Ali Farag

Ali Farag - Bio

Since graduating from Harvard University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2014, Egypt’s Ali Farag has gone on to become a three-time World Champion, and spend more than 140 weeks at the summit of the World Rankings.

His captured his first title at the Open Du Gard in 2011 and swiftly followed that up with a crown at the Meersquashheroes Open a week later. A lone title came in 2012 before the Egyptian had to wait over two years for his next piece of silverware at the PSA International Championship which was his maiden PSA M25 title.

Farag had a tremendous 2015 and appeared in four PSA World Tour finals, winning three of them. His final title, at the Irish Open, was the most prestigious of the lot. He also had a superb run at the World Championship in November 2015 with fine wins over Max Lee and Simon Rösner being particular highlights. He eventually bowed out at the quarter-final stage to eventual winner Gregory Gaultier.

Farag broke new ground at the Motor City Open in January 2016, beating then World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy and three-time World Champion Nick Matthew en route to a maiden PSA M70 title. A semi-final finish at the Grasshopper Cup and a last eight placing at the El Gouna International on home soil rounded off the 2015/16 season for Farag, who was rewarded with a move in to the world’s top 10 in May, before the end-of-season PSA Awards saw him rewarded with both the Fan’s Player of the Season and Spirit of Squash awards.

Farag built on his breakout 2015/16 season by claiming one of the biggest wins of his career against Mohamed ElShorbagy to reach the final of the Al Ahram Open - played in front of the stunning Great Pyramid of Giza - but lost out to fellow Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad in the final. He made it to the 2016 Al Ahram Squash Open Newgiza final but lost 3-0 to then-World No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad.

Farag then went on to play in the final at the Suburban Collection Motor City Open to Ryan Cuskelly. Farag was also knocked out in the semi-finals of the Windy City Open to former World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy. The Egyptian also had two runner-up finishes to Frenchman Gregory Gaultier at both the Grasshopper Cup and Bellevue Classic.

He started his 2017/18 campaign with a runner-up finish at the China Open, before winning the US Open, where he beat Mohamed ElShorbagy in the final. His next three tournaments ended at the hands of the World No.1, losing in the final to ElShorbagy in both the Channel VAS Championships and the Hong Kong Open. The Egyptian then won the Swedish Open, before finishing runner-up at the El Gouna International, losing out to Elshorbagy again, but this time, it was Marwan.

Farag failed to reach the final in just one of his first seven tournaments in the 2018/19 campaign. That was a semi final exit at the US Open. He finished runner-up at the Channel VAS, Hong Kong Open and Black Ball Open, but took victory at the Oracle NetSuite, Qatar Classic and the Tournament of Champions, moving him to the World No.1 spot for the first time in his career in March 2019. Despite a premature quarter final exit at the Grasshopper Cup, Farag was able to continue his good form. The Egyptian went on to win the DPD Open and the El Gouna International, before finishing runner-up at the British Open.

The 2019-2020 season may have seen Farag lose the World No.1 spot, but his form was fantastic, reaching the final in five of the six tournaments he played in, along with achieving success for his country on the global front. The Egyptian won the FS Investments U.S. Open Squash Championships in Philadelphia, with the victory sandwiched by runners-up finishes at both the J.P. Morgan China Squash Open and the CIB Egyptian Squash Open. Farag was then part of the Egypt side that retained the WSF Men’s World Team Championships title in Washington, D.C.

After reaching the semi-finals of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, Farag then won in Chicago for the second straight year. 12 months after taking home the World Championship crown, he was victorious the Windy City Open presented by the Walter Family. He finished the campaign with another final appearance, this time at the St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic in London.

Farag made it to the quarter-finals of the Manchester Open, the first event back after the PSA World Tour resumed following its six-month suspension due to COVID-19. He then lost out to Marwan ElShorbagy for the second straight event in Cairo, after reaching the last four of the CIB PSA World Tour Finals.

The 2018-19 World Champion found his form again at the CIB Egyptian Open, though, as he won the title after dropping just three games throughout the tournament, and with the victory at the Platinum event, he reclaimed the World No.1 spot from November 2020.

He then made it to the final of the CIB Black Ball Squash Open, but lost out to Fares Dessouky in the last match of 2020. Farag also had good news away from the court, as wife Nour El Tayeb announced that she was pregnant in the latter stages of 2020, with the pair expecting their first child.

2021 would be another incredible year for Farag, which included the birth of a baby daughter, Farida, along with plenty of success on court, including three titles, with one of those being the biggest of them all. He claimed a second World Championship crown, as he won in Chicago for the third year in a row, following his first World title and the 2020 Windy City crown.

That was followed with a runners-up finish at the Allam British Open, before the World No.1 then claimed victory at both the CIB Egyptian Open and Oracle NetSuite Open, the perfect way to start off the 2021-2022 season. Final appearances came in Canary Wharf and at the Black Ball Sporting Club, before Farag then won the first event of 2022, the Gold level Houston Open.

His good form continued throughout the end of the 2021-2022 campaign, with a victory at the inaugural Optasia Championships in Wimbledon, England, before he then also won the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions for a second time. The jewel in the crown in Farag’s season was a third CIB PSA World Championships crown, as he defeated great rival and friend Mohamed ElShorbagy in the final in Cairo. Thanks to that victory, he took back the World No.1 spot in June to end the season at the summit of the World Rankings.

Farag won the CIB Egyptian Open once more in 2022, and also made the final of the U.S. Open, but a knee injury sustained in Philadelphia ended his year. He maintained the World No.1 into the start of 2023 but that injury saw the Egyptian fall down to World No.4, as he spent four months on the sidelines.

When he came back, he started slowly, losing in the last eight of the Pittsburgh Open, Black Ball Squash Open and the Optasia Championships, along with a semi-final at the GillenMarkets Canary Wharf Classic.

From there, though, Farag went on an incredible run, winning four consecutive tournaments. He won the British Open for the first time, before claiming a fourth PSA World Championships crown. The Manchester Open and El Gouna International also followed, as Farag moved back to the summit of the World Rankings.