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.