Egyptian world champions Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini have been named as the No.1 seeds for the 2024 Tournament of Champions, which will take place across five different squash venues.
Early rounds will be split between the Nicol Squash Club, New York Athletic Club, River Club of New York, Harvard Club of New York, as well as Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall, which will host eight full days of glass court play.
Men’s World No.1 Farag was unable to feature in last year’s event but will return as the top seed next month, looking to claim a third Platinum event of the 2023-24 season and his third title in New York. Farag has reached the final in every event that he has played this season but has fallen to Paul Coll in the last two Platinum event finals, a run that Farag will be hoping to end as the pair are seeded to meet in the semi-finals.
New Zealand’s Coll has been in great form so far this season, claiming three titles from four finals. These include two Platinum events as well as an emotional win on home soil at the Lucino Vanities New Zealand Men’s Open last week. Coll will be full of confidence heading into the New Year and will be determined to win a third consecutive title in New York and lift his first Tournament of Champions trophy.
Defending champion Diego Elias put on a masterful performance in last year’s J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions, defeating Paul Coll and Marwan ElShorbagy in the semi-finals and final, respectively, in emphatic fashion to claim a third Platinum title.
Since then, the Peruvian has achieved the dream of becoming World No.1 and will be hoping to recreate the form that took him there as he looks to defend his crown under the chandeliers in Grand Central.
Plenty of danger lurks behind the top three seeds as the chasing pack will be determined to score upsets and take home silverware, which has been hard to come by so far this season for those outside of the main contenders. The Egyptian trio of Mostafa Asal, Mazen Hesham and Tarek Momen are all capable of scoring upsets on their day and all possess different qualities that can trouble the top three.
England brothers Mohamed and Marwan ElShorbagy are the other players inside the top eight seeds and need no introduction. Mohamed holds good memories of the ‘ToC’, having claimed the title three times in his career. A fourth ‘ToC’ title will see him finally bring up 50 PSA event wins. His younger brother Marwan has found a new lease of life this season on the PSA World Tour and will be drawing on that form to go one stop further than last year and claim the victory.
Four-time champion El Sherbini returns to New York for the 10th time as she looks to claim yet another Platinum title and further extend her lead as the World No.1.
ElSherbini battled past Hania El Hammamy in last year’s semi-final before Nouran Gohar was forced to withdraw after the first game of the final. The Egyptian lost out to USA’s Amanda Sobhy in the Hong Kong Open, so will be hoping to bounce back strongly in the opening Platinum event of 2024.  American favorite Sobhy is sidelined for this year’s ToC after suffering a second Achilles tendon injury in the Hong Kong Open final.
Compatriot Gohar has been sidelined since the QTerminals Qatar Classic with a foot injury but is due to return to top-level action in January at the Florida Open. She takes her place as the No.2 seed in New York and will be hoping that her injury troubles are behind her as she looks to capture a second ‘ToC’ title.
Women’s Draw:
[1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bye
[9/16] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bye
[17/32] Tomato Ho (HKG) v Nadine Shahin (EGY)
Malak Khafagy (EGY) v [17/32] Tesni Evans (WAL)
[17/32] Lucy Beecroft (ENG) v Georgia Adderley (SCO)
Grace Gear (ENG) v [17/32] Aifa Azman (MAS)
[9/16] Olivia Weaver (USA) bye
[7] Joelle King (NZL) bye
[5] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bye
[9/16] Salma Hany (EGY) bye
[17/32] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v Hana Moataz (EGY)
Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) v [17/32] Hana Ramadan (EGY)
[9/16] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bye
Nicole Bunyan (CAN) v [17/32] Hollie Naughton (CAN)
[17/32] Farida Mohamed (EGY) v Ka Yi Lee (HKG)
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bye
[4] Nele Gilis (BEL) bye
Salma Eltayeb (EGY) v [17/32] Sana Ibrahim (EGY)
[9/16] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) bye
[Qualifier] v [17/32] Lucy Turmel (ENG)
[17/32] Nada Abbas (EGY) v Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY)
[9/16] Amina Orfi (EGY) bye
[17/32] Melissa Alves (FRA) v [WC] Caroline Fouts (USA)
[8] Tinne Gilis (BEL) bye
[6] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bye
Enora Villard (FRA) v [17/32] Emily Whitlock (WAL)
[9/16] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bye
[9/16] Sabrina Sobhy (USA) bye
[17/32] Zeina Mickawy (EGY) v Kenzy Ayman (EGY)
Marie Stephan (FRA) v [17/32] Mariam Metwally (EGY)
[17/32] Rachel Arnold (MAS) v Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG)
[2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bye
Men’s Draw:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bye
Rory Stewart (SCO) v [17/32] Omar Mosaad (EGY)
[9/16] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bye
Ramit Tandon (IND) v [17/32] Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[17/32] Iker Pajares (ESP) v Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA)
Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) v [17/32] Gregoire Marche (FRA)
[17/32] Abdulla Altamimi (QAT) v Faraz Khan (USA)
[8] Tarek Momen (EGY) bye
[7] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) bye
Tsz Kwan Lau (HKG) v [17/32] Leonel Cardenas (MEX)
[9/16] Youssef Soliman (EGY) bye
[9/16] Victor Crouin (FRA) bye
[17/32] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Yahya Elnawasany (EGY)
[9/16] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) bye
[9/16] Joel Makin (WAL) bye
[3] Paul Coll (NZL) bye
[4] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bye
Shahjahan Khan (USA) v [17/32] Patrick Rooney (ENG)
[17/32] Greg Lobban (SCO) v Leandro Romiglio (ARG)
David Baillargeon (CAN) v [17/32] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
[17/32] Nathan Lake (ENG) v Karim El Hammamy (EGY)
[9/16] Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) bye
[17/32] Raphael Kandra (GER) v Cesar Salazar (MEX)
[5] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) bye
[6] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bye
[Qualifier] v [17/32] Auguste Dussourd (FRA)
[9/16] Fares Dessouky (EGY) bye
[9/16] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) bye
[17/32] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) v Timothy Brownell (USA)
Curtis Malik (ENG) v [17/32] Nick Wall (ENG)
[17/32] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) v [WC] Andrew Douglas (USA)
[2] Diego Elias (PER) bye