Season Review: Ali Farag

Egypt’s Ali Farag started and ended the 2022-23 PSA World Tour season as the World No.1, but it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Egyptian as he endured a knee injury that kept him out of action for a number of events.

He bounced back in style tough, lifting four straight titles, including a fourth World Championship crown and a first British Open trophy to regain his place back at the summit of the PSA World Rankings after losing top spot in January. We caught up with Farag to discuss the season:

On whether the season met his expectations.

AF – “I’ve exceeded my expectations big time. I was talking to my team, my wife and my coaches and when I dropped down the rankings to No.5 and everyone was doing so well, my goal was just to get back into the top four. Now I’ve exceeded my expectations because I’m not only going to the top four but becoming World No.1 and winning four tournaments back-to-back is something I didn’t really think of.

“I was just battling back to be in shape for the World Championships. I wanted to give myself the best chance there and I didn’t think I was going to have the best chance because building up to it is different than having been winning up to it. When you’re winning, you have confidence.

“Obviously, the British Open came at the perfect time, the fact that I won the British Open gave me confidence going into the World Championships. 

“So I’m extremely happy with the way things have unfolded ever since the injury and I’m forever grateful for it.”

On claiming his first British Open title after being a beaten finalist on the last three occasions.

AF – “Going into the British Open, I had lost to Mazen [Hesham] in the quarterfinals of a Gold event. He played so well, and I wasn’t playing as well as I would have liked to. So I didn’t have much confidence. But we had the Nationals the week before the British Open and I had to play so many big matches against [Mohamed] Abouelghar, [Omar] Mosaad and Tarek [Momen] and I came through all of them and that gave me me a huge confidence boost going into the British Open.

“Then when I started playing well match after match, I suppose I believed more and more. Then to finally get my hands on this trophy after reaching the final three times and coming up short. It was a great feeling. 

“The Birmingham venue was unbelievable, people were really into it and it just helps you play well. To finally get that title that everyone talks about as the second most important event on the calendar after the World Champs, I wouldn’t have lost sleep over it if I had finished my career without it, but now that I’ve added it, it’s a huge bonus so I’m very proud.“

On regaining the World No.1 spot.

AF – “I did have this as a goal in mind but not that soon. I was thinking of finishing this season inside the top four and then giving myself a good chance in the following season to return back to No.1, especially in the block from October to February because I have no points to defend. So that would give me a slight advantage over the other guys. But then when things happened so quickly I couldn’t really believe it, but I was going with the flow. I didn’t want to overthink it and it went a lot better than expected. But then I have to defend it because Diego [Elias] is on my back and has got the chance to return to World No.1, so I’m happy I have it for the summer at least.”

On whether he has any specific targets to achieve by the end of his career.

AF – “Not at all. When I started my career I wanted to become World No.1 and World Champion one day, and now that I’ve done it back in 2019 everything else is a bonus.

“I don’t have something in mind that I want to achieve to finish my career. As long as I’m playing the sport as I can and as long as I’m enjoying it, I want to be the best player, the best version of myself as I can be.

“I know if I give myself the best chance to be the best version of myself, I’ll give myself the best chances to win tournaments. So this is how my team and people around me put things into perspective and that helps me release the pressure off myself.

“Obviously, being a four-time World Champion is different than being a one-time World Champion. So yes, I’m very happy with what I’ve achieved, but I don’t look forward to or plan for everything that is going to come my way, I’m still going to be very proud of my career.”

On being in the same conversation as some of the greats in the game.

AF – “When you dream as a kid, you only want to be in the top 10. You only want to be World Champion and World No.1 and that’s already a very unrealistic dream. Very few people can achieve it in their respective sports. So you can never dream beyond that. Then, when I achieved it, I was in tears. When I became World No.1 for the first time and when I won the World Championships for the first time, both times I was in tears. But then you never dream beyond that. Now that I’m in the same sentence as [Amr] Shabana, who I only dreamt I could shake hands with one day, or Nick Matthew, when I would run after him to get his sweatband, it doesn’t feel right yet. 

“Maybe when I grow older and I’m retired, I will look back at it and I’m in the same comparison as these guys. But for now, I still see them as huge, huge characters that arrived and built the way I look at at this sport. They’ve been the way I look at life in general and how disciplined I should be and how professional I should be. So hopefully one day I’ll look at myself the way I look at them, but for now not at all.”

On the British Open and World Championship finals

AF – “The British Open final felt a little bit more special for two reasons, one because I’d never won it before, but second because it was the stamp of approval that I’m back from injury. I was struggling, then I was playing well, tournament after tournament and then I would have a setback, before I was playing well again. I never really believed that I was there yet with the top top guys. It gave me confidence and it gave me belief that I’m back up there.

“I had the flashbacks of all the months that I had gone through the injury and how I lost faith at some times where I wondered whether I would ever come back to normal again. When you don’t expect something, it’s a little bit sweeter.

“But at the World Championships, now that I had won the British Open, obviously it gave me a lot of confidence but also put a little bit of pressure on me because I’m up there now. I have a good chance, so it was more of a relief at the World Championships, the British Open was was joy. I would say the British Open was was a little bit sweeter.”

On his best performances of the season

AF – “I’m super blessed that I had many good moments in the past couple of months that I can pick from. In terms of pure squash, I think the final of the British Open and then the last three matches of the World Champs is where I played my best squash. But in terms of mental resilience, I will put Manchester Open and El Gouna out there. Especially Manchester, it was the week after the World Champs and I was really drained psychologically and physically. But I kept digging in and I kept pushing and it gave me a lot of confidence in my character that I can go through whatever obstacles that can come my way.“

On his ambitions for next season

AF – “As always, the target is to maintain the World No.1 ranking or to come back to it depending on the situation and to win the World Championships. Those are the two main goals of every season.

“But then Karim [Darwish] and Mike Way (Farag’s coaches) were telling me that I’ve got levels to go up to and I’m still not at my peak yet, which is always exciting to hear. Because if you feel like you’ve reached your peak, then there isn’t more motivation for me to keep going or to practice every single day. So this is my main goal, to try and reach those levels. If I do get there, I feel like I’ll give myself a good chance to be a contender for every event I go to and this is the goal really for the summer, to see where the next level is and try to define it with Karim and Mike and all my team. If it happens then the results hopefully will follow suit.”

You can rewatch all of Farag’s best moments from the season on the SQUASHTV Replay section here.