Doha — The Golden Tiger is purring. Joel Makin, with his boxer’s talk, has aims to reach the world’s top five and beyond. First steps first. On Thursday, he was poised to become British men’s No.1 next week after reaching his third QTerminals Qatar Classic semi-final.
The Welshman, who will take over from Mohamed Elshorbagy and into a crucial world No.8 spot, looked on song for a quick ousting of Fares Dessouky at 11-5, 11-5 up. Then Dessouky’s “world-class skill”, as Makin said afterwards, came to the fore by going increasingly short to take this last eight into a fourth.
Makin says it takes “thousands of hours of ball striking” over the last three years to move up just a single ranking place. That’s life at the top end of the game.
Looking lean and mean – a non-plussed Makin was even devoid of thanks when Dessouky threw a towel at him during one stoppage for court cleaners – it was accuracy which got him over the line in an elongated game with hundreds of ball strikes.
But Dessouky mustered four tins and gave two late strokes away as mid-court became increasingly cluttered and Makin used the side walls to contain the dangerous Egyptian.
Now, after an 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8 win, he’s one match away from the final and making inroads on his journey towards the “big four”.
“The top four is firmly established and I’ve had wins against them,” Makin told Squash Mad. “I want to get myself up to five.”
We thought it was Dessouky who was the gymnast? @JoelMakin with a perfectly executed backward roll 🤸♀️#QatarClassic pic.twitter.com/Nt3zxP3IDk
— PSA Squash Tour (@PSASquashTour) October 3, 2024
“There is a ridiculously high level and the next stage is to consolidate myself at five. The top four have won majors over the last year or two while the rest of ourselves haven’t.”
Makin, 30 this month, had to overcome Paul Coll in the first round as the draw opened up in the lower half. Given his current ranking of nine, Makin would prefer to be seeded with his top 10 ranking.
“There is no reward for being nine or 32,” he admitted.
“It would be nice if it’s the top 16. I’m not moaning but it would make the points and the rankings more accurate if it was seeded all the way down. But you have to work with any system.”
Makin on boxing
I box two times a week when at home. It’s what I follow outside of squash with different characters and environment. I just get stuck into it and it’s what I enjoy about sport that is summed up alot in boxing.
There isn’t a crossover. The intensity and mentality of getting hit, moving and staying composed you have to stay composed under pressure when you get hurt.
There are crossovers with squash in a different way and hanging in during a hard rally – and not getting hit in the face.