Gawad is one of the most skilful players on the tour and is one of the few players who can say they have been the World Champion and world no.1 in the sport. He won his first World Tour title at the 2008 Goshen Cup, at the tender age of seventeen and has since gone on to rise up the rankings. He was named the PSA Young Player of the Year for 2013. Gawad rose from eighth in the world at the start of the 2016/17 season to top the rankings in May 2017. During that period, he claimed five Tour titles – including major titles at the World Championship, J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions and Qatar Classic. He became the fifth Egyptian player to ever top the men’s world rankings after reaching the 2017 El Gouna International Open final despite finishing behind Gregory Gaultier. In 2020, he suffered a major injury during the Manchester Open final which eventually led to ten months out of squash and his world ranking also plunged. In May 2023, Gawad reached the World Championship final after defeating Diego Elías in the quarter-finals and third seed Mohamed El Shorbagy in the semis. He was beaten by Ali Farag for the title but Gawad became the first unseeded player since Rodney Martin in 1991 to reach the world championship final. It completed a remarkable comeback from the injury he suffered the previous year.