Squash Company

Squash coaching with passion

Delaying your shot off the back wall

One way to make yourself more dangerous from the back of the court and to vary your play is to hit the ball lower on the bounce as it’s rebounding off of the back wall. This is a great way to build some natural disguise into your play, as from this position you can easily play a straight drive, boast or cross-court drive from this position.

Building disguise into your game

It’s almost a form of brinkmanship, but if you allow the ball to get a bit lower on the bounce and a bit closer to the floor, you can really draw your opponent in expecting the straight shot. This means you’re in a great position to move between different shots like boasts, cross-courts and straight lengths from the back, which can help you to develop disguise in your game very easily. Even if your opponent stays glued to the T-Position, you’re still making it hard for them to anticipate your shot. This means they will have less reaction time once you’ve hit the ball and will therefore have to move faster to retrieve your shot. Not only does it create physical pressure, disrupting a player’s ability to anticipate also applies mental pressure which will be amplified if they are prone to frustration or losing belief in themselves.

On a technical level, it also forces you to really follow through the ball as you hit it, which means you often really hit an attacking, hard, low length if you do play straight. Peter Marshall was (and is) the king of this! These attacking drives can really apply immense pressure if you stop them coming off of the back wall too much as well, because they are hard to volley or intercept and give an opponent little reaction time, which means they are hard to return before they bounce twice.



You might have to open your racket face a bit more for your shots as the ball will be very low on the bounce and you might risk hitting the tin with the boast. If you’re aiming for a length shot, you may also need to aim a bit higher on the front wall, although it’s definitely a more effective attacking shot if you can keep the ball low.

This is quite an easy thing to practice and have a go at because of the amount of length shots people typically play. You can practice this very easily in a warm-up, as well as training or matches, so there really is no excuse not to have a go at this and see if it can add a bit more disguise into your game, and therefore put a bit more mental and physical pressure onto your opponents.



The importance of deception in the long run in a game

It’s so important you develop deception and/or disguise as part of your game. If your opponent is always fairly comfortable with what you are going to do, they will always feel confident and calm even if your shots move them around the court. What causes a player to become uncomfortable and creates mental pressure is leaving them guessing about which corner you will play your next shot to.

What are deception and disguise? 

People use these words in different ways sometimes in squash, so to clarify, in this instance deception means positioning your body or racket in such a way that someone is completely unsure of what shot you are going to play. Our definition of disguise is pretending to specifically play one shot when in fact you are going to play another, e.g. having a high racket and pretending to play a hard drive shot when you play a drop.



The long game: creating doubt, disrupting rhythm and seizing control

Even if the deception doesn’t result in a winning shot or even a shot which puts your opponent under a great deal of pressure, it’s still a warning to them and will almost certainly sit uncomfortably in the back of their mind. Let’s say for example you play a straight drop from the back of the court after lining up as if you were going to play a straight drive (or even just out of the blue when your opponent is expecting another straight drive because there’s been a series of straight drives or you’ve almost always picked that shot). Even if your opponent gets the drop back, they will be more wary next time you are in the back corner as they know you might well go for the straight drop, as well as the more typical choice of a long shot. With this in mind, watch to see if they move higher up the court than normal. This is a very common, instinctive move and it leaves a bit more of a gap for you to play a length shot into at the back of the court, which makes your length shot more dangerous. They may then become frustrated when the drive is played and catches them out, which can cause further frustration and lead to them dropping deeper again if they don’t keep their composure. Once that process has started in your head, you have them. If you can keep creating situations like this from all over the court through simple shot rotations – drops and drives or boasts and drives – you can really exert pressure on their mind. They will be forced to react to whatever you do, making it hard for them to take control of the game.

When players are uncertain of what shot they will face, they can resort to over-anticipating, guessing and making rash decisions. Not all players will but it’s worth testing your opponent’s defences for weaknesses, and seeing if they can handle the mental strain of facing deceptive shots. Additionally, if they are unable to anticipate your shot they won’t be able to start moving before you hit the ball and so will have to rush towards the ball quickly after you’ve played it and thereby waste energy. With this, the mental pressure starts to become physical too.

The easiest people to play against 

There is nothing easier than playing against someone who is predictable, even if they are very accurate. In your mind, you know exactly where you need to move to and you can establish a rhythm, which means you will feel comfortable and at ease, even if you are having to work very hard. You need to do all you can to ensure that people aren’t thinking like this when they play you! If instead you move into the back corner and your opponent doesn’t know whether you are likely to play a drive or a drop, or better, starts guessing, then you have a major advantage.



Even if you don’t get the winning shot or set yourself up for a winning shot or create pressure, the deceptive or disguised shot will still play a very important role both mentally and physically. It creates doubt, disrupts rhythm and takes its toll on your opponent’s fitness. If you can tire your opponent both physically and mentally, you can defeat them.

Use your natural advantages


When I was growing, up a very good player who played at our club was also a great badminton player. He had great ability on the volley and he would be able to pick things out the air, especially lob serves on the cross-court drop volley, which most players had no chance of dealing with. As well as this, he also used his body very well to disguise shots from the front. He certainly wasn’t textbook in many areas of his game but he was very effective.

