Season Review: Ali Farag

What a season it was for World No.1 Ali Farag during the 2023/24 campaign. Of the 14 events played by the Egyptian, he only failed to reach the final once, at the PSA World Championships. The 32-year-old achieved over a 90% win rate throughout the season, losing only 6 times in 65 matches. A truly dominant display from Farag saw him lift eight titles, which could have been even better.

Farag had ended the 2022/23 season in superb form and picked up right where he left off in the opening Platinum event of the season, the Paris Squash 2023. After safely navigating his way through the draw, Farag needed five games to move past New Zealand’s Paul Coll to reach the final. There, he met Peru’s Diego Elias with a chance to claim the first major silverware of the new season. The Egyptian turned the screw in the third and fourth games to come through in four games and win the inaugural event.

A trip to Qatar was up next as another Platinum event was there to be taken for the World No.1. Farag’s route was far more comfortable than the previous event in Paris and again he faced Elias for the trophy. Farag looked cool, calm and collected throughout the whole four game contest and claimed another Qatar Classic win.

The Platinum events were coming thick and fast as Farag headed west to Philadelphia for the U.S Open for his next event. An event that holds fond memories for him, as this was his first major event victory on the PSA World Tour. A second round clash with former World Champion and World No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad was not what Farag would have wanted, but he showed his class to move through relatively unscathed. Another former World Champion awaited Farag in the semi-final stages later in the tournament and the top seeded needed to utilise all of his abilities to move past Tarek Momen in five games. One of the matches of the season took place in the final as an invigorated Paul Coll looked to score his first Platinum event win for over 18 months. Farag found himself 2-0 down and despite recovering to force a fifth, he lost in a tiebreak 12-10 after 98 minutes to bring his 14 match win streak to an end.

Farag was quickly back to winning ways in Singapore as he took out the Gold level event in emphatic fashion, dropping only one game throughout the event, to Elias in the final. The Egyptian then closed out the year at the Hong Kong Open, one of the few major titles that had eluded Farag during his career. Four straight games wins took the top seed through to another final, where again, his opponent would be Coll. The Kiwi reigned supreme again, another five-set battle went the way of Coll, who was playing some of the best squash of his career.

The famous J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions was the first Platinum event of 2024 with all players looking to start the new year on the front foot. Farag missed the 2023 edition due to injury and was visibly excited to be back on the glass court in New York’s Grand Central Terminal. Four quality showings from Farag took him through to the final, where once again Diego Elias stood between him and glory. Elias went through phases of being able to control Farag and move the ball into dangerous areas but couldn’t sustain enough pressure over Farag across the five games to earn the win. Farag held five match balls in the fifth and converted at the first time of asking.

The winning continued for Farag as he stayed in the United States of America, firstly, a win at the Houston Open then onto one of his favourite destinations on the tour, Chicago. Farag was looking for a second Windy City Open title and a fifth win in Chicago after claiming three World Championship titles there. Farag again made light work of his opponents through to the semi-final stage, then needed five games to get past tricky customer Mazen Hesham to reach the final. Farag then got his revenge over Paul Coll in the final as he avoided a third consecutive loss to the Kiwi to claim the title.

Farag was then on the end of two quality performances from Paul Coll and Mostafa Asal in the Optasia Championships and Black Ball Open Gold event finals. The World No.1 claimed revenge over Asal in the next tournament, the El Gouna International. Farag reached the final in comfortable fashion and despite Asal’s excellent record on outdoor courts in Egypt, Farag showed his quality to win the match 3-1 and win a fifth Platinum event of the season.

Remaining in Egypt, the PSA World Tour’s next event was the pinnacle of professional squash, the PSA World Championships. An event that Farag has made his own in recent years, winning the last four that he has played in. Farag raced through to the semi-final stage where he met familiar foe Diego Elias for a spot in the final. A determined, angry looking Elias is what he faced on this occasion however, a different Elias to the one that Farag had beaten four times already this season. Elias was clinical and focused and managed to secure a first legitimate win over Farag since 2017. The Peruvian went on to defeat Asal in the final to win his first Word Championships title.

After the disappointment of losing early in Cairo, the British Open came a couple of weeks later, the perfect opportunity for Farag to bounce back. The Egyptian sliced his way through to a third successive final but fell to compatriot Mostafa Asal for the second time this season, in a five-set epic lasting 79 minutes.

Farag’s last event of the 2023/24 campaign was the season-ending Xbox PSA World Tour Finals. Another major event that eluded the 4x World Champion. Farag won both of his opening pool matches 2-0 before being handed a win in his third one with Mohamed Elshorbagy withdrawing. Farag then scored a 2-0 win over season rival Paul Coll to book a place in a 13th final of the season. An immediate chance to claim revenge over Mostafa Asal from the British Open final loss presented itself, but after Farag took the opener, he was handed the win with Asal retiring injured at 5-2 in game two.

Overall, this has to go down as one of, if not the greatest seasons that the PSA World Tour has ever seen. Farag reached 13 finals from 14 events, constantly backing up his performances event after event and maintaining his quality every time he stepped onto court. He claimed a record eight World Tour titles and could have had more. A superb season by Ali Farag.

The figures

Matches played: 65
Matches won: 59
Matches lost: 6
Events won: 8
Win percentage: 90.7%

Paris Squash – Winner
QTerminals Qatar Classic – Winner
U.S Open – Runner-up
Vitagen Singapore Squash Open – Winner
Hong Kong Open – Runner-up
J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions – Winner
Houston Men’s Squash Open – Winner
Windy City Open – Winner
Optasia Championships – Runner-up
Black Ball Open – Runner-up
El Gouna International – Winner
PSA World Championships – Semi-Finals
British Open – Runner-up
Xbox PSA World Tour Finals – Winner