Tabs Singh:
Dear Ali,
Your odyssey is over. It felt far too short but it was actually perfect.
Your hard work is testament to a road less travelled: to the pinnacle of your chosen profession. The road was never smooth and linear; you just made it look that way. Your star dazzled the sport you loved and now it will flicker with an eerie majesty; silent but thankfully omnipresent.
I met you for the first time in 2015 at the World Champs in Bellevue. Your coming out party. You nearly beat eventual winner GG in the QF but cramp set in. You vowed to come back stronger. And you did.
I watched you live two weeks ago in Chicago. For the 10 years that were book ended by the 2015 and 2025 World Champs, I was privileged to be a bystander and an avid fan.
Put simply, you transcended the sport.
The greatest player on court but a better human being off court. Whenever you saw me in person, YOU would approach ME: “Mr. Tabs! Great to see you again.” Such class and humility, I always thought. Kudos to his parents.
Your achievements and titles – albeit gaudy and magnificent – are almost inconsequential now. What I will remember is the way you played the game. With utter joy, intelligence, grace and a ferocious passion. You displayed a level of sportsmanship which has rarely been seen in any sport, let alone in the gladiatorial colosseum that we call a squash court.
You won modestly yet lost with conviction and charm. You made squash look more like a ballet than a barroom brawl. Winning and losing were a byproduct of your own brand of poetic justice.
As you move on to your next chapter, your legacy is secure my friend. You enthralled and entertained, playing the game in a way that the founders intended and historians will scribe.
The current state of squash is messy. Leave the protruding leg, the hip check, the hand grab, the “minimal interference” call, where they belong…in your rear-view mirror. You have nothing to prove. You walked away at the top of the game. It’s so you. Let the youngsters aspire to your standards. Your work is done.
Good luck to you and your family in the future. Thank you for the memories—so many of them. Forever etched. Thank you.
