Hitting Straighter On A More Consistent Basis

One area that almost all squash players have in common is that we are always trying to hit the ball closer to the sidewall on a more consistent basis. Most people when they start playing just get the ball back ands a lot of their shots tend to end up in the middle of the court. With a lot of practice and patience we eventually start to get shots within the width of the service boxes and after a few more year ideally right along the sidewall.

There tighter we hit a shot the less likely it is that your opponent will be able to attack. The closer the ball is to the sidewall the further your opponent has to to go from the T to play their shot and it will also limit their ball control. When the ball is right on the sidewall only the top inch or two of the racquet will be making contact with the ball and this makes it quite challenging to get back let alone control. Even at the pro level there are countless points won every match because a ball was glued to the sidewall.

Even with this early understanding and relentless pursuit of hitting the ball tight, it's still something we can all improve upon. As we are under pressure the way we have to adapt our body and swing to play a shot makes it even less likely that our accuracy will hold up and we often pop out shots towards that dangerous middle area. This is where many swing break down because people don't have the correct swing mechanics or the they lack strength and mobility to get their body into the ideal hitting posture at top speed.

In the most recent episode of Squash Shots (episode 37) I demonstrate 3 solo drills which are geared towards intermediate players which focus on hitting the ball straighter and tighter. Below is the video of the episode and then I will follow it up with a brief description of each exercise.

In drill #1 I am trying to hit the ball into the service box without letting the ball hit the sidewall. For many years of playing squash I didn't pay attention to where my length was hitting the sidewall. Even at a pretty high level I was using the sidewall to help straighten my shots up, but as I now know this slows the ball down and it often won't get to the back wall against a top level player. You'll easily notice this if you play on a court with sticky sidewalls where the ball doesn't tend to slide down the wall like it does on some courts. A glass court is a good example of this where the ball just pops out towards the middle of the court.

In drill #2 I have a target (cone) around the short line. By doing this I don't have to worry about the back corner (which many people struggle with up to a certain point). So this is a drill that allows you to really concentrate on the direction you are hitting the ball and also focusing on the weight of shot. If your short drive clips the sidewall it will likely pop out and not hit the target so this simple drill can be very effective for keeping your swing going straight through during the contact part of the swing. When I do this drill with very new players I have them start up by the front wall and every time they hit a target I get them to move back their target by 1 racquet length.

In the third drill I am doing sidewall drives, but aiming to hit the short line with each of my drives. This another good way to work on technique and the angle of your shots without worrying about the back corners. This can be modified to hit into the widths of the services boxes too. It also doesn't allow the use of the sidewalls to subtlety straighten up your drives.

At the end of the video I demonstrate a couple of ways to practice hitting the ball to focus on your posture. Our alignment as we hit the shot will play a large factor in the accuracy of our shot. If we line up parallel to the sidewall as we hit and can maintain this posture throughout our swing we have the beast chance of hitting the ball straight. Many players crowd the ball and open their hips and shoulders when they swing, like a baseball player who pulls the ball when they want to hit for power. When you do this you tend to pull the ball out towards the middle of the court and this is a big reason many amateurs play more crosscourt shots than straight ones. If you practice hitting a shot balancing on 1 leg or on your knees you won't be able to spin with your swing making them ideal teaching tools for understanding and improving ones hitting posture.

There are a pile of drills and condition games which can also allow you to learn how to play straighter, and even begin to win by playing straight shots. The most common drills would have to be boast, drive or rotating drives. A lot of players do these drills regularly which bring the focus to hitting the ball tight on a more consistent basis. As for condition games I'd have to say the my favourite 2 are: alley games, where every shot of each rally has to be played on the same half of the court for both players. When I was in university I had a lot of difficulty playing straight and deep on the forehand side and this exercise really helped me. The second condition game is where 1 player has to hit only straight and the other player can hit anything. Sometimes when I do this in training the player who has to only hit straight can only hit to length and they 2 players don't switch until the player with the condition has won a rally. If you do this against a strong opponent this can take upwards of 1-2 minutes so it's also an excellent way to improve your physical conditioning.

Often times at the beginning of my matches I start off just playing straight drives knowing that if I can get a lead and create pressure with just this 1 shot everything else is going to fall into place once I decide to open up the court. It's also something I resort back to when I'm in a tough patch in the match and I need to get back on track. Even though I am an attacking style player, I still play best when I am hitting the ball tight and applying a lot of pressure with my straight drives, drops and kill shots.

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Improvisation

I watched almost every match on Squash TV at the recently completed Tournament of Champions. There were some amazing matches and as a player and coach I'm constantly analyzing and marvelling over the ability of the top players. The level of the game has never been higher and each year the bar raises. I thought Momen was going to take the event, but he had a few mental spats against Marwan Elshorbagy, Ali Farag and in the finals against Mohamed Elshorbagy.

What I watched at the TOC inspired this week's episode of Squash Shots and also today's blog post. Episode 36, titled 'Improvisation,' can be watched on the Serious Squash Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/tv/B7i7o-TpTe8/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

I was impressed with how fit and strong both Paul Coll and Joel Makin were. They hit so few unforced errors and with how well they move and for how fit they are, they must be a nightmare for almost everyone on tour. There's very few players in the world that can hang in there physically and mentally with those guys. Even still Makin and Coll haven't won a major title. Will they be able to with the style that they play or will they have to adapt their game? Can they adapt their game at this stage of their careers? Surely they can't get that much fitter, stronger and faster, can they?

