Hashim Khan
Sarah Fitz-Gerald
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Hashim Khan leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Hashim Khan at #6 and Sarah Fitz-Gerald at #11.
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The case for Hashim Khan
The founder. A court professional from Nawakille near Peshawar who learned the game as a ball boy on British army courts, Hashim Khan flew to England in 1951, aged around 35 — his birth year is disputed between 1914 and 1916 — and won the British Open at his first attempt. He took seven British Open titles in eight years, the last in 1958, when he was in his forties, and continued winning North American professional events into his fifties after moving to Detroit. The World Open did not exist in his time, so his major count understates him. His real legacy is dynastic: brother Azam Khan won four British Opens, cousin Roshan Khan won in 1957, nephew Mohibullah followed, and Roshan's son Jahangir became the greatest player of all. Pakistani squash held the sport's summit for four decades and every strand of it traces back to him.
The case for Sarah Fitz-Gerald
Five World Open titles — in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002 — put Fitz-Gerald behind only Nicol David and Nour El Sherbini in the history of the women's world championship, and she added a British Open crown to go with them. Her career divides in two: three straight world titles in the late 1990s, then a serious knee injury and a comeback that produced two more at an age when most players of the period had retired. She reached world number one in 1996 and returned to it after the injury, a rare double ascent. Fitz-Gerald was known for a compact, low-error game and exceptional composure in deciding games, and she was central to Australia's dominance of the World Team Championship through the 1990s. She later moved into coaching and administration and served on the World Squash Federation's board during the sport's Olympic campaign.