Marwan El Shorbagy Q & A

What age did you start playing and why?
I started playing squash when I was 8 years old, as a young brother I have always wanted to do what my older brother did. I just followed his footsteps pretty much everywhere.

Apart from on the squash court what makes you most happy?
I like to go for a walk on the day off, have a nice coffee and chill.

What makes you unhappy?
Going on the squash court and feeling that i didn’t enjoy it or I didn’t give 100% on court.

Which living person do you most admire?
Roger Federer, I think he’s one of the greatest athlete of all time. His comeback in the Australian open this year is something that people will never forget.

You had a great tournament recently in Chicago, can you identify any reasons why this event went so well?
A lot of reasons, I have been working hard the last couple of months. Probably I haven’t been getting the results that I wanted but that didn’t disappoint me, i think this season I have learnt a lot, I was more relaxed during this tournament with my game and I felt everything was finally coming together. I felt working on my weaknesses made a big difference for me, it was just a small attention to details that made the difference.

You beat you Brother in this event, which was clearly an extremely emotional moment for both of you, can you sum up what feelings you experienced just after the last shot?
Thinking about beating my older brother is a feeling that I don’t like, well it’s a feeling that we both don’t like and I have always knew the toughest time will be the first time. It’s a tough feeling because I have always said that I’m so thankful to the sport as it made my brother my best friend, We share the same life and we have the same goals. We go through the ups and downs together and I think it’s enjoyable always.

On the camp with you two areas we will be focusing on are clean ball striking and ease of movement of which you do both very well, can you explain how this can help non-professional players as well?
I think the way you move on court help a lot. Since I have started working with hadrian we have been focusing on the movement part of the game and how to be relaxed in your movement which helps everything to come together after. I think this has made a huge progress to my game, it made me go to the ball early and create more options for me. You always need to give yourself time before you play the ball as it gives more options and makes it tough for your opponents.

You are also well know for you ability to play very intelligently during the big points, is this something you can learn?
Yes of course, I think this is a part of the mental side of the game. But you learn from experiencing it. I think you have to fail a few times to learn, be in this situation and see what you did wrong and then do it better the next time.

Finally, tell us a secret.
I will tell you in the camp.