Dad’s mobile messages helped me win, says Nour El Sherbini
World No 1 needed extra motivation from her father who ‘coached’ her between games before she set up an all-Egypt final at Hong Kong Squash Open
World number one Nour El Sherbini of Egypt credited her father for helping her reach the final of the women’s competition at the Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong even though he was thousands of kilometres away in Egypt.
Sherbini was against the robes against England Laura Massaro, who led 2-1 in games and the Egyptian was on the brink of defeat after trailing in the fourth game at Hong Kong Park Sports Centre. But El Sherbini received a timely boost from her father who “coached” her using mobile phone messaging during breaks between games.
“My father woke up at 9am in the morning [Egypt time] as he wanted to talk to me between games,” said the 22-year-old two-time world champion. “He was watching me live [on TV] from home and telling me I was playing all wrong. He told me I needed to be more patient and not to push the game too much.
“His words always give me confidence. He has been with me since I started playing squash. And he knows me better than anybody else. Once I became confident, I started getting the tactics right and came back to win the match.”
