Only those who have been living on planet Zog will be unaware that Ramy Ashour recently won his first World Tour titles, rose to five in the world at the age of eighteen, and has been dazzling audiences with his lambent smile. Everyone knows that he is going to be the next great thing - except those who claim that he already is.

"His aura just took over", one female correspondent wrote recently, "and all the spectators fell under the charm of this wizard of a teenager. And how not to," she concluded with more then a hint of abandon.

Many who have seen the talent and charisma of the remarkable Egyptian have started taking these things for granted. The question is no longer whether he can be a leading player, but whether anything can stop him becoming one of the greats.

Well there is. Most players know it, and Ashour admits it. It is particularly a risk for those who capture the imagination of the pubic. It's pressure.

It comes in different guises. There is the pressure of competition, especially as so many men can now win major titles.

There is the pressure of expectations: fans demanding time and energy, media expecting success which cannot be guaranteed; and there is the political pressure, from those seeking to exploit him for power and influence.

Then there is the pressure which affects modern squash players worse than most sportsmen - the physical pressure from so many matches and so much travel.

"Fasting during Ramadan is the toughest thing in life," Ashour says. "Nowadays I will not fast during a tournament as I would have no energy and couldn't play."

There is also mental pressure before and during big matches. "Before a match I remain calm by listening to music or singing," Ashour says. He is, some say, good enough to consider singing professionally, like Ahmed Barada.

And inevitably there is social pressure, the temptation of parties, booze, and women. This increases insidiously when he is away. "The girls in Egypt are not as open minded as foreign girls and don't understand that you have to train and spend a lot of time away from home," Ashour claims. "They get bored and think it's because you don't like them any more."

Although some pressure is unavoidable, much can be reduced. But superficially Ashour seems to allow more on board than you might expect.

"I'm very proud of my city," he said, talking of Cairo. "I want any benefits from my success to go to my home town. I want to do it for Egypt."

That is a different attitude from that adopted by many Western sports stars, often in collusion with a sports psychologist. Their mantra is more often: 'I'm not doing this for my country, or my sport, or anyone else, but for me.'

To a Middle Easterner this may sound selfish, but is less so than it seems. All those dutiful sentiments are usually part of a player's mindset at some level.

But unless he focuses on something everyday, manageable, even simple, the mind cannot function at its best.

"I got Ramy to see a sports psychologist, but he didn't like it," said Anthony Hill, the former top ten player from Australia who is one of Ashour's coaches.

"He thought he was after his money. I think he'll realise later that the sports psychologist helped him."

Hill has nevertheless helped significantly, according to Ashour, especially in developing a unique style in which opponents are sucked into the web of a rally before suddenly being pounced on.

Hill still tries to help with the psychology. "Do your own thing, but go with the flow, and you will survive," he said. "If you try to go against people or you are fighting them or disliking them from the first moment, you will have trouble. I went one way, and I am saying to you go the other way - because enemies last for ever."

Ashour's sceptical responses to the professional psychologist may have occurred because he himself is gifted in this area anyway.

Both his parents are flight crew with Egyptian airlines and he has acquired some of their helpful cosmopolitan outlook. He has persisted with his education at a local university. His personality is open and gregarious.

All this helps him fashion his own ways of coping with a snare-laden world. Amidst it are unhelpful opinions predicting he is an imminent World No.1.

"I have heard about these words," he says carefully. "But every time I hear them, it's with 'come on, push, push,' or there's a racket contract, a clothes contract, and money in it. Perhaps I can be number one in one year, but that's a lot of pressure," he concludes.

The continual struggle to act and perform freely continues on court. "While I try to find an opening on court, I also try to find an opening in my mind to get through that," he sagely described it. "I (try to) think there is no pressure."

In similar ways he tries to cope with those whose over-encouragement is a mixed blessing. "These people pump me up," he says. "I don't want to let anyone down, and try to work harder. But I try to find an easier way to think about it.

"It's hard to explain. A lot of things go through your mind. When you go higher in the rankings many other things happen.

"You have to think before losing your temper and keep composed, on court and off court. On court I keep thinking, breathing, and thinking. Off court you just have to be yourself. And you have to think better."

Ashour manages that because, as you can tell, he is a great thinker. But even this cannot always be enough. He has no manager, no medial ligament in his right knee, and almost no protection from overwhelming pressure if he focuses too much on his country's dreams.

Most of Egypt wants him to grow fast and become number one soon. But this is an exotic, rare, and delightful, but vulnerable plant. Give it time to grow.

Give Ashour a break.


 

International Squash Magazine, April '07

"I grew up wanting to be like the top ten guys, I grew up wanting to be somebody different, somebody special, that’s why I’m trying to make my own game…"

After the Canadian Classic

"I'm really excited about what happened here today, but I'm sure it will be much tougher next time I play him [Shabana].

"I'm going to go up in the rankings, which is the most important thing - oh, and the size of the cheque too of course!"

After the Kuwait Open

"When you go on court for the 14th day and it's your second final in two weeks you feel a bit loose, you have to search for the motivation to win, which is what I was doing at the start. I'm so proud to win these two tournaments."

After the Qatar Classic