Former World No.11 Cameron Pilley Tips Orfi & Watanabe For Top 10 In New Season

The new PSA season is less than two weeks away with the first ever Diamond level event in Giza, Egypt opening the new campaign. The CIB Egyptian Open will see the return of a qualification draw, due to start on the 26th August. A total of 152 players will compete across both draws, all looking to start the season on the front foot.

Australia’s Former World No.11 Cameron Pilley has had his say ahead of the new PSA season, highlighting several players who he thinks are ones to watch and has taken a closer look at the battles set to take place at the top of the world rankings.

Women’s Ones to Watch

Amina Orfi is a player who can potentially take this season by storm. She’s currently sitting at World No.12, she reminds me of Gohar in the way she plays – aggressive, determined and relentless. I can see her breaking into the top 8 this season for sure.

Although she is already sitting at No.9 in the world, I believe Sivasangari Subramaniam will consolidate a top 8 position and push for top 5. She has great skills and deception to go with her determination and will to win. A strong off-season will be key for her.

Men’s Ones to Watch

I think Farkas Balazs will be a big player this season. The Hungarian is tall, solid on the volley, has a calm on-court demeanor and a nice technique. Farkas is on the rise and I see him as a top 20 player in the near future. 

I like what I saw from Curtis Malik when he played for England in the Europeans last year. If he has put together a strong off-season then I see no reason why he can’t go top 25 this year. A lot of his important matches this season will come down to experience in the big momnets. His Europeans debut will have given him some experience and that will carry him far.

The Men’s Top 4 Battle

This is such an intriguing battle! With all four players beating each other at some point over the past season, it is going to be a much watched event when they line up against each other in semi finals. Farag is still the man to beat. The 2023/24 season he had was an all-time great and he sits atop the world rankings with daylight between him and second. Farag is not one to rest on his laurels and will be training hard. It will be tough to dethrone him.

World Champion Elias will take more than just confidence from winning the World Championships last season. I believe it will take a weight off his shoulders in a sense and this could spell trouble for his opponents. 

Coll is just a beast. Physically unrivalled, you know you need to outplay Coll if you want the win. He has added some great variation to his game over the past 2 years and after having another full off-season to keep working on this aspect of his game, he will push Farag for the No.1 spot.

Asal is the wildcard here. He has all the tools to beat anyone he steps on court with but as we’ve seen, it has been quite the rollercoaster career! Long story short, he needed to clean up his game. With James Willstrop in his corner and continuing to mentor him, this is the best thing Asal could have done for his game. With this, should bring a mental calmness and on-court clarity. If Asal gets the balance right between aggressive yet clean, fair play then there is no reason he can’t get to No.1.

The Women’s Top 10 battle

I can see a lot of movement happening inside the women’s top 10 this season although I don’t see the top 3 changing. ElSherbini, Gohar and El Hammamy will continue to dominate most tournaments and the No.1 position may be taken by all 3 over the course of the season. ElSherbini is still my No.1 pick to finish atop the rankings at the season’s end. She has 7 World Championship titles to her name and is only 1 win off equalling the great Nicol David’s record of 8 World Championships. She will be eager to do that this season.

With Gohar, you know what you are going to get but whether you can do anything to stop it is another thing. Absolutely relentless and with a fire in her belly, she can reel off points and games as quick as anyone. If you can’t get your tactics right against her then you can forget about it. 

El Hammamy is a great all-round player with very few weaknesses. She has it and as we saw last season, when it all comes together she can beat anyone. The work she clearly put in during the 2023 off-season seemed to work for her, so it is almost a matter of replicating that and taking confidence into the first event of the 2024/25 season.

The players I believe can break into the top 10 this season are Amina Orfi and Satomi Watanabe. Both of these players have shown a lot of potential over the past 12 months and will push to become a top 10 player. There’s no reason they can’t but they will need to take their opportunities as they come. 

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