Rodney Martin on Nouran Gohar: Her 2021-2022 Season, The Seven Titles And That Rivalry With El Hammamy

*By RJ Mitchell*

In a wide-ranging and exclusive interview for PSA website, Rodney Martin – a member of Nouran Gohar’s coaching team – has declared the campaign just gone as an “unbelievable season” for the World No.1.

Gohar made eleven finals and picked up seven titles including four Platinum trophies, yet defeats in the finals of the British Open and El Gouna International to bitter rival Hania El Hammamy and a loss in the CIB PSA World Tour Finals title match to Nour El Sherbini, who also beat her in the final of the World Championships, removed some of the gloss.

Martin has also defended his player over the social media spat that erupted after Gohar struck El Hammamy with a full-bloodied cross court drive in their fractious World Tour Finals semi-final.

While with the World No.1 just two weeks away from joining up with his elite US training camp at Ox Ridge, Darien, Connecticut, Martin has no doubt that the best is yet to come from the 24-year-old.

“It’s been an unbelievable season for Nouran and she has basically made every final since San Francisco last year when she lost in the quarter-finals due to flu. Apart from that event, Nouran has played and won a good number of them,” Martin said.

“But players need to get used to that workload… Nouran was so consistent she played every tournament, made the final, travelled again and it then it becomes not just the physical side of things but the mental side that is draining.

“So there were quite a number of things that caused some of these results and now that Nouran is No.1 she has to manage her schedule that bit better to give herself a bit of a break to deal with these demands. [Nour] El Sherbini was obviously injured and had time out and Hania [El Hammamy] lost to a few different players early, so Nouran’s two main rivals did not have the workload that she did.

“If you look at the British Open then that was one match too far, she had played a lot of squash before that match with Hania and it was just one match too much physically and mentally. Nouran knew how she felt going into that final and she was really struggling mentally to even think about playing.

“So now she is No.1, we can manage that and it helps she has a bit of a gap from Sherbini, although it is not about looking at the ranking points, it’s just about making herself mentally and physically prepared so she can win these big events and then the ranking takes care of itself.

“Going through Chicago, she beat Hania in three and you don’t realise the pressure that is being put on you when you hear about SQUASHTV mentioning she has not dropped a game. Subconsciously, she is going out there knowing she is on this run and that is a lot of pressure mentally to deal with before she is even on the court.

“So Nouran has to learn to relax a bit more and enjoy her squash in the early rounds and not be scared to lose points to people instead of being one dimensional and too structured, even if that means she loses some points. Getting her to understand that just because you beat someone the week before 11-5, 11-4, 11-2 and the following week you play them and you beat them 11-9, 11-9, 12-10 doesn’t necessarily mean that you are playing worse.

“It can be down to many factors like your energy levels being drained, you are maybe not feeling the ball as well and just not on it, but you still won 3-0. So the key is not to analyse these matches too much but get to the next round and stay fresh mentally while working on the new things like her short game.

“So that is Nouran’s focus this coming year. Looking back at the season gone, she just played an awful lot of squash and had never been in that position before of being No.1 for a sustained period. That involves a whole different level of effort mentally.”

When it comes to these painful losses, Martin is adamant they will provide powerful motivation for the new season:

“Of course it hurts to have lost these big finals, but now she is even more focused to win them next season. Last season she was trying to win them to get to No.1, but now she is there the focus must really be on winning these major titles. That is what people remember you for when you are finished, as you don’t hear people talking about how many months you were at No.1. Really, it is about the World Championships, British Opens and the other major titles.

“So that is the focus for this season coming and Nouran is aiming to win them. But you also have to be honest and Nouran has played well throughout the season. She has lost to some good players and even at the British Open, where she was not mentally in the best place, she still played a good game and Hania just played too well.

“It was the same in the final of the CIB PSA World Tour Finals and Sherbini played basically error-free squash. So there are few areas we need to change and get her to realise where she is losing some big points while giving her more options to hurt her opponent when she is in the position to put balls away.”

Turning to the incident that saw Gohar strike El Hammamy with the ball during the World Tour Finals – which sparked discussion on social media – Martin said:

“It is just ridiculous the amount of talk that one situation created. Everyone who has played squash has been hit before with the ball.

“Yes, there is a rivalry between Nouran and Hania and that is good for the sport. The top three girls are all very competitive and they all want to win and people want to watch their matches, and it is a great rivalry and that isn’t bad for the sport at all in my opinion.

“But there were a couple of other occasions in the same tournament where people got hit with the ball. Plus you could see on social media that Hania had been hit on her other leg. So, why is there this big hoo-hah about her getting hit with the ball by Nouran?

“It was just blown out of proportion for what it was. Two points before the ball came around into a similar position and Nouran used that position to hit the ball back across Hania’s body and it’s a strategy which a lot of players use.

“I have already talked about this at length on social media but a couple of points before Nouran hit the ball across Hania’s body and won the point from that position so obviously she knows that and thinks: ‘I will do it again.’ Unfortunately Hania stepped further across and Nouran had no chance to hit a crosscourt and even if she had hit straight, I think she would have had a good chance of hitting Hania.

“So, I don’t understand why people are talking about it so much. Okay, it was a hard shot and it left a big mark on her leg but it is an unfortunate part of the game that some people make the move and don’t leave enough space.”