Nour El Sherbini

Nour ElSherbini - Bio

Nour El Sherbini is one of the most exciting female players on the PSA World Tour and has made history at both the World Championship and British Open - the two most prestigious tournaments on the PSA World Tour - in her career thus far. She has seven World Championship titles to her name, with only Nicol David boasting more world crowns.

She became the youngest ever World Junior Champion in 2009 when she claimed the title at just 13-years-old and the Egyptian then became the youngest ever Tour finalist in June of that year as she finished runner-up at the Miro Classic. She broke into the world's top fifty at just 14 years of age and claimed her first Tour title at the Heliopolis Open in 2010.

A year later she captured the Alexandria Open title and, in 2012, El Sherbini shocked the world of squash when she made it to the final of the British Open at 16 before losing to Nicol David. 2013 started promisingly with triumphs at the Greenwich Open and she also lifted her third World Junior Championship, becoming the first player ever to do so.

Injuries meant a number of months out of the game for the Egyptian but she became the youngest player ever to reach a World Championship final in March 2014 where, after stunning David in the final, she narrowly lost a thrilling final to Laura Massaro.

A Texas Open title followed a month later and she made it to another World Series final in October at the US Open, only to lose to David in the final. 2015 saw the Egyptian reign victorious at the prestigious Carol Weymuller Open, sweeping aside then World No.1 Raneem El Welily in the semi-final of the event before conquering Joelle King in the final. She reached the final of the Qatar Classic a month later, defeating David to reach the final where she narrowly lost to Massaro in five.

The year 2016 was arguably El Sherbini’s major breakthrough year, with a maiden World Series title coming in January’s Tournament of Champions before she became the first female Egyptian to lift the iconic British Open crown just two months later.

Even greater things were to come though from Alexandria-born El Sherbini as, in April, she recovered from 2-0 down in the final of the World Championship against Massaro to avenge her defeat to the Englishwoman two years previously and become the youngest World Champion of all time, becoming the first Egyptian to win the pinnacle tournament on the Women’s Tour in the process.

Her exploits there elevated her to the World No.1 spot in the May 2016 rankings for the first time in her career as she became the second youngest female ever to reach top spot. An incredible 2015/16 campaign was rounded off with a semi-final finish at the PSA Dubai World Series Finals, with Massaro exacting her revenge to win in straight games.

Sherbini began the 2016/17 season with runner-up finishes at the Al Ahram Open in front of the iconic Great Pyramid of Giza and also the U.S. Open, before claiming her first title of the campaign at the Cleveland Classic, beating Alison Waters in the final. The Egyptian fell short of clinching another title, this time at the British Open as she lost out to England’s Laura Massaro in the semi-finals, who came from two games down to win.

She went on to lift her second PSA Women’s World Championship title a few weeks later, at the age of just 21 after she defeated Raneem El Welily in the final at El Gouna - 12 months after becoming the first female Egyptian ever to lift the biggest title on the Women’s Tour and saw her retain her World No.1 ranking in the PSA Women’s World Rankings in May 2017.

El Sherbini then went onto reach the final of the 2016/17 season-ending PSA Dubai World Series Finals where she faced Laura Massaro, with the Englishwoman triumphing in three.

El Sherbini bounced back from the World Series final defeat to win the China Open in August 2017, and the Hong Kong Open later in the year. She suffered defeat to Raneem El Welily in the World Championships at the end of 2017, but bounced back once again, winning both the PSA Masters and Tournament of Champions at the start of 2018.

The Egyptian won both the British Open and World Series Finals in the summer, beating El Welily in both deciders. However, her 31-month run as World No.1 came to an end in December, as her compatriot took the top spot in the rankings. She fought back after dropping back to World No.2, by winning both the Tournament of Champions and the PSA World Championships for a third time in her career. She then finished runner-up to El Welily at both the CIB Black Ball Open and the DPD Open in Eindhoven.

El Sherbini only featured in four tournament in the shortened 2019-20 season due to a recurring leg injury, but she was still able to reach the final of all four events.

Her return to the court came at the CIB PSA Women’s World Championship, and she went through the tournament dropping just a single game. That came in the final, as she got the better of World No.1 Raneem El Welily to claim a fourth World Championship crown, on her 24th birthday, and now only Sarah Fitz-Gerald (5) and Nicol David (8) have more.

January 2020 saw the ‘Warrior Princess’ reach the final of the Tournament of Champions in New York, but she lost out to Camille Serme, before going on to claim the Windy City Open title in Chicago. Once again, she got the better of El Welily, in what was the former World No.1’s last final on the PSA World Tour. Her season ended with defeat in the final of the Black Ball Women’s Open, as Hania El Hammamy took the victory, claiming her first Platinum title.

On her return to the court following the six-month suspension of the tour due to COVID-19, Nour El Sherbini reached the last four of the CIB PSA World Tour Finals, before going on to win in front of the Pyramids for a second straight year, claiming the CIB Egyptian Open title. She took over the World No.1 spot once again after her victory on home soil.

2021 was another dominant year for El Sherbini, who held the top spot in the World Rankings throughout, and it started with a victory a CIB PSA Black Ball Squash Open. That was followed with success at the El Gouna International, before she went on to make more history at the World Championships.

In July, the ‘Warrior Princess’ became on the third woman to win five World titles, following in the footsteps of Sarah Fitz-Gerald and Nicol David. She defeated Nouran Gohar to claim her first World Championships crown, before then also getting the better of her compatriot to win the Allam British Open a month later.

After starting the 2021-2022 season with a runners-up finish at the CIB Egyptian Open, El Sherbini ended the calendar year with her fifth victory, as she won the CIB Squash Open Black Ball to cap an incredible twelve months.

She then won the Squash on Fire Open, beating Joelle King in the final of the Bronze level tournament, her first outing of 2022. Another final was reached at the CIB Black Ball Open, before El Sherbini claimed her sixth World Championships crown, winning it for the fourth successive edition. She then ended the campaign with a victory at the CIB PSA World Tour Finals, beating rival Nouran Gohar in the final.

After starting the 2022-2023 season with a semi-final result at the CIB Egyptian Open, El Sherbini then made her next three finals. She finished runner-up at the U.S. Open and the Everbright Securities International Hong Kong Squash Open, with a victory at the Grasshopper Cup sandwiched in between, her 31st on Tour.

El Sherbini was a key part of the Egyptian team who lifted the WSF Women’s World Team Championship. She won the event for the fourth time, and did so alongside Nouran Gohar, Nour El Tayeb and Hania El Hammamy on home soil in Cairo.

After more than a year off the summit of the World Rankings, El Sherbini moved back to the World No.1 spot in May 2023. That came following a hat-trick of major wins in the first part of the year. She was victorious at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions and the British Open, before she secured a seventh PSA World Championships crown, and she is now just one World title away from equalling Nicol David’s incredible record of eight.