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Bending your knees properly for lob shots



Getting underneath the ball to reach high levels of quality consistently.

Playing lobs in squash is is important but it can be tricky to keep lob shots from going out or coming off the back wall, especially when the ball and or court is warm. Lob shots, particularly straight lobs, can have quite a small margin for error, although this is mostly because people don’t prepare to play lobs correctly!

Getting underneath the ball

It’s important when you play a lob shot, and indeed many shots (especially the drop), that you get low. When playing a lob, you want to be able to hit the bottom of the ball, as this makes it easier to lift the ball and hit the top area of the front wall. In order to do this, you need to really bend your knees and drop your hips. How low you need to get depends largely on the bounce of the ball but you need to get into a position where you can easily get your racket underneath the ball and hit the bottom of it. If the ball or court is warm, you might not tend to drop your hips or bend your knees all that much to get under the ball but if the ball hasn’t got much energy left on it and is about to bounce twice, you might need to be squatting like people do in the gym.

A lot of players will attempt to simply dangle their racket down while remaining fairly upright, which isn’t a recipe for consistency in high quality lobs. Of course dangling your racket will get a few reasonable shots and you may even strike the ball well by doing it, but to achieve the top range of accuracy and the perfect pace – hitting the lob slow and very high on the front wall and very tight to the side wall – you need to get into a low, balanced position.

It’s a really easy thing to practise too as you can do it during the knock-up or warm-up before the match, which is good not only to get some practice in but also for getting you to use your knock-up purposefully by practising hitting shots of different paces and heights, which is particularly good for getting you focused.

If you have problems keeping lob shots in or getting them to the required quality to be useful in your matches, check how low you are getting and start by practising this during the warm-ups before your matches!



Is your length shot coming off the back wall too much?




Allowing your opponent more time and space. 

I posted not too long ago about whether people are actually achieving anything when they try to play a length shot, particularly drives (or rails in US parlance). Continuing with that theme, it’s also vital players monitor their length shots to see if they are coming off the back wall too much.

When the ball bounces off the back wall 

Lots of players overhit their length and allow their opponent a good deal of space and time when the ball comes off the back wall. At worst, the ball should come off the back wall no more than a rackets length, which isn’t as much as it sounds. Even when it is coming off the back wall as much as this though, it allows an opponent increased time to get to the ball, they have to move slightly less and they will also have more room to swing as the ball is no longer trapped in the corner. All of this adds up over the course of a game and leaves your opponent feeling fairly comfortable. Contrast this with making them rush towards the back corner as they know your shot isn’t coming off the back. Firstly, they are rushing, which is physically demanding, especially if repeated. Secondly, because they are rushing, they will tend to have weaker decision making and therefore their shot choices may suffer. Lastly, they are under pressure technically, as they have to find a way to get the ball out of the back with two walls in the way.

Balance between overhitting and under-hitting 

On hot days or with a hot ball it can be tough to find a balance between length and overhitting the ball, as it it is just as easy to under-hit the ball and play a short length as it is to overhit. First and foremost make sure your length shot gets your opponent off the T-Position, which usually means getting the first bounce of your shot behind the serve box. However, be keenly aware of how much your shot is coming off the back wall. Do your best to retain your length whilst making sure the ball is bouncing twice right in or near the back corner. The best way to achieve this is to get your racket above the ball, Amr Shabana style, so that whenever you hit the shot it is going downwards. It might also mean hitting the ball lower or even hitting the ball a touch slower. Usually, accuracy is more important than power when hitting drives, although this is not always the case.

During your next few games, see if your length shots are coming off the back wall a lot and if you can do anything about this.




Is your long shot actually long? 




Does your length shot get your opponent behind you?

It can be very easy to get caught up in whacking the ball to the back of the court with little regard for accuracy and thought for why you actually did it. The whole point of playing a long shot is to get your opponent behind you so that you can take the T-Position. Do your length shots actually have this purpose?  

Getting the first bounce behind the serve box

In general, you need the first bounce of your shot to be behind the serve box. The exact area of the ideal first bounce will vary though depending on the court, the ball and what shot you are playing. It’s wise to spend a bit of time during the warm-up trying to figure out where the ideal first bounce is to get the ball bouncing twice right in the back corner. Sometimes it will need to be a good foot behind the service box or possibly even further back that that if the ball is cold or your are playing a slower shot, such as a lob.

Even on the hottest courts, you will usually need the ball to bounce behind the serve box to get your opponent off the T-Position. If it doesn’t get beyond the box, you will usually find your opponent is able to cut the ball off. It might mean the ball comes off the back wall a bit but this is definitely worth it to get your opponent off the T-Position (so long as your length shot isn’t coming off the back wall a long way!).

Most matches are won by the player who gets their shots into the corners of the court the most and if your length is getting your opponent to the back more than their length shots are able to get you to the back, you will have a great chance of emerging victorious in the match.

Ways of getting the ball behind the service box

If you’re struggling to get the ball behind the serve box it can be for a number of reasons. Typically people could do with opening their racket face more, which you can do by rotating your forearm. You can find out more about this here.

It might also be your positioning and/or footwork is preventing you getting enough power or leverage on the ball, in which case you might need to ensure your feet are pointing towards the sidewall or even a touch forwards, which might mean moving around the ball more to ensure you are more ‘side-on’ to the front wall. You might even use a little jump. You can find out more about positioning and footwork here.

You could also try putting more weight into your legs by bending your knees more and squatting slightly or lunging, although this lunge needs to be directed by your feet and body pointing towards the side wall as much as possible as previously mentioned.

During your next few matches, check if your length shot actually gets past the service box. The player whose length is weaker and shorter typically loses the match, as they don’t get possession of the T-Position as much and provide their opponent with more opportunities to attack.