A Squash Glossary Trivia Quiz

Answer: Service box

Squash is played in a court surrounded by four walls, off all of which the ball may bounce during play. Players must hit the ball so that it bounces off the front wall (and/or any of the other three walls), and their opponent then has to hit it before it bounces on the floor more than once. This is called a rally, and the rally is won by the player who forces their opponent to let the ball bounce twice, or hit it out of play.

The floor of the court has lines marking it into regions. The line parallel to the front wall that divides it in half is called the middle line. Between it and the back wall is the half court line, creating the left back court and the right back court. Immediately behind the middle line are the two service boxes, each extending from a side wall across half of its back quarter court.

To start a rally, the serving player must stand with at least one foot grounded inside the service box, not touching any of the lines that define it. The serve must hit the front wall in the designated area (described further below) and then land in the opposite back quarter court. If the server was standing in the right service box, the ball must bounce in the left back quarter court, and vice versa. The exception to this occurs when the receiver chooses to hit the ball before it can bounce (called a volley). Play then continues until the ball bounces.

If the server wins the rally, they keep serve; if the receiver won, they become the new server. A player who has held serve then must serve from the other service box; a player who has just gained serve can select the one they want to use.

There are a number of different scoring systems, so sometimes the player who wins the rally always scores a point, sometimes they only score a point if they served to start the rally. Let's leave that for another quiz!

Answer: The tin

The bottom 40-50cm of the front wall of a squash court is covered with a metal plate, called the tin because it was traditionally made of a thin sheet of tin-plated steel which projected a few cm from the bottom of the wall. The red line on its top indicates the bottom of the area of the front wall which is in play. The use of tin makes it very easy to tell when a ball is too low - it makes a real racket! It is not only the serve, but any shot, which must hit the front wall above the tin.

It should be noted that not all squash courts have exactly the same dimensions, both because historically some were built with imperial measurements and some metric. There also used to be variation between hard ball and soft ball courts (with hard ball courts being slightly larger due to the faster speed of the ball's movement), but the hard ball game is rarely played any more. And courts designed for doubles, which have to have room for four people to run around swinging their rackets are larger. This means that dimensions in this quiz are only intended to give you an idea of the size and shape of things, and are not definitive.

Answer: Service line

This red line across the front wall is about halfway between the floor and the top of the area of play, so about 1.8 m above the ground. The service line is only a factor in play for the serve, as later shots in a rally can hit any part of the front wall inside the area of play.

It does, however, provide a useful point of reference to help a player determine where a ball is likely to land on rebound after a full-strength shot. The higher the ball hits, the further back in the court it is likely to bounce. (Shots that reduce predictability are discussed below.)

Answer: Out line

The out line is a red line running around the court near the top of the walls that indicates the highest part of that wall which a ball can touch and remain in play. On the front wall, it is about 4.8 m above the floor. On the back wall, its height is slightly less than half that. Along the side walls, the red line slants down to connect the front and back wall out lines smoothly. This non-uniform shape helps focus play on the front portion of the court, as there is a larger in-play area to target with your shot. But the smaller back wall area can be of strategic importance when thoughtfully used.

Traditional courts were built in cuboid spaces, with all walls the same height, so the red out line was necessary to delimit the area of play. Modern courts, especially those designed for competition, are often built with freestanding clear plastic walls, so the wall itself slopes down to form the area of play, and there is no need for a red line.

Answer: The T

The middle line (running across the floor between the two side walls, dividing the court into a front half and a back half) and the half court line (dividing the back half into two half-courts) meet in the exact centre of the floor, at a T intersection. Players who position themselves there when playing a shot have the widest possible range of options for their shot, so it is considered a strategic advantage to be able to dominate the T.

Once the shot has been made, that player is required to keep out of the way of their opponent as they attempt to make a shot, so you will see a regular interchange as one moves to the T, hits the ball, then moves away to allow their opponent room to approach. Since players cannot just hog the court, the strategy of the game involves placing your shot so that the opponent needs to move away from the T in order to make their next shot - ideally in such a way that they do not have time to get there.

