How to Lob and Boast in Squash

The lob

The lob is a shot in squash that is played high and soft on the front wall to go over the opponent. It’s often played as a defensive shot to give a player time to recover ‘back to the T’ after retrieving an attacking shot.

When an opponent plays a good attacking shot, you need to defend. Using height gives a player time to recover, and only a second is enough to move ‘back to the T’ and regain some composure after being forced out of position.

How to lob

Read on to learn how to perform a lob in squash or check out this YouTube video to see the former World #1 David Palmer explain how best to use height and lobs to improve your game.

The technical points of a lob are quite simple but require a lot of practice.

The face of the racket must be open to generate the height on the front wall. When it comes to lobs, the higher the better. This means that a player doesn’t have to hit the ball as hard and can use height to carry the ball through to the back of the court.

The lob can be used as an attacking shot or a shot to gain control of the rally. Playing a good lob can limit the volleying opportunities of your opponent and allow you to move forward to control the T.

The main things to consider when playing a lob are the out-of-court lines. When lobbing, the ball is high in the air and an inaccurate shot can go out of court, thus costing you the point.

The match below between Joel Makin v Mo ElShorbagy is a great example as they’re using lost of lobs in the rallies.

Dropshots

The drop shot is the most used attacking shot in squash. This requires hitting the ball low on the front wall to leave the ball in the front of the court and get the ball to bounce twice before they reach it.

Types of drops

There are two types of drops that are mostly played.

Front wall-floor drop shot

The front wall-floor drop shot is where the ball doesn’t touch the side wall with the aim of the ball running tight to the side wall making it difficult for players to retrieve. This type of drop is useful when thinking about the follow-up shot. If the initial drop is good and the oncoming player retrieves it, the ball can spray out into the middle which allows the player to step in and hit into the space at the back of the court.

Angle drop shot

This drop shot taken in off an angle. This shot looks to find the Nick (between the floor and the side wall), which stops the ball from bouncing, making it irretrievable. This shot can be hit both soft or at pace but if the ball is too high on the wall and hits the side wall, it can come out into the middle making it easy for your opponent to retrieve or gain a stroke from.

Drops are as effective when taken both on the bounce or on the volley.

Volley drops take time away from the opponent as the ball is being hit quickly when the opponent is out of position. This forces them to move quickly from the back of the court to the front to retrieve the shot, whilst the player who played the volley remains in the middle.

Check out this YouTube video where Lee Drew explains some important aspects of the deep drop and talks through a useful exercise to improve your racket control.

And here’s a video clip of Paul Coll of New Zealand playing drop shots.

Boasts

A boast is a shot that directly hits the side wall and then hits the front wall straight after. This can be an attacking or defensive shot depending on what scenario a player is faced with.

How to play an attacking boast

To play this in an attacking way, the ball must be hit low on the side wall with an extended follow-through to ensure the ball reaches its target. The ball must be hit with an open racket face to make sure that the ball doesn’t hit the tin. You can hit the ball further up the side wall to make it a two-wall boast or if you hit it level with your body or slightly behind on the side wall, this will create a three-wall boast which can land very short up the front of the court.

Here’s a video clip of Egypt’s Mazen Hesham playing this shot to great effect with the ball often rolling out of the Nick for an outright winner.

How to play a defensive boast

In a defensive scenario, the boast can be used if a player is pinned in the back corner and it’s too difficult to turn the racket face around to hit straight or the ball is too close to the back wall and a player isn’t able to generate enough power to hit an effective shot to the back.

A shot that hits the back wall and then hits the front wall is known as the back wall boast. This is a last-ditch shot to stay in a rally when the ball is running away into the back of the court and you are chasing it down facing the back wall.

A key tip for after a defensive boast is played is to move quicker than usual back to the middle as the opponent usually has a good chance to hit an attacking shot which you need to be prepared for.

Watch this YouTube video on getting the best technique for using boasts in your squash match.