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Squash tennis is an American variant of
squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
, but played with a ball and racquets that are closer to the equipment used for
lawn tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...
, and with somewhat different rules. For younger players the game offers the complexity of squash and the speed of
racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velo ...
. It also has exercise and recreational potential for older players.


Court

Squash tennis is played in various four-walled courts. The front wall (against which the ball is served) features a telltale (usually clad in tin) at the bottom couple feet from the floor, a service line about from the floor, and an out-of-bounds line around from the floor. The back wall out line is from the floor. There are two required lines on the floor: a service line about from the back wall, and a center court line running at least from the front wall to the service line. Unlike a squash racquets court, there are no service boxes. There are four types of courts:


North American squash court

A
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n squash court is . Originally designed for the related game of squash racquets, by the early 1930s the National Squash Tennis Association (NSTA) approved play on this kind of court. The dimensions are quite similar to the official squash tennis court. The only required modifications are the addition of a back wall line (in N. American squash the back wall line is from the floor) and the center court line on the floor. Temporary lines can easily be added with blue painter's tape. The problem today is that as the North American version of squash becomes less popular, new courts are not being built, and many old ones are being converted to other uses.


Squash tennis court

In 1910 the NSTA adopted a standard court size of . Although many of these were built in the New York area, after play was authorized on a North American squash court they began to disappear. It did not make economic sense to maintain a specialty court when a more versatile one was acceptable.


International squash court

An International squash court is . The additional lines will need to be added. The extra width of the court makes the various multi-walled shots more difficult or impossible, so experienced players prefer to use a North American court. However, a court is often the only one generally available, particularly outside North America.


Non-standard courts

Originally the game was played on a racquets court, then on
fives Fives is an English sport believed to derive from the same origins as many racquet sports. In fives, a ball is propelled against the walls of a 3- or 4-sided special court, using a gloved or bare hand as though it were a racquet, similar to ...
courts. Before 1911 there were no standards for court size, and ones constructed specifically for squash tennis varied from each other somewhat. They were constructed at private estates and clubs. At least one of these courts survives today in a playable condition. The court at Plum Orchard was fully restored in 2008 with the tins in place and working electric lights. It was added to George Lauder Carnegie's " Plum Orchard" estate on
Cumberland Island Cumberland Island, in the southeastern United States, is the largest of the Sea Islands of Georgia. The long-staple Sea Island cotton was first grown here by a local family, the Millers, who helped Eli Whitney develop the cotton gin. With its ...
, Georgia, in the winter of 1903/04, and is now owned by the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
. An exhibit on squash tennis history has recently been installed in the mansion, which is occasionally open for public tours.


Equipment

Required equipment is fairly simple and inexpensive: junior
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
racquet A racket, or racquet, is a sports implement used for striking a ball or shuttlecock in games such as squash, tennis, racquetball, badminton and padel. In the strictest sense a racket consists of a handled frame with an open hoop across which a ...
s and standard lawn tennis ball. In decades past, modified tennis balls were manufactured for the game. They had higher pressure and were slightly smaller than tennis balls. The last specially manufactured ball was green, so that it could be more easily seen against white walls. Early courts had dark wood walls so that white tennis balls could be seen. Players now either use a marker to darken a yellow ball, or use colored tennis balls (such as the pink ball sold on a limited basis by Penn to raise money for breast cancer research). Blue painter's tape can be used to add the additional lines on the floor and back wall of squash racquets courts.


Manner of play

Squash tennis is played by two players. An illustrated playing guide with rules was published by the NSTA in 1968 (see
external links An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain. Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or destination ...
below).


Serve

At the beginning of the first game, a spin of the racquet is used to decide who serves first. In subsequent games of a match, the player who won the previous game serves first. The server stands behind the floor service line, either to the left or right of the center line. Tossing the ball in the air, he strikes it with the racquet before the ball hits the ground. The service is good if the ball: * first hits the front wall above the service line and below the out line (touching the lines is prohibited), * without hitting the back wall, lands in front of the service line on the opposite side of the court, left or right (depending on the side the server). This is the major difference between squash tennis and squash racquets. In the latter sport the ball must go beyond the floor service line into the receiver's box. But it is similar to lawn tennis, as the ball is served diagonally and lands in front of the service line. In squash racquets the server also stands in toward the side wall, rather than in the center of the court. At the beginning, the server can choose which side he starts, left or right. One fault is allowed if the ball does not go out (i.e. does not hit or go above the out lines, strikes the telltale, nor hits the floor before hitting the front wall). If the server wins the point he must then switch to the opposite side of the court (left or right) before serving again, alternating each serve. The standard serve is a gently hit ball that strikes just below the front wall out line, comes back in a high arc, then bounces just in front of the floor service line where it meets the side wall. Slight cut will help the ball hug the wall. A high bounce along the wall is more difficult to return. The receiver cannot strike the ball before it bounces on the floor.


