I started playing squash seriously when I moved to New York, about two years ago. Having grown up in Spain, squash was, to me, an obscure, niche sport - one you would barely hear about. Instead, I grew up playing tennis, the most popular of racket sports, which I played continuously and competitively until I graduated from university. For most of my life it’s been my favorite game.
When I picked up squash, I assumed (like many tennis players do) that years of swinging a racket would naturally translate. But in reality, the two sports share little beyond similar equipment. They demand entirely different instincts, techniques, and ways of thinking.
I have slowly learned this over the last two years. So I have come up with a guide of sorts; a series of “rules” cemented after spending many hours on court trying different things while getting my butt kicked by better players. I wanted to share them with the Open Squash community for anyone making a similar transition from tennis, a different racket sport, or just picking up a racket for the very first time. I hope they help you improve your game!
Note: While I am primarily a tennis player by upbringing, I’ve tried virtually every racket sport out there: padel, table tennis, pickleball, you name it. While many of the comparisons below refer to tennis, I believe they can be useful for others coming from a different racket sport too.
Movement
Rule 1: Long lunges vs. small steps
When I took my first squash lesson, the pro at the club told me “I hear your shoes squeaking too much.” As a tennis player, you’re taught to take quick, small steps towards the ball. The more steps, the better your movement. For me, squash required a full rewiring of this instinct. Using the tennis movement in the squash court I felt like a bull in a china shop, and I could never hit the ball quite cleanly.
I learned that, in squash, you need to be extremely economical in your movement. You rarely need to take more than three steps towards the ball. Consciously applying this elevated my game to a new level. Once I did, I was striking the ball much better, clearing efficiently, and getting less tired during matches.
Rule 2: Get low by bending your knees
I’m used to a high-bouncing ball. I’ve played clay court tennis my whole life, and I love smacking a ball at chest height. Well, switching to squash was a rude awakening. Most balls you hit are going to be at knee height and, to deal with them effectively, you need to get low.
And by that I mean you need to bend your knees, which is something I still suck at many days. I have a bad habit of bending at the waist, and it’s given me no shortage of back problems. If you’re like me, changing this habit will require a conscious effort. And however low you think you’re already getting, trust me, you can get lower. This will help you remain steady and balanced through the swing and as you move back to the T, and you will quickly notice that this does wonders for the quality of your shots, giving them a lot more bite and depth.
Rule 3: Let the ball come to you
Tennis coaches always tell you that you should attack the ball. Passiveness gets punished by opponents. So my instinct is always to move aggressively towards the ball, which often causes me to get jammed, lacking space to strike the ball comfortably.
In squash you will quickly learn that it’s actually good to wait for the ball. You have more time and space than you think in that little box. You’re never that far from the ball. And if you learn to wait for the ball, you can also play with the timing of your shots by holding your swing, which is an essential skill of deception that will make you a significantly more dangerous and unpredictable opponent.
Fitness
Rule 4: Stretch well
The day after I played squash for the first time I was so sore I couldn’t walk. People underestimate how physically demanding this sport is, and the importance of stretching cannot be understated. Squash puts enormous stress on your legs, hips, and lower back with the constant lunging, twisting, and quick directional changes. If you want to play regularly, especially into your 30s and 40s, you can’t just show up at the court five minutes in advance. Give stretching the respect it needs.
Squash bonus: I’ve found that squash is much better for my knees than tennis. Tennis is high-impact, with your knees supporting you when you land after a serve or a jumping backhand. I have runners knee -worn down cartilage under the kneecap- after years of playing tennis. Squash has given me no problems thanks to the fact that you’re not jumping as much and the surface (wooden floor) is much smoother than a tennis hard court.
Rule 5: Pace yourself
When I first started playing, I came out all guns blazing, focused on gaining advantage early in the match. What ended up happening is that I would burn out when the game in the fourth and fifth games.
In squash, you benefit more if you treat the first game as an extension of the warmup. Keep the rallies long and pay attention to your opponents playstyle. You may lose the first game but you will gain valuable intel that will help you in latter stages of the match. Play the long game and don’t burn out early. Squash is a game of endurance, and you want to be able to get to the business end of matches with fresh legs and a clear mind.
Strategy & Technique
Rule 6: Give every point the respect it deserves
On average, squash matches have about half the points than a tennis match. That means that every point counts double. Once I took this to heart I became a better player. In the beginning, I would breeze through games, not preparing for each point adequately and thinking carefully about the strategy that I wanted to execute.
In squash you don’t have the luxury of sleeping through a handful of points, because before you know it the distance between your opponent and you is too wide to make up. Isolate yourself from the score. Treat every point as an independent instance of the game and you will avoid any costly dips in concentration.
Rule 7: Play with height
In tennis, you rarely play slow, high balls. Balls are hit straight and hard because you have plenty of time to react to your opponent’s shot, and that’s also how I would play squash when I first started. This caused me to feel rushed, barely having time to recover from my shot before my opponent ripped the ball past me.
After watching how many lobs the pros played, I started applying that in my own game, and it was a lightbulb moment. I realized that by playing lobs I could buy myself time to get back to the T and set myself up well for the next shot. It is an essential tool to reset rallies when you are on the back foot, and it has the added bonus of forcing your opponents to have to dig a dead ball out of a corner or have to volley above shoulder level, both of which are very technically challenging shots.
Rule 8: Short swings beat big, winding swings
Tennis requires you to generate massive amounts of pace and spin in order to win points. That means that tennis players often develop big winding swings, with long follow-throughs. Initially, my swings in squash resembled those of my tennis swing. This resulted in some wild shots, tiring easily, and conceding a stroke or two from clipping my opponent.
Working on my ability to hit a hard, accurate shot with a shorter swing helped me improve dramatically. I gained much more control over my shots, points flowed easier, and I was conceding fewer lets and strokes.
Rule 9: Don’t hit as hard as you can
Similarly to rule 8, I came into squash with the tennis mentality of needing to hit big in order to win points. I thought the harder I hit the more I’d dominate. I slowly and painfully realized that, because of this, the ball was springing around too much which would give away easy setups to my opponents that they could easily put away with a winner.
In club level squash, control beats power every time. A shot that clings to the side wall or dies in the back corner is far deadlier than one that flies off the back wall. Once I started hitting controlled shots with just the right weight, my opponents were having fewer chances to attack and I was extracting loose shots from them that I could then attack more easily.
Rule 10: Suffocate your opponent instead of going for the flashy winner
When I played tennis, my game style was the 1-2 punch. Big serve, big forehand, finish the point. That might have worked decently well in tennis, but in squash that mindset was hurting me. I was being impatient, trying to end points too early with a kill shot that ended up sitting up for my opponent to put away.
In squash, patience is everything. You have to slowly torture your opponent by moving them around -side to side, corner to corner- until their movement starts to get heavier and their recoveries slower. That’s when you strike. You will quickly realize the risk/reward ratio on kill shots goes up dramatically if you follow this advice. The longer the rally goes, the better your odds become.
So, those are my ten rules, but I continue to learn every time I step on the court. That’s why I love this game. To the naked eye it looks so simple - it’s just smacking a ball against a wall. But no one can understand the intricacies of the tactics, the technique, the movement, and the mental aspect of the game until they’ve spent many, many hours in that little box.