Answer: Drive

The drive is the basic rallying stroke in squash. The ball is hit so that it strikes the front wall around the service line, bouncing off quickly enough to bounce in the back court. If your opponent can intercept on the way past and play a volley (hitting the ball before it has bounced), they are likely to have little control of their shot, due to the pace of the ball. If they let it bounce, they need to move well back in the court. This gives them time to place their shot strategically, but also moves them away from the T.

If the drive is played so that the rebound path is close to a side wall (making a volley significantly more difficult), it is called a rail, or a wall drive. A perfectly placed drive will bounce close to the side wall near the back of the service box, and have a trajectory that would make its second bounce in the corner where the side wall, back wall and floor meet.

Answer: Boast

While the drive is a rallying stroke, players do not usually want to sustain a rally (unless they are trying to run down a weakening opponent!), they want to end it. This is done by varying the return shot in one of a number of ways. One of these is to hit your shot off the side wall, so that it rebounds onto the front wall. It will then travel further towards the other side of the court when it bounces off the front wall, moving play from one side to the other. If you get the spin and depth of shot right, you can get the ball to bounce off the other side wall before your opponent can hit it - but this three-wall boast is a dangerous shot, as it can give your opponent time to line up a shot that will make you run the length of the court.

A boast can also be played from the back wall - if you are running backwards to make your shot, and will find it difficult to get around the ball so that you can play a drive to the front wall, it might be a good option to hit it to the back wall so that it flies all the way to the front wall before coming back into play for your opponent. As long as it flies all the way to the front, and doesn't drop short, this can give you recovery time.

Answer: Nick

The nick is the area where two walls, or a wall and the floor, meet. The two surfaces are perpendicular to each other, creating a space in which the ball can bounce off both of them in quick succession. Most often, a nick is played into the corner of the front wall and one of the side walls, meaning it has hit the front wall and is in play for your opponent's shot, but with a very unpredictable bounce. Since there are two walls involved in the bounce, and the ball is spinning, it can go virtually anywhere.

A shot that hits the side wall or the back wall just above the floor is also called a nick shot. It is almost always a winner, as the ball hits the floor so quickly after it has contacted the wall that there is no tie to retrieve it.

Answer: Drop shot

When your opponent has just played a shot from near the back wall, it might work to hit your shot softly, and with spin, so that it hits the front wall and just drops to the floor, rather than rebounding back into the centre of the court. This gives your opponent little time to retrieve it before the second bounce; even if they do make the return, they are unlikely to be able to make a controlled shot, and you may be able to finish the rally on the next shot. The lower the spot where the ball hits the front wall, the less time it will take to hit the floor, so aiming to be just above the tin is the plan. Of course, if your drop shot is a bit too low and hits the tin, you lose the rally.

The drop shot can be placed so as to involve the side wall/floor wall nick and increase the difficulty of retrieval. Whether you want the shot to hit the nick before or after the first bounce depends on where you are in the court. If you are close to that wall, the ball ideally will bunce off the floor first, then become engaged with the side wall; if you are near the middle of the court, aim for the nick as the first bounce; if you are in the back court (especially on the opposite side), it will be best to place your drop shot so that the second bounce will be in the nick.

Answer: Lob

While the lob is often considered a defensive stroke, played when you need time to recover position, it is also a useful offensive stroke. The most common time to pay a lob is when you are near the back wall, and your opponent plays a shot that forces you to run all the way forward, meaning you need time to recover your balance and move back into the centre of play. Because the ball is in a high trajectory, your opponent will not be able to intercept it, as they could a drive, and will need to move to the back court to play their shot.

So how is it an offensive shot? First of all, placement can make it difficult for your opponent to make a strong shot if your defensive lob is deep and near the corner. As well as playing a lob out of necessity, you can play a lob instead of a drive just to vary the tempo of the rally, and hope to upset your opponent's rhythm.