UNCLE HISHAM, A LEGEND OF HIS OWN: HISHAM ASHOUR vs. SAURAV GHOSAL

As far as it seams Hisham Ashour retired from the PSA (he played only four matches this year, only won one of them - the one in the clip against Saurav Ghosal - and he's not in the draw of any upcoming event). 

A shame. What to say, he is a legend in his own way, one of the greatest, if not the greatest shotmaker of all times and older brother/coach of one of the greatest, if not greatest player of all times, Ramy Ashour.

Notwithstanding his incredible shotmaking capabilities, I could never refrain from feeling something strange, something funny about Hisham. He obviously resembles his brother Ramy, but in some way he is also the total opposite of him. Regarding shotmaking, understanding of the court and interception they are similarly amazing; however regarding speed, agility and mental toughness, there are worlds between them. 

Hisham is obviously someone who loves life, not only squash. Not that Ramy isn't a really nice guy outside the court, but Hisham would definitely not sacrifice any type of fine dinner that you would invite him to. No disrespect to this genius, but at times he turned up as chubby on the court that I couldn't believe my eyes and started to adjust my screen's width ratio. I really thought it must have been the uncle of one the players who helped out warming up the ball.

However, I remember very well when he made his last attempt to take squash slightly more seriously (from a physical point of view). It was at the end of 2010 after a visibly serious diet, he came back slim and agile (for his standards) in order to ultimately achieve the minimum carrier-goal, being a top10 player (he used to mention top5...) And indeed he amassed victories over such ultra-steady players as Thierry Lincou and David Palmer (who were both still top8 those times).

Unfortunately it wasn't to be, he peaked at #11, and in 2012 his results - notwithstanding cashing in a long awaited first carrier win over Amr Shabana - got weaker and his ranking got lower in straight proportion with his body weight getting again higher.

Anyway, #10 or #11, or #16 is just a number, and regardless of his rankings Hisham Ashour will always be remembered, if not as the best, but definitely the funniest player of all time in the history of squash.

A good friend of mine, who represented Kenya at a junior World Championships event reported to me that the then youngster Hisham told him that he should watch out, as himself and his brother will soon rule the squash world. He was definitely not far away from the truth, as one of them became indeed the best, and the other one the most entertaining player out there.
By the way, I wish I was wrong, and there will be soon another diet...

WATCH OUT FOR THIS BOY: MOHAMED ABOUELGHAR

Okay, here we have a few players I haven't had the opportunity to talk about yet. First on is flying Tarek Momen against Mohamed Abouelghar. I have already expressed a few times my admiration towards Tarek Momen (however, soon the results will have to be more consistent, otherwise he could become one of the greatest talents ever not to really make it. Let's hope he proves his points this year). His opponent, 19 year old Mohamed Abouelghar (in red shirt), is another stellar prodigy from Cairo. Watch his shots, hardly any back- and afterswing, his court coverage (both with the foot - to defend - and the eye - to attack!), so smooth and compact that I can't help but thinking of a certain Amr Shabana. By the way when I had the luck to bump into Abouelghar in the Queens Club in January he confirmed me that he mostly trains with Shabana form the big guns. And on top of all, he's got also what this highlight can not show: mental discipline. If this guy will not waste his talent in some way, then watch out for interesting things to happen. Next match is between good old Olli Tuominen - you probably remember our praise of him - against the biggest block on the tour, Omaar Mosaad (in black). It must be a nightmare to be on court with Mosaad unless you are a lot better or a lot smaller to get around him under his armpit. Mosaad is still young (24) and he's been in the top20 for nearly two years, I am curious to see how far he could go. He is probably the hardest hitter on the tour, he's got also great touch and is moving the court around pretty decently for being slightly oversize for this sport. Anything can happen yet with him, however the next two years will show if we shall whether expect him in the top5 or rather top10. Next on, I don't have to introduce Hisham Ashour (in red shirt), last month he achieved carrier high world #11 (grrr, still no top10!) Unfortunately Hisham seems to have gained some extra weight again, you can see it so clearly with him as not only does his upper body become really big, but also his movement becomes totally different compared to his slim times. His opponent, Mohd Ali Anwar Reda, another Egyptian youngster in the top30, is a highly skilled player, but I have seen a few times lack of mental strength in his matches. Last up is Amr Shabana against Cameron Pilley. Pilley (in blue shirt) is another famous hard hitter (you know what he did to his brother, don't you) and a very relaxed guy too. Why hasn't he achieved top10 so far? He probably lacks exactly that tiger-kind concentration that the really big ones have (and that Abouelghar seems to have too!)

