But it is not just Farag’s excellence on the court that has made his teammates thankful he joined the Crimson before the season began. The sophomore, an academic All-Ivy performer in the classroom, is a great teammate as well.

“Obviously, [Farag is] an incredible sportsman, but he’s also an incredible person,” freshman Nick Hopcroft says. “He’s genuinely one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. His passion for squash is inspiring to all of us.... It’s been amazing to be able to play with and learn from him. He’s a great person to talk to about your game.”

“He’s extremely humble, almost to a fault,” co-captain Will Ahmed adds. “He’s encouraging of his teammates, and he’s exactly the type of player that you’d want as your No. 1.”

With two years of eligibility left, only one questions remains: Where does Farag go from here?

“I don’t want to put pressure on him,” Ahmed said in March. “But you have to imagine that he’s in pretty good shape to [win the individual championships] the next two years, barring injuries or a player that no one’s heard of yet.”

“He’s an incredible talent,” Hopcroft adds. “I think he can go unbeaten for the rest of his college career.”

After captaining the Egyptian junior squash team to a world title in Quito, Ecuador in 2010, one goal of the CSA first-team All-American is to lead his new team to its first national championship since 1998 during his tenure in Cambridge. But if Farag has his way, his impact will go beyond Northeastern gymnasiums and extend all the way back to his home country.

“After the revolution, my parents took a different perspective talking to me about the issue of coming here,” Farag explained in February. “They told me to go there and learn something because there are not many Egyptians that come [to Harvard]. Then, come back...and try to do something for Egypt.”

No matter how many more individual titles he wins, one thing is clear: If Ali Farag can have anywhere near as significant an impact on his home country as he has had on the world of collegiate squash, that will certainly be his most important victory yet.

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.