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Rules Frequently Asked Questions

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Referee and Marker, what's the difference ?

The Referee is in charge of the overall match - timing, appeals and discipline. The marker announces and keeps the score and repeats the referee's decisions after an appeal.

When returning the serve of a hard hitter serving a short serve into the side wall i would like to take a step forward doing a stright drive. Always in this situation the server takes the line to the ball directly through me regardless of me moving towards the T, he is always awarded a stroke from my fellow players, but is this correct and if so where am i supposed to move when my drive is close to wall and has a good lenght. Thanks in advance:-)

The referee must determine how tight and good a length and high your drive is and whether your moving towards the T has prevented your opponent from playing a shot. You have no right to move directly back towards the T and are required to clear in a way that provides your opponent with direct access to get to and play the ball. So if he could have played the ball in line with the T and you have prevented that then a Stroke would be awarded against you. But if the length is really good and or a high tight ball along the wall then possibly your opponent should be moving back towards the back wall to play the shot. So now if he runs into you and appeals he should get a No Let. So the correct decision very much depends on the quality of your shot and where it could be played, and then how you move to clear and how he moves to play.

Player A plays a shot close up to the front wall and then the ball passes through his legs before player B can play it. Is this allowed or does player B win the point.

The answer to your query depends on the position of the players. A ball allowed to pass through the legs of a player does not automatically lose him/her the point. In your scenario if player B is close behind player A and could play a shot to the front wall and holds his shot then he would be awarded a Stroke. If player B is much further back and player A has time to move away to provide a direct line to the front wall then player B should play the ball unless he is concerned he may still hit player A and then would probably be awarded a safety Let

What happens at ten-all ?

In normal play, you need to win by two clear points, eg 12-10, 16-14, and the game continues until someone has that two point gap.

In doubles, it's sudden-death at ten-all, so the next point wins the game.

How long is allowed for the warmup ?

4. THE WARM-UP
4.1. At the start of a match the players go on court together to warm up the ball for a maximum of 4 minutes. After 2 minutes the players must change sides, unless they have already done so.
4.2. The players must have equal opportunities to strike the ball. A player retaining control of the ball for an unreasonable time is warming up unfairly and Rule 15 (Conduct) must be applied.

Should a player do a 360 spin move? A player hit a drop shot. He was in front of the T. I was behind him. The shot was to the left. I moved in the direction of the ball, to the left. The outgoing player did a 360 spin move to the left and this resulted in a collision. Who's fault is this? Is this a stroke? How should this be avoided in the future.

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I’ve been watching a lot of PSA squash recently. One thing that intrigues me, is as I unsersatand it, that a player must make a reasonable attempt to clear the ball so their opponent can have a clear shot. So often I see the striker hold their ground not making any effort to clear the ball (I.e they simply stand their ground) and their opponent calls a let and that’s what they get, irrespective of a video review. Why is this? Often the rationale is the striker had a clean line to the ball. If however, the opponent had made a reasonable attempt to clear the ball the striker would have had a chance to play a much better shot. It seems to me that the rule is you can interfere with your opponent’s shot as long as they could return a shot which puts them at a disadvantage. You only have to listen to the commentators expert opinion and the video review to see how their interpretation of the rule differs. Could you please clarify the rule to me. Thank you.

I obviously cannot comment on the specific decisions or the commentators expressed opinions but there remains the duty of the striker to play a shot that he/she can clear to provide his/her opponent with a path to get to and play the ball. The referees are required to determine whether this was done sufficiently and especially at the PSA professional level players are required to continue play if they have a line to the ball even if it is not perfectly ideal...in the effort to keep play continuous with fewer stoppages for appeals and Lets and more entertaining for television.

Regarding the new rules changes, has the word "entire" been removed from 8.11 and 8.1.4 as it is superfluous with the word any or is there another interpretation?

You are correct. It was removed as being superfluous.

Regarding the new rule 8.9.3 if the striker holds for fear of hitting an opponent and ask for a let then if there's no interference the referees decision will be no let? is this removing a safety let?

