Mostafa Asal exclusive: “I want to make squash as popular as football or the NBA”

Mostafa Asal’s nickname ‘Raging Bull’ is well earned.

The Egyptian squash star charges around the court with seemingly no regard for his welfare and celebrates wildly when he wins points.

The 23-year-old plays on the edge and sometimes oversteps the mark.

Asal has been reforming his way recently and repairing his reputation as his aggressive approach has been met with mixed reactions in a sport that prides itself on respect and etiquette.

But he is also one of the fan favourites for his entertaining style and the energy and excitement he brings to the court illustrated by his astonishing two million social media followers.

“I'm always raging by the way. I’m always raging inside the court,” Asal told Olympics.com at the 2024 World Team Championships in Hong Kong, China, being shown live on Olympics.com and the app.

“I’ve started to mature a little bit now but I still like to rage on the court.”

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Asal has already been suspended a few times for on-court misconduct in his young career. The rising star felt misunderstood and wrongfully vilified.

“It felt very difficult, to be honest. I wanted to show people my true personality and at the end of the day, I was doing lots of things wrong.

“But I was also doing lots of things well. I was 19 years old, so I was still a junior, a kid, competing at the very, very top of the sport. It was very hard.

“I got furious with the refs, furious with my opponents and it felt like everyone was against me.

“Thankfully, I changed all of this and I’m still only 23. I had the big man with me.”

Mostafa Asal on his inspiration

That ‘big man’ is former world number one and six-time world championships medallist James Willstrop.

If the Englishman seems like an odd choice of mentor for Asal culturally, it’s because he is. And that was exactly what Asal was looking for.

“I went to train with him in England at the Pontefract Club in Yorkshire. We worked on serious things like attitude. I didn't know this kind of stuff when I was in Egypt. It was something different for our mentality,” Asal continued.

“I chose to work with him because there wasn't any other option but to leave Egypt. My family felt everyone was against me and we were overwhelming ourselves with a thought that wasn’t true. Because James was from outside of our bubble I actually listened to him and learned how to behave because he had the best attitude inside the court.

“Mentally was so hard for me because you get to the top behaving a certain way and then you’re told to completely change. It wasn’t about squash or tactics any more but getting people to see me as a really good man, not as a bad boy of the sport.”

Willstrop’s success with Asal was born out of his desire not to totally stamp out his enthusiasm and emotion, but just to better control it.

In this way, the Egyptian could better express himself and help the squash public to understand him.

“I learned that whether I lose or win, I just have to play with respect. So the people that are saying negative things can now see that you’re just different and also deserve their respect.”

Despite being a three-time world championships medallist, Asal is still in the early part of his professional career.

To fully understand his outgoing persona, one must first know the Cairo native’s background.

His father was a professional football player and former national team player. The nation’s favourite pastime quickly became Asal Junior’s first sporting love.

But after becoming frustrated with his lack of progress as a football player, he took up squash as his uncle played professionally and eventually found much greater success.

“I came to squash late for an Egyptian, but my family told me to focus into it because millions of people are playing football in Egypt and we’re not very good. We had just one top player like Mo Salah. But in squash there were lots of champions.”

Mostafa Asal: His early years

Asal started winning national titles at the age of 13.

As someone who liked to do things his own way from an early age, he found the individual sport better suited to his expressive personality.

“I love that you make your own decision and win or lose, it’s all on you. I liked the responsibility and I think it makes you a better person. You get better at making decisions in life.

Despite his amazing success in squash, Asal’s deep love for football endures to this day and still plays a major role in his life.

He spends hours watching the sport on TV and plays FIFA and fantasy football every day.

“My dream would be to be a professional FIFA player! I also incorporate five-a-side football into my training week because it’s fun always thinking about squash gets very intense. I also love to celebrate when I score.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is the GOAT for me. Mentality and ability mixed into one person. Mo Salah also inspires me as well as he is just unbelievable. His story is unbelievable his legacy speaks for itself.”

Asal also finds time to watch movies and there is one particular line from Hollywood that summarises his approach to life.

“I love the Joker’s quote: ‘Why so serious’. I had it written on my T-shirt as well!”

The six-foot-two athlete is a fan of football’s entertainment culture as he feels that individualism is celebrated rather than shunned.

As such, he is determined to make the squash world embrace some of these values even if it does ruffle some feathers.

This in his opinion is the best way to grow the sport.

“Many fans love the crazy celebrations I do and I do too. It makes me sad to see players, just after they finish playing or make an amazing shot, they don't do any celebrations. We need to let player’s characters come out and I really want this in squash like it is in football,” he continued.

“I'm trying to grow the sport as much as I can because it can be like football or the NBA. It's an unbelievable sport. It’s one of the craziest sports ever with the speed of reactions combined with footspeed and endurance. We train for five or six hours a day.”

Asal on social media following

Asal is undeniably bringing new eyes to squash through his significant online following.

He believes the majority of his fans came to him through their shared love of Egyptian football giants Al Ahly SC, the club that he represented in squash.

But while he used to enjoy the popularity, he is now starting to see the other side of being an influencer.

“It feels like a lot of pressure at the moment. I think the followers see me in the same light as the football stars. The support I have is amazing but I think a lot of them are upset that I now play for a different team. They should all know that Al Ahly is in my heart.”

Asal’s simple approach to the negative comments that inevitably come on social media is another indication of his growing maturity.

“I don't actually read any of the comments, even if they are good. I have belief in myself and when the people close to me say something is wrong with what I have done, only then do I know I have to change something.”

Squash, and likely Asal, will get another boost in popularity when the sport makes its Olympic debut at LA 2028.

While the Raging Bull is likely to be a hit with fans, he isn’t concerned about his own popularity.

Given Egypt’s domination of the men’s and women’s squash world rankings, he is more concerned with the North African nation using this opportunity to add to its gold medal tally.

“We only won three medals - one gold, one silver, one bronze - at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“We're hopefully going to have a great team and we can now add to that medal count.

“You never know as four years is a long way away but if we keep mentality and we keep fit, we can get the medals.”