Pressure your opponent and recognise difficulty cues.

“difficulty cues”? These are simply situations where the opponent, for one reason or the other is not ideally positioned to make a good shot, or his position and movement after the shot are not good enough to allow him/her a quick return to the T.

Why are these “difficulty cues” Because there is a good chance that the successive shot will be loose, and should be taken advantage of. That is, you will probably be able to reach the ball before your opponent reaches the T.

How are “difficulty cues” An opponent may be found in a poor position due to his own fault, or because of being subject to pressure. A beginner may be awkwardly positioned purely due to lack of acquired skills. A better player may sometimes be slow to move, lack co-ordination in some situations and use poor footwork or technique, or misjudge the ball’s bounce. A very good player must be heavily put to the test before his position is compromised.

If you are playing against someone of your own level, do not be satisfied with the amount of loose shots that he produces. Assuming that you are both of equal standard, then logically, you will be more or less making the same amount of loose returns. Therefore, do not be satisfied with your rival’s mistakes. Force him to make more of them. Hence, the title, “Pressure your opponent and recognise difficulty cues.”

Some examples

The photos below and the video clips which follow, illustrate some ver. These shall be split into two groups. First, let us look at those which are self inflicted. That is, the retriever is not under particular pressure, but his technique or judgement place him in a compromised position.

In this first example, the player does not move backwards to make room for the ball, and leans too far forward instead of bending his knees. Instead of driving hard to the backcourt, he is forced to hit the ball with a cramped, weak swing, allowing the player in the dark shirt to take advantage.  

Here, the player in the dark blue shirt has positioned himself facing the corner with his feet spread sideways. Such an error leaves him with no choice but the sidewall boast.  

In this example, again, the player in the dark blue shirt out-positions himself with this poor entry.  

A frontcourt situation illustrates how poor judgement could lead to trouble. The player in the light shorts has failed to return promptly to the T after his counter-drop. He is left stranded at the frontcourt. By the time he reaches the opponent's lob, he has no choice but to hit the ball against the side- wall.  

The player in front has just played a straight drive, which unexpectedly bounced into the nick area, and sharply towards the retriever. The retriever has made the mistake of entering too close, and to early towards the sidewall. (Note the position of his right foot). He has also failed to go down on his legs. Instead he uses the trunk to go down. From such a position he is bound to make a poor defensive shot.

Now we shall take a look at situations in which the retriever has been forced into a difficult position. If you wish to know more about correct entry into the back corners, go back to the index and select the sections regarding court movement.

The player in the green shirt hits a good power drive which is not at all comfortable to pick up, but the retriever makes things worse by entering too close to the side wall.   

In this example, the player in the dark blue shirt does not move early enough to reach this very high lob, comfortably. He is stretched and the ball is slightly behind him. From such a position he may produce an inaccurate shot.  

Here, he is stretching late into the front corner. He can only defend himself with a lob, which may not end up high enough.  

Do not attempt the “winner” and your opponent are out of position.

According to basic tactics, the idea is to manoeuvre the opponent out of position, then go for the winning shot. In our discussion  here, the winning shot is intended to be a short shot or a frontcourt winner. However, it is often true that we rush to play the winning shot in far from ideal conditions, just because we believe the other player is a little late. This often produces an error, usually by hitting the tin. Rushing means either going for a winner from a position, which we haven’t practised enough, or going for a difficult shot while off balance. It is also common to see players going for the drop shot even when they have had little time to prepare for the shot, either by not taking a controlled back-swing or not making enough room for the ball.

In this example, the player in the green shirt has sensed his opponent to be slow coming out of the back corner. The ball is coming at him very fast, but despite that, he attempts the drop shot into the front left corner. In fact, his shot goes down.

This is just one example of trying to end the rally too early. Another common situation is when a player over-stretches to play the volley drop.

From this, we can recognise that the player should try to plan things, rather than play instinctively. It would be a pity to have moved your opponent around, then with the ball coming fast and straight at your body, for example, you try to play a drop shot from an awkward position and send it into the tin. It is often possible to attain excellent results by choosing to play a long shot. The long shot has the advantage of being high on the front wall and risk free. It is vital that such long shots do not touch the back wall. If the long shot is played with precision, the result could be a winner or have the opponent stretched into one of the back corners. Even if the out positioned opponent does get the ball back, chances are he will provide you with a better chance to finish off the rally with a short shot.

