KARIM DARWISH, long recognised as one of the most talented and arguably entertaining players on the professional circuit, began 2009 as the surprise of the Men’s World Tour.
Coached by his wife Engy Kheirallah, herself a world top twenty player, Darwish leaped to the summit of the men’s game in January at the age of twenty-seven. A significantly fitter and more confident player, the stylish Egyptian has yet to recapture the exceptional form he showed at the end of 2008 when, with his consistent, high-paced game, he reached six finals and won three.
Although earlier in the year he reached the semi-finals at Hurghada and the North American Open, and the final of the Swedish Open, the British Open, in which he was cruelly forced to retire in the semi-finals last year against the eventual champion David Palmer, arrives at a moment when he needs to show he can still beat them all.