EGYPTIAN BLITZKRIEG: AMR SHABANA vs. HISHAM ASHOUR

Even though it doesn't look like it, this video shows the highlights of a $50.000 tournament final (the 2012 Comfort Inn Open, back in January). Played on a traditional cement-wall court it gives you an idea how these guys might train back in their home clubs in Cairo; because indeed it looks - not like an exhibition - but rather like a well-spirited training-match, very fair, but without any deliberate and funny feedings, they just go for it, and it looks to me that the audacious geometrical solutions make them win more points than lose. I am personally a fan of the patient, steady, "up-and-down the wall squash", but when I see a highlight-compilation like this, it projects somehow a wider smile on my face. Thank you Shabana and Hisham for having had spent all those times alone on the court experiencing the angles! May the God of geometry be with you for long.

THE 2012 TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS AT GRAND CENTRAL STATION NEW YORK IS COMING

This post has been written for two reasons. First: as indicated in the title, the 2012 Tournament of Champions is about to start (qualifications today, main draw first round: January 20, that's when squashtv starts to transmit it live). Generally it's one of the best events of the year. The beautiful and vibrating settings of Grand Central Terminal in New York seem to inspire the players to come out with some of the most spectacular squash. You surely remember when last year 'squash went crazy' with Shabana and Matthew, the shot of the century by David Palmer or the Ramy Ahsour masterpiece - it all happend at the TOC. Unfortunately no Ramy this year, but a revitalized Shabana, a newly crowned world #1 Willstrop, an again-on-fire Gaultier and a back-from-injury Matthew shall make it more than intriguing to follow the event. The latter one will be also eager for some additional reasons: Nick has been a former three-time finalist without having ever won the event. In addition, if he wins this year, he is warrantied to get back his world #1 ranking in February (for the same reason, James will be keen on doing well too in order to keep his new crown). So get yourself a ticket to New York, or if that's impossible, follow the event live with squashtv. The second reason of this post is that No Let! is having a bad debt towards Tarek Momen. We have mentioned him as the most promising up-and-coming player of 2011, but unfortunately there is hardly anything to be found on youtube about him. Not that this clip shows him from his best side (in fact, he is losing 11 points in a row and hardly hits any decent tight ball), but it still shows the style of this unique genius: strange, exaggerated racket preparation (not recommended) no lobs at all (not recommended), drops from anywhere of the court without waiting for the appropriate opening (not recommended), and he can also clear all the drops he is playing (unlike Wael El Hindi for example). Momen was 19 when he played this match against Hisham Ashour, he is now 23 and last year he has added also a bit of patience to his game (did you see when he beat Nick Matthew in Qatar? The only man apart from Ramy to beat Nick 3:0 in the last couple of years). Before omitting it, there is also a third reason to this post: Ramy Ashour is co-commentating and it's always fun to listen to this quick-speaking buddy.

WEEKEND BAGATELLE XIII: RAMY ASHOUR AND THE CHOCOLATE

At the current 2011 Punj Lloyd Open, Ramy Ashour made another failed comeback from his hamstring injury. He seemed to dominate Peter Barker when suddenly a wrong step made the injury reappear. On top of that, as a really bad habit, Ramy kept on playing instead of withdrawing, risking therefore further damage. On one side the heart breaks to see probably the most intriguing player of all times willing and struggling to play, but on the other hand one might also wonder how come he is not capable of judging realistically the state/degree of his recovery process. Anyway, the great thing about Ramy is that beyond being the most spectacular player of all times, he is also such a lovely dude outside the court. We had recently the example of the coffee cup, or further back his singings, and now the fun impressions and emotions around a simple present of a children's chocolate. Great little 'bagatelle' footage, thanks to the I-love-squash team and the German organizers of the 2011 World Team Championships in Paderborn.

