Mohamed El Shorbagy (Arabic: محمد الشوربجي, born 12 January 1991) is an Egyptian-English professional squash player. He represented Egypt from a young age until June 2022, when he switched to represent England.[2] He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 1 in November 2014, March 2018, February 2020, and again in July 2021 and was the 2017 World Squash champion.
El Shorbagy joined the PSA tour in 2006, as a 15-year old schoolboy under the tutelage of the legendary Jonah Barrington. The Alexandria-born star rose to prominence in 2007 after he became the first player in history to secure a maiden PSA World Tour title at a five star event.[4]
In 2013, he made it to the semi-finals at the Kuwait PSA Cup, a now defunct World Series Platinum event. He also claimed his first World Series win in the Qatar Classic and exhibited supreme form throughout 2014, winning five events including World Series tournaments at the Hong Kong and US Opens.[4]
In 2014, El Shorbagy opened his year by making the semi-finals of Tournament of Champions, where he lost to Grégory Gaultier in four games. In the 2013 PSA World Series Finals (held in March 2014) El Shorbagy recorded his first win over Ramy Ashour, beating him 11–5, 11–5 in the round-robin stage. In the semifinals El Shorbagy beat Nick Matthew in five games to reach the final but this time lost to Ashour in a tough 4 games. El Shorbagy made the semifinals of the Windy City Open, again losing to Gaultier in four games. El Shorbagy continued good form by making the final of the 2014 El Gouna International.[4]
In November 2014, El Shorbagy became the world number 1 for the first time at the age of 23, courtesy of his victory over Grégory Gaultier in the semi-finals of the 2014 Delaware Investments US Open. "It feels unbelievable right now," said El Shorbagy. "It's been a dream to get to that spot and I can't believe I'm there right now. I came into this tournament knowing there was a big chance to get that World No.1 ranking for the first time in my life."
He was the second seed for the 2014 Men's World Open Squash Championship and reached his second World Championship final, against compatriot Ramy Ashour. The final during the 2014 tournament in Qatar was regarded as one of the greatest squash matches ever.[7]
The Egyptian recovered from his World Championship heartbreak to lift the Tournament of Champions title in January 2015 and, after finishing runner-up at both the Windy City Open and the El Gouna International, he also won the British Open for the first time in his career, beating Gaultier in the 2015 final. El Shorbagy lifted the British Grand Prix title in September 2015 before celebrating 12 months at the summit of the World Rankings the following month. After claiming another PSA World Series triumph at the Qatar Classic in November, he dropped out of the World Championship at third round stage after a shock exit to James Willstrop as his search for the sport's biggest prize continued.[4]
However, a significant run of form from December 2015 to April 2016 saw El Shorbagy dominate the PSA World Tour, bringing him up to six successive World Series title wins, including defending his crown at the British Open after ending a four-match winless run against Ramy Ashour. During that period, El Shorbagy also broke Ashour's record for the highest ever World Rankings points average in April, a record he then shattered again a month later. A superb season was rounded off in style when he was crowned the 2016 PSA Men's Player of the Year.[8][4]
ElShorbagy started the 2016/17 season strongly with another victory at the U.S. Open, but he missed out on becoming the first player to win the Qatar Classic on three successive occasions after a final defeat to compatriot Karim Abdel Gawad - just a month after Gawad had beaten him in the World Championship semi-final. However, the following month saw ElShorbagy become only the third Egyptian player to spend a whole year at the summit of the World Rankings after he topped the December 2016 World Rankings.[4]
ElShorbagy reached his third world final in November 2017 but this time became the world champion after winning the 2017 Men's World Squash Championship in Manchester. As the third seed he defeated his brother Marwan El Shorbagy in the final.[9][10]
ElShorbagy dominated the early part of the 2017/2018 season, winning seven of his first nine tournaments including the Netsuite Open, the Channel VAS Championships, the Qatar Classic, the Hong Kong Open, the Canary Wharf Classic, and the Windy City Open. In 2019, he won his third British Open after winning the 2019 Men's British Open Squash Championship.[11]
He won the Manchester Open on 22 September 2020 after 192 days of recess due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for his 42nd PSA title, and won the El Gouna Classic on 28 May 2021 for his 43rd PSA title, moving him to fifth on the all-time squash win list. In July 2021, he lost the World final to Ali Farag during the 2020–21 PSA Men's World Squash Championship. In May 2022, he lost his second consecutive World Championship final, after losing to Farag again in the 2022 PSA Men's World Squash Championship.[12]
On 6 June 2022, ElShorbagy decided to change allegiance to represent England.[13] On 8 June 2022, he won his first game since allegiance change at the Mauritius Open defeating compatriot James Willstrop.[14]
ElShorbagy’s victory in New Zealand in November 2022, for his 47th PSA title, also sees him become the youngest man ever to reach 500 PSA wins at the age of 31 years and 10 months. While he is only the third man to achieve that milestone after his coach Gregory Gaultier (587) and Nick Matthew (518), he backed up his New Zealand win with a win over Diego Elias at the MARIGOLD Singapore open on the 20th of November, 2022, to mark his 505th PSA win, and his 48th title in 75 finals. He has since surpassed this feat, recording his 49th title (joint 4th in titles) in the 2023 black ball gold tournament.
.jpg)
