World No.1 Farag Reflects On Last Season & Eyes More Success

World No.1 Ali Farag produced his best ever campaign on the PSA tour last season, claiming eight titles throughout, including five Platinum wins, two Gold wins as well as the Xbox PSA World Tour Finals, while he maintained his World No.1 status for the entire season.

Until the Black Ball Squash Open in April, only Paul Coll had gotten the better of Farag throughout the season. That tally then increased to three players after the World Championships as Mostafa Asal and Diego Elias both managed to score rare wins over the World No.1.

Farag reflects on last season with great fondness but has his sights firmly set on the new campaign and is determined to become a better squash player.

“Obviously, it was the best season that i’ve ever had in my career,” said Farag.

“It was a season that I would never have even dreamt of. I reflect on it with a lot of gratitude and a lot of pride and I’m only looking forward to getting better from here and to replicate or even better it this season.

“It’s a lot of hard work keeping the body in good shape and the mind in even better shape. I try to play every match as if it’s the last match of my career. Obviously the season went a lot better than I thought and now the goal is to win every match that I play.”

Like all of the top players, Farag’s season will start at the CIB Egyptian Open, which kicks off on Friday August 30. Farag is the defending champion for the event after his win at the 2022 edition and he says he excited to kick things off in front of his own fans in Egypt.

“I’m very excited to start the season on home soil,” he said.

It’s always an advantage to play in front of your family, friends and coaches. It’s also a Diamond event, so that makes it more exciting, the first one ever, so I’m certainly excited to start the season like everyone else.”

As mentioned earlier, only three players bested Farag last season and those players make up the next three places in the World Rankings. Coll defeated Farag on three occasions during the last campaign, Asal denied Farag a second successive British Open title and Elias dethroned Farag at the World Championships. The World No.1 admits that those three are his closest competitors, but he is still keeping an eye out for other players who can be dangerous.

“I was definitely tested by these three the most but I was tested by many other players throughout the season too,” Farag said.

“I had a couple of 3-2 matches with other guys who could have won on the day. I do see the major events being a battle between us three, but every season throws a lot of surprises up, so you just don’t know who will come into form and there’s so much quality lower down the rankings that you just have to be ready for everything.” 

Farag finished the 23-24 campaign off in style at the Xbox PSA World Tour Finals and, after taking some well deserved time off, is now back to training and gearing up for the opening event of his 2024-25 season.

“My off season was good,” he said.

“I had some time off to spend with my family and friends, I had some nice days out at the beach and a nice trip to Europe as well. I would say I’ve had six or seven weeks of training now, which obviously has lots of ups and downs like always, but it’s impossible to tell where my game is at. I’m excited to see where it is at, at the Egyptian Open, and hopefully I can do well again in front of my family and friends.”

You can watch all of the CIB Egyptian Open live on SQUASHTV. You can also follow the PSA Squash Tour on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.