2011 ROTTERDAM WORLD OPEN: ANOTHER MIZUKI by HISHAM ASHOUR

If in our last post we showed a special shot, a shot that only one player, Miguel Angel Rodriguez is playing, then the Mizuki is the other special shot linked basically to a sole player: Hisham Ashour. The below rally happened just a day ago at the 2011 World Open in Rotterdam. Hisham won the first game against Amr Shabana in just 4 minutes, he was up then 2:0 and it looked like this could be his first ever win on the PSA Tour against his "older brother", but as so often with Hisham, his lack of stamina or fitness enabled his error-count to grow to undecent hights and made him lose the match at the end one more time. Still, his movement is so much more fluid, so much more streaming compared to just a year ago; he should definitely give it a big push training-regime-wise as, given his age, it might be his last chance to become a top10 player in the next 12 month. I remember having asked/suggested the same to Mohd Azlan Iskandar, and indeed he became top10 just a few months later. If Hisham won't make it - I hope he will - then he might retire into history as one of the best players ever not to have figured ranking-wise within the world top10. Come on Hisham!

WEEKEND BAGATELLE VI.: NO COMMENT

At first sight this video seams a simple demonstration of Hisham Ashour's exceptional touch (and nerves, as he was finding the nick at game ball down). If you keep watching the video after the end of the rally you will hear Hisham shouting towards the referee, and this is why we included it in our 'Weekend Bagatelle" section. Then in the replay even the reason of the shouting becomes clear: Peter Barker deliberately hit Hisham's hand whilst the latter was looking the get the ball from him. No comment.

PERFECT LOB by NICK MATTHEW and GENUINE CROSS DROP-KILL by AMR SHABANA

Here at 'No Let!' we tend to show one rally at one time. This is not a rule, we just stick to it as it allows us to concentrate properly on a specific shot or solution. But now it's Christmas time, so let's have a look at a compilation of the best conclusions picked from the most recent tournaments in Saudi and Delhi. Hisham Ashour can't be missing of course, next to the mizuki volley that we've already posted a couple of days ago another one can be seen at 0:41, this time against Chris Simpson. At 0:54 we get the demonstration of the perfect lob by Nick Matthew and at 1:17 there is an Amr Shabana special, a shot that hardly anybody else plays (I wonder why as it has got a pretty obvious winning geometry): the cross kill-drop into the nick. Thanks to the unknown uploader on Youtube and Happy Christmas to all.

CREATIVE, ATTACKING SQUASH by HISHAM ASHOUR

I've always thought Hisham would just be a funny caricature of Ramy: even though his shot-making ability is close to his illustrious younger brother's, movement-wise he used to be disaster. Due to his overweight he used to be constantly late on the ball, and as a consequence made silly choices and hit the tin more often than the front-wall. So it's pretty astonishing seeing him within just a couple of month loosing weight and moving so much better. With his current good results (he has beaten world #9 Laurens Jan Anjema twice in two weeks and got also the better off a slightly diminished Thierry Lincou) he will very probably break inside the top20 in the January rankings. Now it will be interesting to see if Hisham gets satisfied with this or if he considers it just as a first step to make it towards the top10. If it's the latter, there are fitness-wise still some brutal solitary training sessions ahead of him. Let's hope he'll make it, as it would be great for the global squash scene to see the percentage of the creative / exhibition-like players grow in the top10. Now that John White and Jonathon Power are not there anymore...

REACTION DROP I. : JULIEN ILLINGWORTH

The reaction drop in general is played on the volley, and more on the backhand than on the forehand (Palmer is a master of this cut drop on the volley, and Lincou plays it great too). In the bellow rally Julien Illingworth's reaction drop is not played on a volley, it's a normal drop off a not too effective cross kill by Hisham Ashour. To drop off a kill in itself is already rare and special, but the most interesting is Illingworth's racket-preparation: it's a full backswing executed at full speed. You would expect a drive or a kill with this racket-preparation as it is very hard to control a drop with such racket-head speed. This makes it definitely one of the best cut slice drops to be found on the internet.

TALKING ABOUT THE TOP PLAYERS: HISHAM ASHOUR

Ramy Ashour's older brother, Hisham, great player himself with some lack of concentration and consistency, sits on the bed in his hotel room and talks about his fellow players. He praises Shabana's depth and simplicity, Ramy's natural random game, Darwish's general strength and determination ("nobody beats him in training, not even Shabana"), Gaultier's hold and backhand counter-drop and Willstrop's hold and big steps into the front. He also mentions Alister Walker and Daryl Selby at the end. Good to listen to, and nice guy this Hisham.