Season Preview: What to look out for Pt2

The 2024-25 PSA Squash Tour season gets underway in less than two weeks time. The opening major event of the season will take place from Giza, Egypt for the CIB Egyptian Open, the first ever Diamond level event. Every PSA season is always full of excitement, drama, athleticism and storylines and we’re expecting even more in the upcoming campaign.

We’ve identified six things that we think you should be looking out for in the coming season. In part two, we’re looking at a change to Platinum level events, returning stars, the old guard versus the next generation and potential milestones.

Smaller Platinum draws

Among the changes under the new PSA Squash Tour structure is the reduction in size of Platinum events from 48 players in each draw to 32 per draw. This change means that there will be no round one byes and all players will play from the first round.

The draws will still be randomised aside from the top eight players in the draw who are guaranteed to not face each other until the quarter final stages.

Returning stars

The 2024-25 season will also see the return of three big-name players in the women’s game: Amanda Sobhy, Joelle King, and Camille Serme.

Sobhy suffered a second Achilles tendon rupture in the final of the Hong Kong Open final against Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy in December and hasn’t featured on the tour since. The USA No.2 has based herself in Florida for her recovery and has explained that it has been the perfect place for her to treat her injury. She returns for the season opening CIB Egyptian Open, facing Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold in round one.

New Zealand’s former World No.4 Joelle King is also set to return to competitive action at the CIB Egyptian Open after a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to back and knee problems. King’s last event was the U.S Open in 2023, where she lost out to Egypt’s teenage sensation Amina Orfi in four games. King has been back in New Zealand during her injury period and although obviously wanting to return to the court, has said she has enjoyed the extended time in her home country, a rarity for the New Zealander.

Another surprise return was announced a few months back as former World No.2 and 2015 British Open winner Camille Serme renewed her PSA membership for the upcoming season. Serme had retired in June 2022 but is hoping to come through a challenging qualifying event for the Paris Squash 2024 to earn a spot in the main draw.

Old Guard vs New Generation

In recent seasons, squash largely been revolved around a small, consistent group of players reaching the latter stages of tournaments. Over the past two seasons, we have witnessed a change. On the men’s side, tour stalwarts such as Tarek Momen, Karim Abdel Gawad, and Mohamed and Marwan ElShorbagy suffered losses to younger, less experienced players such as Diego Elias, Mostafa Asal and Victor Crouin. The ElShorbagys and Momen have been mainstays in the world’s top 10 for the last 8-10 years but both have slipped further towards the bottom end of that bracket with players like Eain Yow Ng, Youssef Soliman and Aly Abou Eleinen lining up to replace them.

On the women’s side, while ‘the Big Three’ of Nour El Sherbini, Nouran Gohar and Hania El Hammamy reigned supreme las season, cracks began to show in their armour. All three suffered losses last season to players who are desperate to break the mould. Sivasangari Subramaniam’s London Classic run was a huge moment for her as she downed both ElSherbini and El Hammamy in the same event. Whilst Gohar lost out to World No.8 Rowan Elaraby in Detroit and didn’t look to handle it very well.

The big question is, could the ‘new generation’ be catching up to the ‘old guard’?

Potential milestones hit

Plenty of milestones are hit during the course of a PSA Squash Tour season with so many matches and wins taking place, but we’ve identified some important milestones that may be reached during the upcoming season.

Firstly, former World No.1 and World Champion Mohamed ElShorbagy has two mightily impressive milestones that he could reach this season. He has currently claimed 49 PSA titles in his career, just one short of 50 which would earn him the spot of outright third on the all time titles list, behind the famous Khans, Jahangir and Jansher.

The 33-year-old is also in second place in the all-time men’s PSA match record with 723 matches played. He is just 37 matches behind French legend Gregory Gaultier and can break the record in the second half of this season. Elshorbagy played 45 matches last season so another season injury free and reaching the latter stages of events should see him break the record.

Egypt’s Nour ElSherbini is another player who can reach an impressive milestone this season. The World No.1 has claimed seven World Championship titles and sits just one win away from the legendary Nicol David. ElSherbini had the chance to equalise just a few months ago on home soil but lost out to Nouran Gohar in the final.

‘The Warrior Princess’ will be itching to seek her revenge in this season’s World Championships but knows that the path through won’t be easy, with players around her getting better all the time. Meanwhile, Gohar and El Hammamy will be desperate to keep ElSherbini to seven titles and claim some of their own.

Follow the PSA Squash Tour season on SQUASHTV.