Quick Tips for Hitting a Good Serve Return in Squash
1. Keep it on the wall. When you hit your return, you should hit it along the sidewall at least nine out of ten times because it is the safest possible shot, with the highest likelihood of success. If you return the ball cross-court back to the server, they get an easy shot without even having to move. And you will very likely have a long way to run! The side wall return (also called a 'rail return') should be your standard serve return.
2. Hit it in the air. You should generally hit your serve return before the serve bounces, because a good server will trap you in the back corners of the court if you let the serve bounce before you hit it. Volleying the serve in this manner forces the server to quickly move from his or her service box over to the opposite side of the court, and that can create errors on their next shot. By volleying rather than letting the ball bounce, you decrease the amount of time they have to cross the width of the court.
3 Don't get too close. Be sure to stay away from the ball. It is better to reach a bit with your racquet to hit the serve return than it is to get too close to the ball. You will be surprised at the power you get, and the ease with which you reach even difficult serves, if you just keep your body away from the sidewalls and reach towards the ball with your extended racquet arm.
The serve return is one of the two most important shots in squash, so practice it a lot!
Quick Tips for Hitting a Good Serve in Squash
1 The serve is really important in squash, and it can establish the likely outcome for an entire point. To get the trend going in your direction, here are some tips on how to hit a good serve:
2 Serve to Your Opponent's High Backhand Volley
look at your opponent to see what side is his/her backhand side
choose to begin your serving from the opposite side, so that his/her backhand is along the side wall
put one of your feet fully within the service box, so that you can't easily foot fault.
3 Aim Carefully
Think about where you want the ball to end up - a good target is to have the ball strike the opposite side wall right when and where your opponent wants to make racquet contact (this forces your opponent to hit a high backhand volley)
trace back from that side wall target, and imagine where on the front wall the ball should hit in order to end up there
look at that spot once on the front wall, then simply hit the ball to that spot on the front wall!
4 Evaluate
Evaluate, after the point ends, whether your serve actually went where you wanted
if it didn't, then you either missed your target, or you need to adjust your target on the front wall
Feel free to adjust your target left or right, up or down, or whatever combination you might need.
Soon, your serve will be the frustration of your opponents, and the envy of your competitors.
Practice and Playing Squash
1 Find time to practice as well as play • It is only by hitting the same shot again and again that you can master the shot. Hitting the shot many times in a row can help you ‘groove’ in the shot, and gain the ‘muscle memory’ needed to hit the shot well during an actual game.
2 Take some lessons so you practice effectively • Unfortunately, practice does not make perfect. In squash, as in many disciplines, perfect practice makes perfect. Therefore, you must take some lessons so that you learn what to practice, and how.
3 Arrange matches with some players who are better than you • While it is fun to win matches, you can learn more quickly by playing better players. Find someone who is a bit better than you, yet is willing to play with you.
4 Get fit to play squash • Squash is one of the most physically demanding sports in the world. Jogging, running, rope-jumping, and light weight-lifting are all good cross-training activities for squash.
5 Play and practice regularly, not sporadically • Playing or practicing once a week can help you improve. Playing or practicing three times a week, or every other day, will help you improve much more quickly.
6 Build a network of partners by joining a league or a ladder • It helps to have a lot of squash friends, so you have opponents who play with different styles. Also, joining a league or ladder is a good way to commit yourself to regularly-scheduled play.
7 Participate in local tournaments • When you’ve learned your regular opponent’s shots, tricks, and patterns, you can learn a lot by participating in a tournament. You will see new shots and tactics, and make new friends.
8 Keep learning and set goals for improvement • You can always get better at squash since it is a very deep game. Set yourself some challenging goals, and then define some achievable milestones along the way to your goals.
9 Learn the mental game, strategy and tactics • Although there’s no time for reflection during a fast squash point, there is plenty of time off-court to read books. Theories abound concerning the most effective squash strategies and tactics. Read books, and talk with good players about what works for them, and why they do what they do.
10 Persevere and have fun! • You will hit plateaus, seem to get stuck at a certain level, and even regress as you try to master new shots or skills. Keep practicing. Have faith in what you are doing. Remember that squash is just a game, and have fun!
Over hitting
We often try so hard to hit the squash ball forcefully, with authority, to put the ball out of the reach of our opponent. Once we manoeuvre him or her out of position, we can then kill the ball and hit it to the open court. How frustrating, then, when we do just that, and find that our opponent can still hit the ball when it bounces back off the back wall!
