Using the four corners to create gaps.  

We’ve discussed in a previous blog the importance of using the four corners of the court for defensive reasons, where you seek to stop an opponent’s attack and stop running by getting the ball to one of the four corners.

Today though we’re going to look at using the four corners as a means of building attacks, which perhaps suggests that you should build all of your rallies on shots to the four corners!

Disciplined attacking

I’m all for attacking squash, as you may have noticed on this site, but the key is to be disciplined when attacking and only go for the real attacking shots when the opportunity arrives and you’ve built up pressure. The opportunity might come when returning your opponent’s serve or it might not come until the hundredth shot of the rally. The important point is that it must be at the right time, which is when you are in a strong position and you have worked or been gifted an opening.

In order to create these opportunities and gaps on the court which you can exploit with your attacking shots, you should look to attack the two back corners and the two front corners. When I say corners in this instance I mean deep in the corners. Reaching the front corners would require soft drops or drop volleys and not kills or stuns or overhit drops. The same goes for the back corners; you need to achieve good length with your lobs and drives which actually get the ball right into the back corner on the second bounce.

If you attack these four areas of the court, primarily using straight shots, you will tend to force weaker shots from your opponent if you’re accurate, especially if you keep your play simple and just keep hitting the ball away from your opponent. Once you’ve drawn out a weaker shot, you can then attack with a variety of other shots. By attacking in this way, you are also covering yourself defensively, as it’s very hard to attack shots in the four corners and so your opponent will have far fewer opportunities to attack you. It’s when we play loose shots, particularly weak cross-courts or ambitious mis-timed attacking shots, that we tend to lose rallies as we give our opponent the opportunity to attack. By following this disciplined build-up, hopefully you can restrict their opportunities while working your own.

If it’s on, it’s on

Just to reiterate – if you get the chance to attack you should take it. If your opponent leaves a gap for a boast, you should play a boast. However, over the course of games and matches, try to build your attacks primarily using the four corners so that you consistently force weaker shots from your opponent, whilst simultaneously preventing them from getting too many opportunities to attack as your shots will all be in the very corners of the court.