An arm’s-length between you and the ball. 

Spacing is incredibly important in squash. It affects the quality of your shot and it will also have a huge bearing on the quality of your next shot and the one after because if you’re too close to the ball, you’ll be in a weaker position to return your opponent’s next shot.

Getting an arm’s-length between you and the ball

As a general rule of thumb, you want to make sure that the ball is about the length of your arm away from you when you hit it. You can get an idea for the distance by stretching your non-playing arm out in front of you. A lot of players – including myself – will actually have their other arm and hand outstretched as they play, which not only helps for spacing but can also aid balance and provide momentum for recovering from a shot.

You may not even notice it…

A lot of good players can still play good shots when they’re a bit close to the ball and so may not even notice there is anything to improve or anything going wrong. Unfortunately though it’s something that can be exposed when playing better players, as by being too close to the ball they’ll be further away from the T-Position. It might not be much but by leaving a bigger gap for their opponent to hit into, they are offering their opponent a more obvious shot to hit and the increased gap can easily be enough to leave them under pressure and chasing the ball.

Once you reach a certain level, squash becomes all about the very small details; the inch closer to the T-Position you could be, the inch shorter your drop shot could be and the second faster you are able to take the ball.

Check and see if you can play your shots from closer to the middle of the court without losing any quality. These inches can add up over the course of a game and make a huge difference.