“I still can’t believe it” – Diego Elias On Becoming South America’s First World No.1

For the first time ever, a South American player sits at the top of the PSA World Rankings as Peru’s Diego Elias claimed the top spot in this week’s rankings on April 17. Elias found out he would become the new World No.1 after Karim Abdel Gawad overcame Mohamed ElShorbagy in round three of the British Open but still managed to reach the final of the prestigious event.

Our British Open MC, Michael Absalom, sat down with the new World No.1 during the event to get his thoughts on his amazing achievement:

Q. Diego, what’s that feeling like to know that you’re the new World No.1? 

Diego: “Yeah, it’s great. It’s a dream come true.

“It’s weird getting it this way when I’m still playing the tournament, and also it’s the British Open, which is one of the most important ones of the year.”

Q. You’re the first South American player, male or female, to achieve World No.1 status, that is a huge achievement. What does that mean to you personally? 

Diego: “Yeah, it’s huge. It’s something I’ve been training for. This has been my dream since I was very young. I think it’s huge for South America. I think in the whole of America, only Jonathon [Power] was No.1 before me and he’s been by my side for most of my career. So it’s just great to join him. I’m just super, super excited.”

Q. Where were you when you found out the news? And how do you get news that you’re the new World No.1? Obviously, we had that match with Karim [Abdel Gawad] when he beat Mohamed [ElShorbagy], which was influential. 

Diego: “Yeah, I was actually on court at the other club, in the normal courts. I was training with Wael [El Hindi] and we were just doing a normal session, but I just couldn’t hit the ball. I had the live scores outside. I was watching it every two minutes and and then when it got to like 8-7, Victor [Crouin] came too, he was doing a Dunlop photo shoot, and he was watching the match on his phone. So I just watched that last 10 minutes of the match. And it was just crazy because it was also an amazing match. The end was very tense, I was so nervous. It was great. And then I saw the result and I just couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. I don’t know how to feel.”

Q. You’ve got your your family with you. We know we you travel with your dad as well. And your Mum is here this week. That must be really special to have your family around you on such a big occasion. 

Diego: “Yeah, my dad comes with me to most of the tournaments and it’s just lucky that I have my mum here too. I told her to come like two or three weeks ago because I haven’t been home in a long time and the last two tournaments I didn’t do very well, so I just wanted to be more with my family, feel more like home and it’s just great that this happened when they were here.“

Q. How did they take the news? What was their reaction? 

Diego: “Oh, my dad had a few beers and he was just so happy and my mum too. Like I said, it’s something we’ve been working for, for so many years. We come from Peru, so squash is not big at all. And just doing that coming from there, it’s amazing.”

Q. What do you think the reaction will be back home in Lima, Peru, and from family and friends that that you may or may not have spoken to yet about you becoming World No.1?

Diego: “They’re all so happy. They have been messaging me all day for the last couple days, so many people that I don’t know like famous people from Peru, people that I have no relationship with, and it’s just great. I think it’s great for Peru too, I don’t think there is any other sport that they have a World No.1 so yeah, it’s history. So I’m just very happy and hopefully I can keep it for a long time.”

Q. It’s definitely going to inspire the next generation of young squash players. Who inspired you when when you started out?

Diego: “Well, I had Jonathon [Power] helping me since I was young and he’s been my idol for forever and then Miguel [Rodriguez] was, of course, the top player in South America. He got to World No.4 and he made history for squash in South America and he helped me a lot also during my career. He’s been a huge help, a great friend.”

Q. If you go back to the start of the season, was becoming World No.1 one of your goals?

Diego: “At the start of the season, I can’t remember what my ranking was but probably four or five. Yeah, it was a goal, but I knew it was going to be hard. I put a lot of work in at the start of the season and then the results came and I won a couple of the big tournaments and that’s when I thought that okay, I’m very close to World No.1. Before that, it was a dream, I was training for that but I didn’t think it was going to come this quick.”

Q. At the beginning of the season you won the U.S. Open, Tournament of Champions, Motor City Open and the Pittsburgh Open. Now you’re World No.1 What’s next?

Diego: “We have the World Championship in a couple of weeks so these two tournaments are the biggest of the year. These are my two goals for the rest of the season. I want to win both of them, so I feel good, I’ve been putting in a lot of work, and I think I’m ready to win these two.”

Q. So what do you have to do to ensure that you stay at the summit? It’s all very well putting in the hard work to get there, but what do you have to do to ensure that the likes of Paul [Coll], Ali [Farag], Mostafa [Asal], Mohamed [ElShorbagy], even Karim [Abdel Gawad] who’s sort of battling back, don’t get back to the summit?

Diego: “They’re all amazing players and I’m sure all of them at some point will go back to the top, but I’m just going to, for now, try and stay there as long as I can. I feel good, I think this season I’ve been, like you said, having a lot of good results and I just want to try and keep winning all these big tournaments and not put that much pressure on myself. I’ve already got to where I want to get to, the pressure is not on me anymore. I’m just going to enjoy it and try to win these big titles.”