In my opinion there are a number of players who possess the ability to hit anywhere at anytime. Players like Farag, Momen and Gawad are so smooth and are nearly unreadable. Diego Elias is also a guy who you could put into this category. Elias was the better player, but eventually succumbed to the physicality of Makin. So clearly being silky smooth and having world class ball control is not enough without an incredibly high level of fitness.

Gawad, Momen and Farag, just like the great Ramy Ashour not only have an immaculate short game, but they can also adapt their racquet preparation under pressure meaning they're nearly impossible to read. They play with very little tension in their arm which allows them to generate a lot of whipping action in their wrist so they can flick the ball to any part of the court. Coll and Makin on the other hand have a couple of very set, rigid preparations and they are more easily read by the top players in the world. It's this contrast of styles which is so enjoyable to watch, but I certainly prefer watching and cheering for the smooth moving and hitting Egyptian players.

Mohamed Elshorbagy's game is transitioning from a hard hat, Nick Matthew style of play. For years he basically played at a pace the rest of the field couldn't handle. Now there are a few that can and with the aging of Elshorbagy he has no choice, but to begin to refine his game. This is what Nick Matthew did as he aged. Matthew was able to find a few areas to be more deceptive with his shots. He couldn't continue to dominate with simply being super fit, disciplined, mentally tough and accurate. Would Matthew in his prime be able to be world #1 with today's pool of players? He'd be one of the top competitors, but I don't think he would win more than 1 or 2 titles per year as the depth of talent is simply too deep and talented now.

Nowadays there are a loads of players who are hunting the volleys, playing a high T position and are super fit. Back when Matthew was playing there were very few players who had this effortless style of play and the racquet skill that the top few do now. The ones that come to mind are of course the GOAT, Ramy and the maestro, Amr Shabana. When either of those legends were fit enough to hang in with Nick or Greg Gaultier they would have the edge. But when they're not 100% fit, healthy or strong they would have trouble hanging in there.

How do these top Egyptian players develop the uncanny ability to have such a relaxed, accurate and unreadable swing? A lot of it has to do with their decision making. They understand what their opponent is reading and they know how to create space on the court by having countless options from a variety of set positions.

Many other players prepare the same way every time they move to a specific part of the court and have maybe 2 or 3 options, but they can be fairly easily read compared to the players who have adaptability in their swing. The ability some of these squash magicians have to accelerate and decelerate their swing at the last second to change the speed and angle of their shot is what makes them so great to watch. Doing this means their opponent has to wait longer on the T and expend more energy to move off the T, which also dictates that they will be at the ball a little later and generally keeps their opponent off the volley. Squash is a sport where fractions of a second make all the difference and dictates if a player has to defend or attack and how hard they have to work. Even the top movers and fittest players in the world can only take so much.

A good example of being unreadable and smooth was first two games of Farag and Coll. Farag was reading Coll like a book and was on the ball so early. Coll on the other hand was under a lot of pressure trying to just get the ball back and hang in the rallies. Coll's tenacity and fitness was almost enough to be able to come back and win the match, but ultimately Farag had just enough in the tank.

If Gawad was fitter would be have beat Elshorbagy? What if Momen got better calls or was mentally a bit stronger and handled those decisions better? I would say they are technically the two best players in the world and when Momen is in the right mindset and Gawad is fit they are almost untouchable. The reason why? In my opinion it's their ability to use all 4 corners with tremendous accuracy and their ability to adapt their swing to hit into the open space. Have they practiced more than the other top pros or have they just practiced differently and if so what exactly was it that let them develop their world class racquet skills?

Back when I was doing my masters I did my final project on decision making at the front of the court for professional squash players. So this is a topic that has always interested me. Can you teach a player to make better decisions and be tougher to read at the front of the court? Definitely yes, but I've never seen a top player successfully change their style from a grinder to a smooth attacking player. Some ideas I would try is relaxing the arm, varying the timing of hitting the ball, having 4 or 5 different set racquet preparations and doing a lot of shot option drills and conditions games. Part of it will also come from video analysis of watching their matches and seeing where they are being read and where a new shot or two could be helpful.

Is the future of the top of the PSA be based on speed, strength and fitness? Or will players with superb racquet skill dominate? Or will a mixture of the 2 be what is necessary to win major titles? If a player is at the highest end of racquet skills can they ever be as fit and fast and strong as Coll and Makin? And can players like Makin and Coll ever develop magical racquet skills? I don't have all of the answers, but it is sure a lot of fun to watch.

 With so many amazingly talented players right now, there is 1 thing I do know for sure. TO be world # 1 for any length of time is going to take the consistency of results that will only come to those that are fit enough to back up big matches and mentally strong enough to pull out close matches. In these situations do you back the super fit or the more relaxed and technically gifted? Beating 3 or 4 of the worlds best in consecutive days it's not going to be easy to win any big trophy and that's what is going to make in 2020 so much fun to watch.

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