The PSA is undertaking a series of Season Reviews from some of the top players – we’re reprising brief versions in case you missed them …
#4 : Tarek Momen
The 2021-2022 campaign was a consistently steady one for Egypt’s Tarek Momen, with the former World Champion having made at least the quarter finals of every tournament he played in during the season.
He remains one of the most dangerous and quickest players on Tour, but he also admits that he is not happy with how the season went.
We spoke to the World No.6 about the season, and what he aims to achieve over the next few years.
“I would probably say that I am a little bit disappointed. I think this is one of the worst seasons I have in five or six years, but not in a performance perspective. I have played some really good squash overall, but maybe the level of consistency is not the same as it used to be.
“Overall, I have played many tournaments where I have put up a good fight and I have been playing good squash. Maybe I was unlucky here or there, and there were a few tournaments where I have had issues with some players. All I can say is that I tried my best and the fact that I am still playing good squash, more than not playing good squash, gives me a bit of an indication that I can keep going and still fight for the top spots.
“When you lose three or four times in a row, maybe to the same opponent, especially the ones at the top. You start to think ‘Am I no longer a contender?’
#3 : Hania El Hammamy
Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy secured two Platinum titles during the 2021/22 season, the Allam British Open and the El Gouna International.
The World No.3 also reached another three finals during the season, losing out to Nouran Gohar in the final of the Windy City Open and the US Open. Also losing to Nour El Sherbini in the final of the CIB Squash Open Black Ball 2021.
“I’m definitely pleased and grateful for this season. When I look back at it, I’m very positive. I’m coming out of this season with a lot of positives, maybe a lot of stuff still to improve on and yet to work on during the off-season.
“It’s incredible, to be honest. It’s one of the most prestigious tournaments on the calendar [The British Open]. It’s just the World Championship and the British Open. Both of them are the most important tournaments, so to be able to get one of them is great. Obviously, I’m disappointed with not getting the win in the World Championships, but looking back at the season, the way I played, the way I have performed and showed up in so many tough battles, it would definitely make me be a little bit gentle on myself.
“One of my goals was to beat the World No.1 and No.2 in a single tournament, because this is a step that I have to take in order to reach the spot. So doing this in El Gouna was definitely meaningful for me and meant that I was getting ready for something big
#2 : Sarah-Jane Perry
The 2021/2022 season was a steady one for World No.6 Sarah-Jane Perry, with two finals appearances, coming at the Cleveland Classic and the Manchester Open, on her way to featuring at the season-ending CIB PSA World Tour Finals once again.
“I think, overall, it’s been mostly pretty good. There’s been a couple of disappointing early losses and a couple where I have pushed some of those real top few and haven’t quite got the win and things like that.
“It has been a pretty steady season by my standards, but not winning those titles that I wanted to be pushing for. A couple of finals but I didn’t manage to win either of those so that was a bit disappointing.
“But, to be back at the CIB PSA World Tour Finals again is always a sign that you have done pretty well over the year, and something to absolutely not take for granted. That shows that overall, I had a pretty decent season. There were glimpses of the squash that I wanted to play, so I will be looking to make that happen more consistently over the next year, for sure.”
#1 : Nour El Sherbini
The 2021/2022 season was a challenging one for Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini. Despite the lows of a campaign troubled by injury and the loss of the World No.1 ranking, ‘the Warrior Princess’ found form to prove any doubters wrong and claim her sixth World Championship title as well as the season-ending World Tour Finals.
Well, I’m definitely I’m not very happy with the last half of the season. I think we’ve been playing with two merged seasons in two years.
The first season after COVID, I think it was better for me. I won almost all of the Platinum events and starting from the end of August, or after the British open, I think things got not very good for me.
I wasn’t very happy with the way I was playing, or with my performance, with my results. So yeah, but I’m still so grateful that I could end the season winning the World Championship, which is the most important event for me, and I wait for it every season. This is the main goal for me starting a new season, just to stay on the World No.1 spot and win the World Championship, so I did half of the job!