04-Jun-13: The Application of Ramy Ashour Peter Nicol ponders what made Ramy the player he is ...
Ramy Ashour is known for many fantastic talents –
shot making being the most obvious but also reading the game
and his speed and agility around the court. However, being
mentally strong is not normally attributed to him and I
think it’s unfair. This is a player who has gone 7 major
tournaments and a calendar year without a loss, some 41
matches and counting.
Hearing Ramy talk at the Tournament of Champions in January
this year and say, “It is more important for me to be
known as a fighter than a skilled player” showed his
understanding of what was needed to be the player he has
become.
There is no shortcut to winning over and over again, and
even with Ramy’s technical and tactical ability the need to
push physically and mentally is essential. Ramy has not
always been this way and his transformation over the past
couple of years has been great to see. Although successful
prior to that, his ability meant that anything less than
total domination of the game would seem like unfulfilled
promise.
Now, a year into a winning streak and seeming desire to
continue to dominate, who’s to say how long he can go
unbeaten? What has changed and how did he go from being a
top player and exciting talent to now the undisputed best
player in the world?
I
think back to seeing a distraught Ramy leaving the hotel in
Rotterdam after withdrawing from the World Open in 2011.
He had a baseball cap pulled tightly over his head and was
barely able to muster a goodbye. He looked frustrated and
I’m sure he felt his career was in the balance. A continual
battle with a hamstring injury had caused him huge problems
and this was surely the lowest point in this on going fight.
What happened next has made Ramy into the player he
currently is.
I
think back to seeing a distraught Ramy leaving the hotel in
Rotterdam after withdrawing from the World Open in 2011. 
