The Egyptian-born Mohammed Nagy Elagroudy fell in love with speed-ball the moment he was first introduced to it. “I was only five years old at the time, but I was immediately fascinated by the speed and the tactics.”

Super-solo

The sport, which originated in Egypt, is played with a ball attached to a cord that is fixed to a sturdy pole. There are many different ways to play speed-ball, Elagroudy explains. “There's the super-solo event, the relay, the single match and the double match."

He himself specializes in the super-solo event. In four one-minute rounds, he tries to hit the ball back and forth as many times as possible: first with one racket on the right, then with one racket on the left, followed by two rackets forehand, and in the final minute with two rackets backhand. “It’s the only sport that can be played with two rackets.” The total amount of hits is the final score.

The same format can also be done with four players, known as the relay. And speed-ball can be played one-on-one (single match) or two-on-two (double match). “Then it’s more like other racket sports: players stay on their side of the pole and try to outscore their opponent.”

World record

Elagroudy competes in both the relay and the super-solo at national (Egyptian) and international competitions, but super-solo is where he truly excels. “I’ve been world champion for ten consecutive years now, and I’m also the current world record holder,” he says. That world record stands at 621 hits to be exact, and has been in place since 2019. “My personal best is 627, but that doesn’t count as an official world record since it was during a qualification game.”

With his most recent world title from November of this year, Elagroudy can now call himself undefeated for an entire decade. He is pleased to have extended his winning streak by another year and is already mentally focused on the next world championship.

To stay in shape, he trains six days a week. “On all of those six days, I practice speed-ball for one hour, followed by one hour of gym or some other group class,” he explains. “I have one day off for recovery, and then I do it all again.”

Egyptian invention

Speed-ball originated in Egypt in 1961. Mohammed Lotfy initially came up with the setup—attaching a ball to a cord fixed to a pole—as a way to train young tennis players. Over time, speed-ball developed into a sport in its own right.

Although Egypt still dominates the world of speed-ball, the sport has now spread to nearly twenty countries. Within Europe, Poland and France are major players, according to Elagroudy. The Netherlands, he says, does not have a team.

Combining

But how does he do it? Combining elite-level sports with a PhD trajectory? According to Elagroudy, it all comes down to two simple things: discipline and routine. “I’ve been doing this all my life, and I’ve always had to combine it with something. School, work, now my PhD, and so on,” he explains. “The discipline I learned from doing top sports taught me discipline in my PhD as well. Once you come up with a routine and you stick to it, it’s easy to do them both.”

Still, he emphasizes that he cannot do it alone. In addition to his own discipline and routine, he receives a lot of support from the sports center and his PhD supervisors. The sports center on campus has special arrangements for elite athletes, allowing them to attend all classes for free and make use of the available facilities. “The sports centre was essential for me when moving here. I think without them, it would have been very hard for me to keep my performance level while living abroad.”

His PhD supervisors support him by offering flexibility. “When I tell them I have a championship in the coming month, I need to take some time off, they are always supportive,” he says happily. “And when I do work, I can arrange my own hours. Sometimes I train after work, sometimes I train in the morning and then start work. That has been very helpful for me to arrange my schedule.”

Looking back

After more than 25 years in the sport and ten world titles, Elagroudy has achieved a great deal. He has two memories that stand out as the most special, he says. “The first one is when I won my first world championship ever, in 2015. I set a world record back then, scoring 606,” Elagroudy recalls. “This was the first time any player crossed the 600 hits barrier, which made it extra special.” The moment he set the current world record at the 2019 world championships is also among his favorites. “These two are the most special to me.”

Elagroudy does not yet know exactly when he will stop competing in speed-ball. At 30, he admits he is now one of the oldest players in his category. “For a long time my goal was to get ten world championships wins, but now that I have reached that I just come up with new goals. Like winning my eleventh world title and crossing the 630-hits barrier.” With new ambitions constantly on the horizon, he does not appear to be done with the sport anytime soon.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.