23-year-old Egyptian Mohamed Elshorbagy has officially topped the PSA World
Rankings for the first time in his career, heading the charts in the November
rankings and knocking Frenchman Gregory Gaultier off the No.1 spot he has held
since April.
Elshorbagy becomes one of the youngest players ever to hold the World No.1
position, joining an illustrious list of stars that includes the likes of
Pakistani legends Jahangir and Jansher Khan and fellow Egyptian maverick Ramy
Ashour.
The Bristol-based powerhouse, who moved to England to work under the guidance of
legendary squash star Jonah Barrington aged just 15, sealed his rise to the top
after winning the Delaware Investments US Open, beating Gaultier in the
semi-final en-route to title glory.
"It is unbelievable to be the World No.1,” said Elshorbagy. “It has been a dream
to get to that spot and I can’t believe I am there now.”
Elsewhere in the rankings, German Simon Rösner celebrates his highest ever
ranking, breaking into the elite top ten for the first time in his career to
occupy the World No.10 slot.
The powerful man from Paderborn has been in fine form so far in 2014, reaching
at least the quarter-final in his last four events including the Hong Kong
Squash Open and US Open PSA World Series events.
“Becoming No.10 means everything to me,” said Rösner.
“This has been a dream and a goal of mine since I was a junior and it is very
special and something I have been looking forward to for quite a while.
“The journey is not over yet though, I will be working hard to keep on improving
my ranking for sure.”
Rösner is joined in the top 10 by Tarek Momen, who moves back to the No.9
position he occupied in September while four-time World Champion Amr Shabana,
who lost the US Open final to Elshorbagy, moves above Ramy Ashour to hold the
No.4 ranking – his highest position since 2011.
Elsewhere inside the top 20, Swiss-star Nicolas Müller celebrates breaking back
into the top-20 for the first time since May 2013 to his best ever ranking of
No.19 while Marwan Elshorbagy and Mathieu Castagnet claim their best ever
rankings of World No.14 and World No.15.
Canadian David Baillargeon completes the biggest rise in the rankings in
November, moving up 190-places from World No.453 to occupy the World No.263
spot.
