Ramy Ashour Fulfils His Promise

Squash Number One

Last month Ramy Ashour battled to victory over Nick Matthew in the final of the Saudi International in one of the best matches of the year, which lasted a gruelling 110 minutes. Not only did Ashour win the PSA platinum event, but he also secured the position of squash world number one as of January 2010. At the age of just 22, Ramy has reached the top spot in world squash having already won the world open title in Manchester in 2008.

The signs were there early on that Ramy had massive potential when he became the first player to win the squash world junior title twice, the first time at the age of 16. Ramy’s first season on the PSA tour saw him finish the year ranked 20 in the world, with him winning his first PSA event in Athens. Still only 18 years old, he went on a run at the Hong-Kong open defeating John White, David Palmer and Thierry Lincou to reach the latter stages of the tournament. Ramy has gone on to take many of the biggest titles on the PSA tour, with the notable exception of the British Open and the Hong Kong Open.

Egyptian’s make good squash players

Ramy Ashour’s success quite likely has a lot to do with being from Cairo, the centre of squash in Egypt, which is also home to the legendary Amr Shabana. Having been inspired to start playing squash by his older brother Hisham at the age of six, Ramy would have been surrounded by top quality players from a young age in a country with a rich history in the sport. It is said that in the land of the pyramids, the warmer courts, combined with the Egyptian flair, encourage a more attacking style of squash, and Ramy certainly seems to be a product of this environment.

Ramy is known for his incredible racket ability and one of his strengths is his ability to generate great racket head speed, enabling him to create power with a shorter swing. Some of Ramy’s shots can almost be described as ‘badmintonesque ‘, in the way that he sometimes employs a very loose wrist to add power. A trademark shot of the young Egyptian is his backhand volley drop to the front right nick which forces his opponents to avoid leaving anything high and loose on either side of the court.

Whilst we talk more about Ramy’s attacking game, his movement should not be underestimated, he is phenomenally quick. If fitness was rightly or wrongly seen as the missing piece of the jigsaw in Ramy’s game, he has now proven that he is the complete package, indicating that it was a major factor in his win at the PSA masters in Mumbai. Ramy’s fitness and conditioning was an issue flagged up by Jahangir Khan recently, with the former squash legend highlighting the need for players to take care of themselves to have a long career in such a brutal sport. Furthermore Nick Matthew was a player who had achieved relative success against the Egyptian because he could impose his physical and disciplined game on the youngster. The outcome of their recent battles shows that Ramy possesses few flaws.