The world’s best squash players swapped their rackets for clubs as they gathered at Emirates Golf Club ahead of the PSA World Series Finals, which gets underway on Tuesday.

Both the male and female players are competing in the final tournament of the season for a prize fund of AED587,680, the highest in the history of the competition.

Defending men’s champion Mohamed ElShorbagy is the overwhelming favourite heading into the season finale after four wins from seven tournaments this season.

The 27-year-old has clinched victories in Hong Kong, Chicago and El Gouna as well as finishing runner-up at the US Open and British Open.

In what will be his third appearance in Dubai, the Egyptian is confident of retaining his title after another dazzling campaign.

“Last year I wasn’t in great shape and I had a lot of things going on off the court which affected my performance. This year I’ve made it to most of the finals and I feel I’m playing well,” said ElShorbagy..

“In Dubai you have to beat the best players in the world every day, you can’t win this tournament with luck, so you need to be focused.

“Last year I won despite not being on form, whereas this year I am playing well so I have a good chance.

“The competition is very high here though so really anyone who is on their game has a chance of victory.”

The Beast from Alexandria is currently fasting during the holy month of Ramadan but says a change to his regular routine won’t affect his overall performance.

“Luckily I’m playing late so I’ll sleep at 4am, wake up around 3pm, eat a snack at 7pm, play my match and have a meal after, it won’t be an issue,” he said.

Another player looking to retain her crown is ladies champion Laura Massaro. The 34-year-old may not have enjoyed a glittering season by her standards, but five semi-finals in seven tournament is still a formidable return.

The world No6 said: “There’s always pressure being the defending champion and my season hasn’t quite been as good as last year but at the same time this is an end-of-season event we’ve all qualified for, so you can’t let the pressure overshadow the enjoyment of being part of such an event.”

The Preston native had sealed her second British Open title last campaign and reached the final of the Tournament of Champions, but has failed to qualify beyond the last four of a tournament since June 10, 2017.

“I could go through every woman in the finals and tell you why they’d be really hard to play so it’s hard to pick out a particular individual,” she said.

“It’s unique in the way that I didn’t even look at the groups because I knew it would be a tough tournament anyway, no matter who I’m playing.”

Four matches will be played in each afternoon session during the group stage from June 5-9. The group stage matches will begin from 3:00pm.

Tickets for the World Series Finals at Emirates Golf Course are available at www.platinumlist.net.