The backhand technique, for beginners and advanced players. + most common mistakes.

The backhand technique

The backhand is performed by closing both shoulder and forearm to prepare it and by opening the shoulder and using the forearm to make the swing.

A simplified way to make a backhand consists of simply using the shoulder while keeping the arm extended.

To make a proper backhand you'll first of all learn to add the forearm rotation and then you'll prepare the shot by closing the shoulder and the forearm, as if you were hugging yourself, and to make the shot you'll have to also learn how to extend your forearm when making the shot.

Watch the video to better understand the backhand technique.

One more common mistake on the backhand

In the video i talk about using the wrist improperly and overextending your forearm as the most common mistakes players make.

Another common mistake consists of cutting the ball which is caused by the fact that you make the swing by only releasing the forearm in an oblique manner which causes you to cut the ball instead of pushing it.

To change this error you just need to tweak your shot by making sure that your forearm makes the racket head go downward as if you were drawing a semi-circle with the racket head.
If you have this kind of problem try to watch the video again and move as i move.

The corridor

The best exercise for two players

The corridor is an exercise in which you and your partner alternatingly do drives, this means that you and him are going to oscillate between the back corner and the center of the court.

While doing this exercise you can tweak it a bit so that you can work on:

• Your stamina
• Your accuracy
• The depth of your shots
• The rhythm of your exchange
• Forestalling your opponent
• Your volley
• Your drop shot and volley drop shot
• Your court movement

The corridor is a simple exercise to learn but really hard to master, to start you just need that you and your partner are able to throw the ball in the back of the court and that you both can retrieve the ball from the backwall.

Video Tutorial - The corridor 

The Pendulum Theory

The theory of relativity applied to squash

Space and time in squash are the same thing, by moving more you waste time, and you need to move less in order to save time.

You can think of the players in all squash rallies as two pendulums.That are oscillating at the same frequencies when the exchange is even and that are desynchronized when one of the players cannot keep up the pace.

One good example is when two players are doing the corridor exercise (playing deep drives and exchanging positions from the back of the court to the T and so on), if they are evenly skilled they will rhythmically alternate the time in which they move for the ball and the time in which hey recover to the t.



But whenever one of the two players puts more pressure on the ball, moves less and/or is more accurate than his opponent, the rhythm will be changed and one of the players will start to accumulate lateness.

The lateness is going to manifest itself in the form of having to run faster, having to move more or in making worst shots than usual.

Considering the rally as a pendulum, one of the opponent is going to loose when he is so late that the opponents pendulum will surpass his.


As i said, the factors that determine this situation are multiple:

• Precision of the shot 
• Efficiency of court movement 
• Speed of movement 
• Number of mistakes.

Whenever you are playing with your opponent you are trying to efficiently use your time/space to increase the distance between the two pendulums.By always keeping your opponent late you are effectively making him paying for his mistakes in terms of precision and energy.