Rally

After a fair serve the receiver strikes the ball so that it either directly or indirectly hits the front wall before hitting the floor a second time, goes out of bounds, or strikes the tin. Players thus alternate hitting the ball until one fails to make a fair return. The ball can only be played off the back wall if the ball first hits the back wall. A ball may hit anywhere on the back wall if it first bounces off the floor—otherwise it must stay below the back wall out line. Unintentional interference results in a "let"—the point is replayed.


Scoring

A game is played until one player reaches 15 points, except if the score first reaches 13/13 or 14/14. When 13/13 is reached, the receiver decides if the game should go to 15, 16, or 18 points. If it reaches 14/14 (without having been 13/13) the receiver decides on either 15 or 17. One does not have to win by two points. Originally only the server could score; if he lost the rally he would lose the right to serve. Current rules give the point and the serve to the winner of a rally. A match is best three out of five games.


History

The games of squash racquets and its parent sport, racquets, spread to America in the 1880s with the nation's first courts built at St. Paul's School, in
Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...
. Due to a delay in shipping the proper racquets' equipment, the boys used balls and racquets for the game of lawn tennis that had also been recently introduced to the country. Even after the proper equipment arrived, some still continued to use tennis equipment on both kinds of courts. In the 1890s both squash racquets and squash tennis had spread to adults in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, and play started to become more formalized. In 1898, after the construction of a court at the
Tuxedo Club The Tuxedo Club is a private member-owned country club located on West Lake Road in the village of Tuxedo Park, New York, in the Ramapo Mountains. Founded in 1886 by Pierre Lorillard IV, its facilities now include an 18-hole golf course, lawn ten ...
in
Tuxedo Park, New York Tuxedo Park is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Orange County, New York, United States. Its population was 623 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area as well as the la ...
, squash tennis became popular among members of New York society. Private courts were built on estates owned by such millionaires as William C. Whitney,
J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...
, and Andrew Carnegie's nephew George Lauder Carnegie. By 1905, the
Racquet and Tennis Club The Racquet and Tennis Club, familiarly known as the R&T, is a private social and athletic club at 370 Park Avenue, between East 52nd and 53rd Streets in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. History The Racquet Court Club opened in 1876 at 55 We ...
, Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia Clubs in Manhattan had courts, as did Brooklyn's Crescent A. C. and the Heights Casino. In 1911 the National Squash Tennis Association was founded and organized by the banker, John W. Prentiss, Harvard Club of New York. Rules, equipment, and court dimensions became formalized. Briefly the sport gained popularity and some limited play in other cities such as Detroit, Buffalo, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, but soon squash racquets overshadowed squash tennis. But in
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the game maintained a strong following during the 1920s and 1930s. A decision to introduce a highly pressurized ball hastened the decline of the sport. A faster ball was preferred by advanced players, but it discouraged novices. In an effort to make the game more accessible, tournament play was authorized on squash racquets courts. But for many years the sport attracted few new players. During World War II the special ball was no longer manufactured, so advanced players started to lose interest. Two outstanding champions of the fifties were Robert Reeve and Trudy Porter. League play and tournaments continued with energy supplied by Norman F. Torrance in the 1950s. The sixties saw a revival as younger players took up the game and Jim Prigoff became National Champion and later President of the Squash Tennis Association and Richard C. "Dick" Squires became active when a special ball was once again available to players. Prigoff dominated the Nationals in the 1960s beating both Squires and Bacallao until he retired from the game in 1969. But competition by the new game of
racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velo ...
prevented these later attempts from making any headway with the public. The annual nationals became the only formal tournament, but became the virtual private property of two men, Pedro A. Bacallao (1969–1980, 1986) and Gary Squires (1982–1983, 1985, 1987–2000) son of Dick Squires.


Squash tennis status

The game is virtually extinct. There are no organized tournaments. The game is played on a regular basis only by about a dozen players at the Harvard Club in New York City; although longtime enthusiast Bill Rubin stated that there are a few young, very talented, new players. The NSTA has not held a meeting in several years. The basic equipment is inexpensive, however, and for those with access to a squash court it can easily be enjoyed for its recreational and exercise value. Dick Squires published a guide to the sport in 1968. The booklet was not copyrighted, and is available online at
Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
. The guide includes pointers on how to play the game, history, rules, and a list of all national champions.


See also

*
Table squash Table squash is a sport for two players which is an evolution of table tennis and uses similar rules and equipment. The game is played by placing a table tennis table against a playing wall with the net remaining on the table perpendicular to the w ...
*Volley squash


External links

* {{gutenberg, no=11550, name=Squash Tennis
''The Atlantic'' – The Last Squash Tennis Player



Rules of Box Tennis, a sport that is derived from Squash Tennis
Individual sports Indoor sports Wall and ball games Racket sports Squash (sport) Forms of tennis Sports originating in the United States