the line. I guess it’s just my personality.”

Eltorgman with La Classique de Gatineau trophy.

When it comes to playing under pressure, there are few higher-pressure situations than representing your country, something Eltorgman is set to do at the upcoming Men’s World Team Squash Championship in New Zealand. 

The 21-year-old is Canada’s No.2 player, behind David Baillargeon, and is relishing the opportunity to play for his country, particularly after missing out on previous opportunities due to COVID. 

“It’s very, very special for me, because I was unlucky to not play for Team Canada in World Juniors due to COVID,” he said. 

“They were cancelled the last few years, which was upsetting for me because I worked really hard for that.  

“But to get this opportunity and this early on in my career is such a great moment for me because our team is a very young team. 

“David is our No.1, he’s 27, I’m playing number 2, I’m 21, Liam Marrison is 23 and our No.4 [Brett Schille] is 25. 

 “So, we have a really good team, a bunch of young guys, and I believe that is going to be our team for the next couple of years. We’re all very committed to the sport.” 

Canada will play Scotland and Samoa in their group, with Scotland boasting two top-50 players and a 10-time national champion among their ranks, but Eltorgman is confident his team can upset the seedings and come out on top. 

“We’ve looked at the draw, and I believe both matches are very winnable,” he said. 

“Scotland is not an easy team to beat. They’ve got Greg Lobban and Rory Stewart, Alan Clyne too. They’re all very good players, obviously, but I believe we’ve got the quality and the hunger to beat them.” 

While representing Canada in New Zealand is the primary focus for Eltorgman right now, flying his country’s flag in Los Angeles in five years’ time is certainly on the radar too. 

Squash’s inclusion in the Olympics has come at the perfect time for the young star, who will be 25 when they take place, and he’s using that as motivation to continue improving. 

“It’s very exciting for me,” he said about the prospect of playing at the 2028 Olympics. 

“It’s a long way ahead so I don’t want to get over myself and relax just because I am currently number two.  

“I don’t think it’s confirmed yet how the format is going to be, but I’m just going to take it one step at a time. It’s obviously a great push and it gives me a lot of motivation to continue playing at the top level and compete even more.”