By Chris Walker
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Chris Walker |
In a lot of discussions I have with people about the game of squash we frequently end up talking about the ‘patterns of play’ that people have in their game and how these patterns can make their shot selection easier to predict! In this issue I want to make you aware of how this happens, how you can spot it and also introduce you to a way of limiting the options your opponent may have at any given time during a match.
Are there any players at your club who play the same person week in/week out and have done for years? If you ever get a chance to watch them on a couple of occasions I guarantee that you will clearly see patterns of play that occur during the match. Often it may be a series of shots that are sparked off and end in the conclusion of the rally one way or another.
For example, a rally ensues and player A plays a cross-court drop-shot to the front left, which player B is forced to get to quickly and retrieve under pressure. So player B lunges across and automatically plays a hard cross-court drive to get the ball away from him but also keep it in play. Player A is already anticipating this shot (because it has happened many times before) and knows that if he can volley it early enough, straight down the wall, he will win the point. So that’s what player A tries to do. Meanwhile, player B knows they must hit his cross-court wide and hard to pass player A.
So there are two outcomes:
- Player A is able to cut off the cross court drive on the volley and win the point as player B is not quick enough to cover this, so player A wins the point.
- Player B plays a really good and hard cross-court drive which passes player A, who couldn’t get on to the ball quick enough, so player B wins the point.
Does this sound familiar? It’s a very simple ‘pattern of play,’ but patterns such as this form the building blocks of the game of squash. As a player improves and starts to think more about the tactics of the game, he will incorporate more and more ‘patterns of play’ into the game to win points. To give another example, if a player has a great backhand drop-shot, which his opponent doesn’t pick up very well, then he would play rallies, patiently looking for the opportunity to use that backhand drop-shot and create point-winning situations. As a player gets better and better he develops more weapons to use in patterns of play and also more ways of ‘nullifying’ his opponents’ winning patterns of play.
At the top level of the game, simply put, each player is playing in a clinical and calculating manner to try to expose his opponent’s weaknesses while trying to play to their own strengths. This is the very reason why there are so many long rallies. The most common shot during these long rallies is the straight, tight dying length to the back of the court. During this sort of exchange, players are jostling for a strong position on the court while trying not to give anything away—effectively ‘containing’ his opponent while looking for any opportunity to capitalize on, and control, the rally. As you can imagine, any ‘edge’ that you can obtain during a rally is valuable and could make the difference in the outcome of the point.
This moves me nicely onto the next strategy I wanted to discuss—potentially a way to gain that ‘edge’ in a rally. Your position on the court during the rally will often make or break you during that point. Most players are aware from very early on in their squash playing careers that the T is the place to move toward between each shot. That is absolutely correct. For example, during a rally, after you go into a back corner to hit the ball you should then move forward to the T to cover any shot your opponent is going to hit. Likewise, after you retrieve a shot at the front of the court the correct thing to do is start to move back toward the T.
Within a rally you can micro-manage your position a little depending on what shot you play to try to gain an advantage. The idea behind the strategy is to ‘cut down the angles’ that your opponent can play. This will then give you an opportunity to take your next shot a fraction earlier (taking time away from your opponent) and put pressure on him.
Simply put, if you can play a really tight drive down the wall—I mean one that is clinging to the wall—your opponent is NOT going to be able to hit the ball cross-court because he cannot get the racquet angle onto the ball to do so. For the next shot you have limited the options he can play. Most likely it’ll have to be another straight drive, a straight drop or a boast. So with that in mind you can move forward a little more than usual and slightly to that side of the court to look to take the ball early. Looking at the diagram, if the ball is tight down the left wall, you can sneak up to T position A, and if it’s tight down the right wall you can sneak to T position B.
Look to volley if he plays a length, and look to get on the ball early if he plays a straight drop or boast to the front. Similarly, if you play a tight straight drop to the front of the court it is very difficult for your opponent to go in and play a cross court drive of any sort—so you can sneak up to the appropriate T position, again looking to volley the straight drive if it’s played, but also you’ll be there early to attack a counter drop or a boast!
Try it out a few times in a practice game and see how much it changes your opponent’s patterns of play—limiting his options and playing into your cunningly set trap!
Good luck, because luck has nothing to do with it! |
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