In short, that is called over hitting. It occurs whenever we hit the squash ball harder than would be most effective. You can over hit on a serve, a groundstroke, or a volley. It's really quite easy to do!
The biggest problem with over hitting is that it turns a potentially winning situation into either a situation of no advantage, or one that is actually disadvantageous. Over hitting means that your opponent doesn't have to run as far as they would otherwise, and has far more time than he or she deserves.
Over hitting is frequently caused by hitting with normal pace while simultaneously running full speed to reach the ball. In this case, the striker doesn't think to remove pace from his/her swing to compensate for the pace of his/her body. In some ways, it's easier to swing fully while running to reach a ball than it is to swing with control while running to reach a ball. And it's always easy to hit the ball hard when you're excited and playing a match, and are all keyed up with adrenaline.
So, how can you avoid over hitting? The first step is to become aware of how often your opponent plays the ball off the back wall. Is it rare? Is it all the time? If it's frequent, you are probably hitting too hard. The solution is to get your ball to bounce once before it reaches the back wall, and to have the ball descending towards its second bounce as it actually touches the back wall. Vary the pace and height of your shots until you achieve the desired length.
Over hitting can best be corrected during practice sessions, but you can also take note of it and make adjustments during match play. Keep you’re shot pretty close to the sidewall, and just take a little pace off! You'll be glad you did.
How To Think During Competition
During a hard-fought squash match, there’s really no time to analyse or reflect. You need simple, positive thoughts that you can remember even when you’re “brain-dead” and gasping for air.
Here are ten proven squash thoughts you should keep topmost in your mind.
Add your own ideas to this list, put them all in the best priority order for you, and repeat these simple ideas to yourself while you play. If you keep these winning thoughts right in your squash bag for ready reference between games, you’ll be amazed at how much better you play. Besides, what else are you going to do with those 90 seconds between games?
Difficulty: Hard
Time Required: About one second for each idea
Here's How:
1 Watch the ball – watch the ball throughout your stroke, until you have completed your swing. Watch the ball all the way onto your racquet strings. There is no reason to look at the point on the wall where you want the ball to go since the walls don’t move. The ball does move, so watch it closely to make clean contact with the centre of your racquet strings.
2 Quick to the ‘T’ – as soon as you have completed your stroke, recover quickly to the centre of the court. That way, you will be ready for your opponent’s next shot.
3 Hit good length – don’t over hit or under hit. Each shot hit for good length should bounce once on the floor, then hit the back wall as it drops toward its second bounce.
4 Keep the ball on the wall – the walls are your friend. Hit straight along the sidewall, and get the ball to travel as closely as possible along the wall. This frustrates your opponent, and restricts her/his shot choices.
5 Racquet ready early – as soon as you can tell which side the ball is coming to, get your racquet ready. This means getting your racquet arm back and the racquet head up. Preparing the racquet early makes you feel like you have more time. It also allows you to better deceive your opponent (if you prepare the same way for each shot).
6 Rail return – by hitting almost every serve return along the side wall (the “rail”), you make your opponent move a good distance from where she/he just served. It’s definitely a good idea to make the server have to move to get your serve return. It can induce errors and help tire them out.
7 Get the serve onto the far wall – when you are serving, be sure to hit your serve wide enough that it strikes the opposite side wall before the returner can hit it, or perhaps right as the returner attempts to hit it. This forces the returner to contend with the wall, as well as with the flight of the ball. If the returner is punishing you by hitting an easy volley in the air, you need to get your serve onto the far wall.
8 Watch your opponent – after you hit, watch your opponent to gauge where the ball is going next. If you are on the ‘T’ and your opponent is hitting from a back corner of the court, be sure to look back over your shoulder at your opponent’s preparation to learn where the ball is likely to go next.
9 Get every ball – there is a tremendous advantage to being able to retrieve more balls than your opponent expects. Never quit trying to get a ball until it bounces twice. This will eventually convince your opponent to try to hit better, riskier shots than he or she can safely make, and their errors will begin to cascade.
10 Go short only when safe – remember to hit good length first. You should hit the ball to the front areas of the court only after your opponent is behind you, and you have a relatively easy ball to play. Establish good length, then attack by going short - but only when you have a good opportunity.