Longest unbeaten run in professional sport
Five years and eight months without defeat, from a British Open final loss to Geoff Hunt in November 1981 until Ross Norman beat him in the 1986 World Open final in Toulouse.
Squash · Two players, four walls and nowhere to hide — the most physically brutal racket sport ever invented.
Squash's record book is dominated by two kinds of number: streaks and durations. Because the sport is a closed one-on-one contest with no team to hide behind and no weather to intervene, dominance shows up as long unbroken runs, and because rallies can be extended almost indefinitely, its endurance marks are extreme even by the standards of professional sport.
The figures below are drawn from World Squash Federation and PSA records, Guinness World Records and contemporaneous reports. Where a career pre-dates organized world rankings or a player's birth year is disputed, that is noted rather than smoothed over.
Five years and eight months without defeat, from a British Open final loss to Geoff Hunt in November 1981 until Ross Norman beat him in the 1986 World Open final in Toulouse.
Jansher won eight World Opens in ten years, one more than any other man. Jahangir Khan is next with six, all won between 1981 and 1988.
The Malaysian's eight world titles are the record for either sex in the women's championship. Nour El Sherbini has since moved to within touching distance of the mark.
Sixteen straight titles at what was then effectively the world championship, a run interrupted only by her retirement from the event. No player of either sex has come close.
Ten consecutive titles at the sport's oldest major. Geoff Hunt is second with eight, spread across thirteen seasons, and Hashim Khan won seven in the 1950s.
More than nine consecutive years at the top of the women's world rankings, the longest continuous reign in squash history and one of the longest in any individual sport.
McKay lost two competitive matches in her entire career, both in the same year, and was unbeaten for roughly nineteen years afterwards across British Opens, World Opens and national titles.
Jahangir had already won the world amateur title at 15 in 1979. His 1981 World Open victory remains the youngest by a man, and no teenager has won it since.
El Sherbini had already become the youngest ever finalist at 16 in 2012, and won the world junior title twice before that. She has since built one of the sport's largest title hauls.
The Chivas Regal Patrick International final in Chichester, England. Jahangir won in four games; one rally in the match is reported to have lasted five and a half minutes.
Canada's Delierre beat Hong Kong's Au in a five-game qualifying-round marathon at the NASH Cup in London, Ontario, recognized as the longest match on the professional tour.
The Australian professional set the Guinness World Record for the fastest squash ball hit, a mark that puts squash among the fastest of all racket sports by ball speed.
The Connecticut college won 252 straight dual matches over fourteen seasons, the longest winning streak recorded in any American intercollegiate sport, before Yale finally beat them in 2012.
Hashim won the British Open at his first attempt, having travelled from Peshawar. His birth year is disputed between 1914 and 1916, so his exact age remains uncertain; he won his last title in 1958.
The loneliest duel in sport: no clock, no teammates, no place to hide until the last point is won.
🏓The fastest ball sport on Earth, decided in the width of a fingernail and the spin no eye can fully read.
🏸The world's fastest racquet sport, where 400 km/h smashes and feather-soft net shots collide inside a single rally.