As Egyptian takes over at number one, Simon Rosner rises to the top 10 for the first time
By NATHAN CLARKE – Squash Mad PSA Correspondent
Young Egyptian Mohamed Elshorbagy officially tops the PSA World Rankings for the first time in his career, heading the charts in the November rankings released today and knocking Frenchman Gregory Gaultier off the No.1 spot he has held since April.
Elshorbagy, 23, becomes one of the youngest players ever to hold the World No.1 position, joining an illustrious list of stars that includes 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, and more recently has become embedded in the Elite Squash Academy working with top coach Hadrian Stiff, 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 (right) celebrates his highest ever ranking, breaking into the elite top 10 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.
PSA World Rankings Top 20 – November, 2014.
1 Mohamed Elshorbagy EGY (1499.500)
2 Gregory Gaultier FRA (1411.500)
3 Nick Matthew ENG (1316.500)
4 Amr Shabana EGY (893.500)
5 Ramy Ashour EGY (699.000)
6 James Willstrop ENG (640.000)
7 Borja Golan ESP (608.182)
8 Peter Barker ENG (506.500)
9 Tarek Momen EGY (501.818)
10 Simon Rösner GER (447.727)
11 Daryl Selby ENG (436.500)
12 Omar Mosaad EGY (430.000)
13 Miguel Angel Rodriguez COL (402.500)
14 Marwan Elshorbagy EGY (360.909)
15 Mathieu Castagnet FRA (307.000)
16 Laurens Jan Anjema NED (295.000)
17 Karim Abdel Gawad EGY (292.727)
18 Saurav Ghosal IND (285.909)
19 Nicolas Mueller SUI (283.500)
20 Cameron Pilley AUS (274.545)
Picture courtesy of PSA and US Open Squash