Gough branded 2018 as "one of the most significant years in the history of professional squash" in his review, claiming high success on the court and the restructuring of the PSA World Tour as reasons why.  

"Egypt continue to be the nation to beat on the court - with the likes Mohamed Elshorbagy, Raneem El Welily, Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini setting the standard at the top of the world rankings - but we saw players from across the globe step up to claim honours in 2018," Gough said.

"Germany's Simon Rösner and Colombia's Miguel Rodriguez broke new ground for their respective countries when they won the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions and British Open, while Joelle King of New Zealand memorably got her hands on a first platinum title at November's Hong Kong Open.

"Away from the court, the sport has continued to grow exponentially, and in July we announced a record amount of prize money on offer during the 2017-2018 season.

"Prize money increased to $6.4 million (£5 million/€5.6 million), which was an 11 per cent increase compared to the previous season, while the pay gap between men and women was at its lowest ever, with the gap dropping by 32 per cent over the past year.

"We expect these figures to grow further by the end of the 2018-2019 season, which is the first season in which we have implemented our new tour structure." 

Gough also discussed squash's exhibition at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games in October.

One of the PSA's key objectives is to become a full Olympic sport, with the organisation making three straight bids to appear at the Games, all failing.

"We were also delighted to see the sport make a big impression at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games in October, where over 25,000 people got the opportunity to witness squash in the flesh," he said.

"We are hugely encouraged with the feedback we have received and remain committed to working alongside the World Squash Federation to get squash into the Paris 2024 Olympic Games."

Looking forward to 2019, Gough expressed his confidence in the upcoming year, especially with the sport's first $1 million (£800,000/€900,000) tournament, the Chicago PSA World Championships, taking place in February.