Yahya Elnawasany’s life between rackets and book racks

Edited By: Karim H.

Photo Taken By: Mai Mahmoud

Yahya Elnawasany is not living the typical university life. While his classmates are struggling during exams and wishing that it would all be over, Elnawasany is busy mastering something different; the sport of squash.

The echoes of that determined student-athlete can be heard on squash courts all over the world, from the USA to France and the Czech Republic, and all the way back to his home country; Egypt. 

Today, Elnawasany, an Engineering senior at AUC, is ranked number 38 in the world of professional squash, and his top rank so far has been number 34. He already won five international titles, including the CIB Egyptian Tour 4, a platinum world tour tournament that he snatched at the age of 18. Platinum world tours are the most important tournaments for the more experienced and higher-ranked players in the world. 

“Despite engineering being a very hard major to study, I believe I was able to achieve many great things in this sport,” he said. 

One of his latest feats was reaching the semifinals in the 2023 Men’s Czech Open against the British player Patrick Rooney.

It started 17 years ago, however, at the age of five; but surprisingly squash was not the first chosen sport.

“I was doing swimming and gymnastics. My coaches said I was good for squash because I’m strong and don’t get tired easily. So they told me to play squash too,” he explained.  

He decided to give it a shot, and even though it was not serious at first, it all changed when  he qualified for the British Junior Open, the biggest tournament for juniors and one he won in 2015, 2017 and 2019. This was when he shifted his attention to squash.

Elnawasany is passionate about squash, but being an engineering student makes it difficult for him to balance both taxing occupations. 

Instead of giving up on either, Elnawasny came up with another plan. He decided to focus on one thing at a time, depending on the time of the semester. During big tests and finals, schoolwork came first. 

“I made sure that I would study so hard that I wouldn’t fall back. However, when there weren’t any exams. I would prioritize my practice in squash,” Elnawasany said. 

His balancing act is paying off, and he reached the last 16 at five platinum tournaments he played.  

As he felt that he could not pursue both international and Egyptian tournaments because the timings would clash, Elnawasany decided to focus on international play instead, since it would give him more opportunities to reach the highest levels in this sport. 

“Training is super tough. I train two, sometimes three, times a day. Which adds up to like 16 times a week. There’s one workout in the morning, one in the evening, and another one at night. You gotta do cardio too, that’s really important. I don’t lift weights, I just do exercises that help me be strong in the way I need to be for the game,” he explained.

While practice sessions increased, Elnawasany noted that during intense exam periods, he would scale it back a bit and only train seven times a week instead of 16. 

One of his friends Ali El Sahn, a junior majoring Multimedia Communication and Journalism (MMCJ), complimented Elnawasany’s work ethic, explaining that he basically lives on the squash court.  

“Yahya never looks anxious or nervous, whether he’s nearing a competition or exams,” El Sahn added.

Elnawasany is planning to continue working hard and participating at more tournaments to achieve his goal of reaching the world’s top ten.

“My ultimate goal is to be [the] world’s number 1,” said Elnawasany.