The application will remain the same in that the referee will need to determine whether there was a reasonable fear of hitting the opponent. If the opponent was well clear and the striker misjudged his position then it is a No Let as previously but there may well still be instances where "safety Lets" are appropriate if the opponent was possibly in danger of being hit.

Can the player after service cross the centre line and enter the opponents half before he picks up the service or not

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rule 8.11, the freedom to play directly on to any part of the front wall. There seems to be a growing reluctance with referees to refuse to give lets/stokes to the striker if the referee deems a safe shot could have been played onto what they consider a reasonable amount of wall area, thus reducing the strikers selection of shot. A player may find that they end up playing the referees style of game rather than their own. Increasingly players are deliberately using what might be termed as reasonable interference to restrict their opponents options. Please clarify this rule as current interpretation breaches the written rule

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Player A plays a shot which lands directly in front of him and he is unable to retreat quickly enough to give the incoming striker, Player B, fair access to the ball. If a let is called by Player B, the obvious decision would be a stroke awarded to Player B. Player B instead decides to move past the obstruction caused by Player A, and strike at the ball. In doing so he strikes a Player A with his racquet in making his shot, and the ball fails to make a good return. Player B asks for a let. What is the correct decision, a stroke to Player B because of the interference. Or perhaps no let, or stroke, because he chose to go past the point of interference, and in doing so played a dangerous stroke?

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If there was indeed interference, and I call for a let BEFORE making an attempt to strike the ball, but fail to completely hold an attempt to strike and instead strike the ball but do so in a way that is restricted or impeded due to safety concerns , am I still entitled to a let/stroke as per section 8.6 of the World Squash Singles Rules 2019?

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End of game, players shake hands and exit the court. The loser has already gone to the changing rooms to shower. The winner examines the ball and found it has split and advises the ref. What would the decision be?

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Coaching during a match. Appendix 10 ''Coaching is considered to be communication, advice or instruction of any kind and by any means to a player, and during matches is only permitted in the intervals between games. '' This appears to say that coaching does not have to necessarily come from a coach as any member of a crowd watching the game could solicit advice to a player. However, what constitutes COACHING as calls like ''good length'', ''nice shot'', ''call your lets'' could be construed as coaching when in fact the intent is they could simply be representative of somebody giving good old fashioned vocal support. How do you identify specific examples of ''defined'' coaching to ensure that a player is not receiving an unfair advantage, and what options does a referee have to combat this? Cheers.

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What is the ruling when, after contact with the ball, your (the strikers) racket flies out of your hand across the court under these conditions: 1. the racket flies in the way of your opponents' ability to get to the ball 2. does not affect the ability of your opponent getting to the ball but does distract him. Regards Barry-Lee Lodewyks

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Who gets to make a out call on a service? I had an instance where I served from the left hand service box and the ball landed high and far back on the right hand side wall. In my opinion, the serve was very close to the out of bounds line but good, my opponent chose to strike it and drove it down the right wall. After a further 3 strike rally, I won the point only to have the Referee call the serve out and award the point to the receiver. What would be the correct call proceedure be for a scenario such as this. Thanks in advance, Franz.

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Hello. Whilst playing an opponent called a let, although he wanted a stroke, due to contact with my racquet on his follow through. I hardly felt the contact as my focus was on striking. Please advise on this situation did that we may learn. We're both very experienced players but this is the first time I've ever encountered this situation. He played a clean shot so as far as I can see there was no interference or subsequent impairment to him. As I said I barely felt any contact. Your advice is appreciated. Thanks, Keith

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Freedom to hit bthe ball to any part of the front wall can be misinterpreted Does this interpret to 1 the player must have the ability to hit the ball to any part of the wall he wishes (in other words the entire wall) or 2 as long as he has the opportunity to access any part or portion of the front wall he must play on.

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Server has conduct stroke awarded against him. He loses a point as a result. Does he also lose the serve ie hand out?

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