I distinctly remember him going to get some coaching from a coach in the area to help him get into the over 45’s county team now that he had turned 45. The coach, however, focused mainly on improving his technique and making it more effective in a squash sense.

Whilst he looked more graceful on the court, and some of his drives were more accurate, he lost a lot of his edge and effectiveness. He was now a lot easier to play against and actually suddenly very beatable, whereas before he had been able to take lots of points off the very best at the club and in the county leagues even if he wasn’t as good as them.

I think the coach made a mistake here, because although he certainly improved this player’s technique, he actually took away from his game and his natural effectiveness.

I think any individual style which can provide something different should be embraced. I always encourage badminton players to use their volley skills on the squash court, because they see things and are able to do things players who’ve played only squash are unable to do. The same goes for any unique tendencies too. I know several players who played to a good level with very open stances on the forehand. Typically players are encouraged to face the side wall but these players had great deception and speed by playing facing the front wall, which won them a lot of points.

The only question you have to ask yourself is whether the ‘mutation’ or unique style is advantageous to your game and consistent under pressure. If the style breaks down under pressure, it may be something you have to consider changing or you may need to develop a second option that you can use when your normal style isn’t enough. It is also something for coaches to consider as well; perhaps an odd style is more effective in some instances than a traditional style.

For more thoughts on using or avoiding natural aspects of your game, check out our Squash Player Problems posts for fast players, skilled players and tall players. 



Cross-courting with discipline 




Changing direction at the optimum moment. 

One thing that drives coaches, team mates and spectators batty everywhere is players (usually juniors) hitting the ball cross-court too much. Quite often for squash players, hitting the ball cross-court is the path of least resistance. You don’t need to move your feet as much to play cross-court, which means it is quicker to play the shot and therefore you don’t need as much time.

Players rarely come off better as a result of this trade-off between reduced effort and having to play a cross-court shot. The player may use less energy and save themselves some time but they also typically gift their opponent an opportunity to attack when the cross-court doesn’t reach the required area of the court.

Showing the straight drive

The cross-court length can be one of squash’s great attacking shots when used effectively. The optimum time to use it is when an opponent is anticipating a straight shot, particularly from the back, and so starts to edge towards the back corner to get ready for a straight length shot. At this point, the cross-court length is incredibly damaging, as the player has already begun to move in the opposite direction. The best way to get players to start moving towards the straight length shot is to use the cross-court length sparingly, so that they feel the straight shot will be your most likely shot choice. This naturally then makes your cross-court all the more effective when you do use it.

Cross-courting from a position of strength 

Personally, I think the key to getting the cross-court length right is to play it when you are in a position of strength. Most of the time people flap and play a cross-court shot if they are unsure or under a bit of pressure, because as we mentioned earlier, it is always an easy shot to hit. Logically, this is a disaster as the shot is likely to be inaccurate if played while under pressure, which means it is likely to be looser and in the middle of the court and in an area where the opponent can intercept it comfortably.

Be the one who changes the direction of play with the cross-court, but only on your terms. Only change it when you are in a strong position and preferably when your opponent is vulnerable, as in the previous paragraph where they may be anticipating a straight ball and are already on the move.

Turning your opponent

When playing your cross-court you need to aim to turn your opponent towards the back corners. If your cross-court doesn’t get behind them, then it’s likely to give them an opportunity to volley or put you under pressure. So ensure when you do play cross-court that you get the depth to really turn your opponent towards the back of the court to limit their options significantly.

Never cross-court unnecessarily. Cross-courts are great attacking shots when your opponent leaves a gap but they should be used at the right time and at the right moment; always from a position of strength.




Being ‘front-on’ in the front of the court



In squash, it’s important to have different shot options wherever you find yourself on court and perhaps even more important to make your opponent think you have multiple shot options.

The front of the court 

Being in front of your opponent in the front half of the court is one of the most advantageous positions to be in, in squash. From here you have the entire court open to you and you also have your opponent’s full attention, which enables you to use deception and disguise to great effect.

There are numerous ways of being more deceptive but one quick way is to play as many shots as you can from a ‘front-on’ position. To be ‘front-on’ in the front corner means to have your body and chest facing the front wall as you strike the ball, in contrast to the traditional ‘side-on’ position where your body is facing the side wall as you strike the ball.

DSC_0043

Being ‘front-on’ has numerous advantages. Typically, it is quicker to get into this position but perhaps more pertinently, from this position it is easier to play cross-court shots meaning you can play to the whole court with greater ease than when side-on. With this in mind, it is very difficult for your opponent to anticipate what your shot will be, which will leave them under increased pressure.”

The other major benefit for deception and disguise is that it makes you physically bigger, as we talk about in another blog post ‘Using your body to disguise shots’. By being front on, you are capable of blocking your opponent’s view of the ball, which means they can quite literally lose track of the ball, which is of course a major advantage.

It isn’t all positive though, as the reason players are encouraged to be ‘side-on’ is for improved control. When you are front on, it is often far more difficult to control the ball and keep your shots accurate, particularly when going for a straight shot, so there is some trade-off to playing a shot from a ‘front-on’ position. At times, this trade-off is worth it, especially if you’re short on time or if your opponent plays a weak shot and you can hide the ball from their view but at other times, you can’t beat being side-on.

Have a few goes on it and see when and how being front on at the front works for you!