Mohamed El Shorbagy talks to Fram after his victory in El Gouna
What a season this has been for me.
You know I started the season with losing 1st round in Shanghai, losing semis
in us open and losing third round at world championship. And after the world
championship loss, on the 12h back to UK, my mind was thinking the whole time
on what need to be changed.
So I decided to change things mentally
for me, you know last season, when I was world number one I didn’t enjoy it and
I put so much pressure on myself and when I lost it for a month in December, I
realised how lucky I was to be there. I hated every single second of that
month, I wanted my world number one back and I trained in so hard and I
realised I need to enjoy being world number one as it won’t last forever and
it’s the main reason of why I seem so relaxed now on court and that’s when I
produce my best squash.
I was nervous today. Playing in my home country front of a whole crowd wanting
me to win, it was just tough mentally to deal with and when I was 2/0 down, it
was a big challenge to come back but I love challenges and I thought if I lose
I will not give it easily.
It paid off you know, when you are ready to die on court it’s when you always
be ready to take a step further and do the impossible and I feel that today I
did the impossible. At 9/8 in the 5th I should have that stroke that would got
me to match point but the review changed to a let and then I got so angry that
I wanted to hit a winner.
I really don’t know why Greg felt I wasn’t ready. He played the serve and I am
the one who would feel if I was ready or not and I accepted his serve and if I
wasn’t ready there was no way I would have hit an accurate backhand nick like
that at a crucial time.
You know I might be able to finish matches quicker than the other players
before I get to the final and people think I am fresher but I am actually the most
exhausted player on tour right now. I have played more matches than any other
player and no one understand the amount of work I do behind the scenes to be
able to recover after every match and after every tournament.
You know, World Series in a row that’s 30 matches and you would think I am
fresh? At the British my body was shaking every single night after every match
Because of how exhausted I was. The night before the final, close people had to
go to hospital to get me some medicines at 12am because I thought I had
temperature because of how badly my body was shaking and luckily it wasn’t
temperature it was just exhaustion from the season, from all the matches I have
played, from the pressure of being world number one every time I step on court.
You know I have always been a fighter since my junior days and even though I am
exhausted from all these matches, from all these tournaments, from all the
pressure but there is no where I would rather be than being inside the squash
court fighting for my life.
This is a season I will remember for the way I turned things from when things looked
so going wrong in the World championship to then having the best season of my
life.
I want to thank my Team because they are the reason that kept me going and
pushed me to go over my limit this season, Jonah Barrington, Hadrian stiff and
Brendan my fitness trainer.
My parents and my brother. Without them all this wouldn’t have been possible
and I am really lucky to have such a great team but as for now this season has
been the greatest so far for me and I am going to enjoy it for a period of time
and then forget about it and start getting ready for a the new season and keep
hungry.
I sleep squash, I eat squash, I live squash, squash is my life.
