May news: Can somebody stop Grégory Gaultier?

Grégory Gaultier has been a world class player for many years. In fact, he's belonged to the top 10 for over 10 years, and he spent most of this time in the top 3. But never has the Frenchman enjoyed such a run of form: thanks to his wins in Zurich and Seattle, he extended his winning streak in PSA to 27 matches ans is back to world number 1.

Grégory Gaultier and Ali Farag met in two finals in May (Photo credit: PMI Bellevue Squash Classic)

Many stats illustrate what a special moment of his career Gaultier is going through at the moment, but here is one: before 2017, he had never won more than two tournaments in a row, and he's now came out victorious in the last 6 events he's played in. “I've had an amazing run since January, the 'French General' was saying after his title in Switzerland, but there's no secret to the success. (Source : www.psaworldtour.com) I've been working hard my whole life and have a team supporting me and working with me every day – and that work has been paying off. I had a bad run in 2016 with injuries and that has really motivated me this season as well." Not only Gaultier has been almost unbeatable in 2017 (1 loss in over over 40 matches including team matches), he has now raised the bar to another level, not dropping a single game en route to winning the Grasshopper Cup and the Bellevue Squash Classic ($150,000 prize money – a record amount for a 16-player main draw squash tournament) in May. It was certainly not due to a lack of effort from his opponents, especially Ali Farag whom he met in the final in these two events. The Harvard graduate had an inconsistent season, and as a result he will not feature in the World Series Finals which start in Dubai in a few days (see below). But he seems to be back to his best, with some significant wins over the Shorbagy brothers and Nick Matthew over the last few weeks. He played some great squash in both finals against Gaultier, but every time he seemed to get the upper hand his opponent had the answer. Especially in Seattle, where the Egyptian had several game balls in the first two games. “I had a good feeling today, he said after the match. The minute I stepped off court at the Grasshopper final, I had a game plan, and I couldn’t wait to try it on court. I think I was unlucky in the first game, I was playing well, doing the right things, but I was not sharp enough. In the second, I was doing all the right things, then I’m not sure what went first, the mind or the body. I never gave up, kept fighting in the 3rd, but he was too confident by then.” “I am not going to say that it was easy to keep fresh every day, added Gaultier. I just forgot about being tired, about the little aches and pains, and just pushed myself on the day." 

Marwan El Shorbagy will be battling against 7 world number 1s (former or current) at the PSA World Series Finals in Dubai (Photo crédit: PSA World Series Finals)

Can he extend his extraordinary winning streak in Dubai and hold the World Series Finals title? Without a doubt if he's able to maintain his level, but first of all he'll have to come out a tough group where he faces three former wold number 1s: Mohamed El Shorbagy, James Willstrop and Ramy Ashour (matches are played in best of 3 format and the top 2 players go through to the semis). Karim Abdel Gawad, Nick Matthew and Marwan El Shorbagy will battle for the two spots in the other group. The women's draw should also be incredibly competitive with Camille Serme, Alison Waters, Nouran Gohar and Raneem El Welily in group A, and Nour El Sherbini (current world champion and world number 1), Nicol David, Laura Massaro and Sarah-Jane Perry in group B. The matches will take place in the Dubai Opera, and the 2016/17 PSA Men’s and Women’s Players of the Year will be crowned on the eve of the season ending tournament during the annual PSA Awards Dinner.

***Breaking news: Ramy Ashour is out of the PSA World Series Finals due to illness and replaced by Ali Farag.

May in a nutshell

--- The end of the season is traditionally the time for playoffs in all several countries. After Paderborn won in both men's and women's last weekend in Germany, the PSL final was taking place last night in Manchester. 18 years after winning their first title, Nottingham saw off Leicester with a 5-0 win, in a fixture that featured no foreign player for the first time ever. The team managed by Nick Hargreaves quickly came on top thanks to victories from Adam Murrills and Millie Tomlinson who upset Emily Whitlock in straight games. Then Richie Fallows brought the title to his team beating Mark Fuller, before Nick Matthew and Declan James completed the full sweep. “Absolutely fantastic, Hargreaves said, we couldn’t have asked for more from the players tonight. It’s been a tough season, we started slowly – I even had to play myself once! – but once Nick came into the equation we picked up momentum, and the team spirit has been great throughout, well done everyone!” (Source: pslsquash.com)

Nottingham in England, Paderborn in Germany and Torino in Italy won their domestic league (Photo credits: PSL Squash, www.federsquash.it, Twitter Squash Bundesliga)

--- Iraq, Israel and Jamaica will make their first appearance in the 2017 WSF Men's World Team Squash Championship which will be held in France at the end of the year. 28 nations will contest in the event: 2013 champions England will defend their title after the 2015 championship was postponed. Other main contenders will be hosts and current European champions France, and of course Egypt who boast 7 of the world top 10 players. The entry list features Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong China, India, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, USA and Wales.

--- The Internacional Sporta Open (Guatemala) started as a $5,000 in 2008, and is now a well established tournment in the international calendar. Mohamed Abouelghar became the second Egyptian winner last week, clinching the biggest title of his career and the first since October 2015. The former World Junior Championship runner-up had a great week in South America, beating Karim Ali Fathi, Diego Elias and Miguel Angel Rodriguez en route to the final where he dominated compatriot Zahed Mohamed. Abouelghar has made significant improvements over the last few months and is likely to improve his best ranking of 16. 

Mohamed Abouelghar won the biggest title of his career in Guatemala (Crédit photo : Facebook Sporta Guatemala)

--- Greg Lobban made a quick comeback to form after a very serious hamstring injury which kept him away from the tour for several months. After reaching the final in Tring - with significant wins over Raphael Kandra and Joel Makin - but losing out to Declan James, the Scotsman went one step further in Stortford. In the final, he beat former European Junior Champion George Parker, who is also back to his best after a few months out in 2016 (due to suspension). Both players should make a substantial jump in the new world rankings, due to be released tomorrow. 

George Parker (in red) and Greg Lobban, two British players who are coming back to their best after a few months off the court (Photo credit: Facebook Bishop's Stortford Squash & Racketball Club)

--- After receiving the PSA Player of the Month award in April - alongside her cousin Nour - Mohamed El Sherbini completed his "Slam" in South Africa, winning the four tournaments of the tour. In the Bull Ring Open (Johannesburg), he once again came out of the qualifications to go all the way, and was merciless against European Junior Championship runner-up Kyle Finch in the final.

--- England won both titles at the European U15/U17 Team Championships, for the eleventh year in a row. In the U15, Ben Smith, Adam Goad, and Katie Malliff beat host country Czech Republic 2-1 in the final, while Benjamin Sockett, Sam Todd and Elise Lazarus - who also won the U19 team event in April - got the better of Ireland in the U17.

England scored another double at the European U15/U17 Championships (Photo credit: squashpage.net)