So, when you see your opponent in difficulty, make a quick evaluation of how secure your chances are of making an accurate short shot. This is not only important to avoid hitting the tin, but also, for another less obvious reason. If the drop shot goes too high above the tin, the player may not only reach the ball, but in effect, he has been readmitted into the rally and is now in front. The advantageous situation, which was present at first, has now disappeared.

and choices to make.

One of the most the game of squash in particular, is time. Unlike most sports, your opponent is often behind you and out of your visual field. Your sense of time helps you recognise your opponent’s position on court, as shall be explained later. Another factor, which is unique to the game of squash, is the court. With its four-wall structure a player can create or destroy time. This time element becomes an additional sense, which the best squash players manage to acquire. The part regarding not seeing the other player will be more specifically discussed in the specified section, which shortly follows. If you wish to skip to that section, click here.

between shots is conditioned by the player’s promptness to move onto the ball and execute the shot, the speed of the resulting shot, and where the ball travels.

A “player’s promptness to move onto the ball and execute the shot,” simply means that a striker who is quick off the mark and hits the ball on the volley or as soon as it bounces, reduces the time gap between shots. 

As mentioned above, when the time interval between shots is reduced to a minimum- such as in a rally with a lot of volleying and hard hitting- the pace is increased. In reality, the pace and intensity of work may increase for only one of the two players. The player who produces the more accurate shots and moves more efficiently may feel very comfortable, while the one who plays with less precision, will find himself having to rush around.  In  this  example, the player  in  the

grey shirt, takes the ball as soon as it bounces but does not play a penetrating shot. The player in the green shirt, however, finds the gap and sends his opponent sprinting. Even though the exchange was quick for both, only one suffered.

It is most important to remember that when the time interval between the opponent's shot and then yours is minimal, he/she will still be situated close to the area of the court from which his/her shot originated. Vice versa, when the time gap is greatly extended, chances are, the opponent is waiting on the T well before you strike the ball.

“” when hit hard, will generally reduce the time gap between shots. I say generally, because the direction of the ball is of major importance. Hence, this takes us to the next point.

“Where the ball travels.” This is a key interval between shots. Consider the following examples.

ut straight onto the racket of the other player, who responds on the volley. The volley is accurate and makes the second bounce deep in the back corner.

Result: the time interval is extremely reduced to the disadvantage of the striker who initially intended to put pressure on the opponent.   

The photo above illustrates a situation in which the time interval is reduced even more. The player at the front has just hit a hard cross-court which is volleyed down the wall by the player behind.

The striker hits a very hard straight drive, which bounces high onto the back wall. The other player waits as long as possible, and executes a good lob.  

Result: the striker’s efforts of  allowing the opponent less time, are in vain. 

This is just one of the situations where the unique structure of the squash court plays a determining role. The back wall annuls the effect of a fast shot.

Compare the example above with this one here. The striker hits a very hard straight drive, which is about to make its second bounce in the nick, if not taken early. The other player is forced to move fast and stretch, before the ball is irretrievable.

Result: the striker has managed to allow very little time for the opponent to respond.

The striker hits a very hard cross-court in the nick, but the ball bounces slightly. (The nick area is a particular feature of the squash court, which renders the game more complex and very exciting). The other player is obliged to move fast, stretch, and immediately swing at the ball before it is too late.

Result: the striker has again managed to limit the opponent’s time to the minimum.

The striker executes a very hard cross-court kill-shot into the nick. The player lunges for the ball but does not manage to recover the shot.

Result: the other player had too little time to make the pick-up.    

In the above examples, it is clear that when a powerful shot is precise and distant from the opponent, the time gap is reduced and the later (opponent) is allowed less time- within which he must work hard. Hence, put under pressure. On the contrary, a slow shot will generally allow the rival more time when the ball is hit to the backcourt. However, again due the court’s particular structure, a slow drop shot, which lands into the nick, deep into the front corner, gives the opponent very little time to respond.

So, how does a squash player manage to create time?

By allowing the ball to bounce on the walls, playing the shot just before its second bounce on the floor, and hitting the ball slowly and with a lot of height to the backcourt.

On the other hand, volleying, hard accurate hitting and using the nick achieve stealing precious time off the opponent. A Squash player has the power to destroy time by taking the ball early, “killing it”, or both.

The following two video clips are examples of how a player could increase the pace and add pressure by giving his rival little time. In the first, the player does things just right. In the second, due to lack of precision and wrong choice of shot, the player fails.

In these coming video clips, the player tries to slow down the pace to absorb the opposition’s attack. Jansher Khan was the great master at this type of tactic.