Nour El Sherbini
Ramy Ashour
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Nour El Sherbini leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Nour El Sherbini at #8 and Ramy Ashour at #12.
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The case for Nour El Sherbini
The defining player of the Egyptian age and the youngest women's world champion in history, winning her first World Championship in 2016 at 20 after reaching the final at just 16 in 2012 — the youngest finalist ever. By the 2024-25 season she had assembled seven world titles, behind only Nicol David's record eight, plus multiple British Opens and long spells at world number one that have traded back and forth with her compatriots Raneem El Welily, Nouran Gohar and Hania El Hammamy. Her squash is the clearest statement of the modern Egyptian template: elite movement combined with holds, disguised drops and an ability to attack from positions where earlier generations would have played safe. She won world junior titles before she was 16 and has stayed at the top for more than a decade, an unusual longevity in a system that burns through prodigies, and she is the athlete most likely to carry Egypt's flag into the 2028 Olympic tournament.
The case for Ramy Ashour
The most naturally gifted player squash has produced, and the largest what-if in its history. Ashour won the world junior championship twice, in 2004 and 2006 — the first player to do so — and three World Championships, in 2008, 2012 and 2014, adding a British Open and long spells at world number one. His hallmark was a shot vocabulary nobody else possessed: holds that froze opponents mid-stride, flicked crosscourt nicks hit from impossible positions, and an ability to attack off balls that the coaching manual said must be played safe. At his best, through 2013 and 2014, he strung together long unbeaten runs and was regarded by his peers as untouchable. Chronic hamstring injuries repeatedly cut those runs short and eventually ended his career, and his major total sits well below the players above him. On pure ability, most professionals of his generation still name him first.