Comment

Big wins for local hero Patrick Chifunda and  Mexico’s Juan Mendez By ALEXIA CLONDA – Squash Mad Reporter in Charlottesville You run out of superlatives talking about what a marvellous facility the McArthur Squash Centre is in Charlottesville, venue for the 2018 World Masters. With 12 glassbacks, a three-sided glass court and a full glass [...]

Camille Serme is punished for opening the court door in Dubai By KIEFER WAITE – Squash Mad Corespondent The first semi-final match of the World Series Finals between Nour El Sherbini and Camille Serme was unfortunately overshadowed by a slightly silly rule that has been recently implemented by the PSA. In a very close and [...]

Wiring up Ramy Ashour and Tarek Momen delivers amazing data By SEAN REUTHE and ALAN THATCHER   The Professional Squash Association (PSA) has released new data captured through innovative partnerships with Sports Data Labs and interactiveSquash that suggests squash could be the most physically demanding racket sport in the world. Through the use of pioneering [...]

Players taken by surprise by referees’ get-tough policy By ALAN THATCHER, Squash Mad Editor NICK MATTHEW has joined the debate that has sprung up over a sudden “get-tough” refereeing policy at the Commonwealth Games. Officials have clearly been instructed to clamp down on lets, but the result has led to a chorus of confusion among [...]

Squash has a history of change By CRAIG PARKINSON – Squash Mad Guest Columnist   I was fascinated to see the trial of the best-of-three (BO3) scoring system during the hugely successful Canary Wharf Classic. It set me thinking, to what extent is squash suffering from an identity crisis? And what impact will the introduction [...]

The game needs more pressure points – here’s an idea to make it happen  By PAUL MAIN    Best of three? What’s the point? In a doff of my cap to Daryl Selby and Cameron Pilley, I could call this piece Comment from the Balcony as that’s generally where I am at pro events! Much debate [...]

Dubai World Series Finals will be a great showcase By ASHLEY DAVIES – Squash Mad Correspondent   What a fantastic season of squash it has been. I have never seen such active competition for the world number one spot. With players earning the one spot for the first time in their careers, players having to relinquish [...]

‘People spat at me and insulted me’ says former professional player who came out in 1997 EXCLUSIVE: By ALEXIA CLONDA   The revelation in an interview by American writer James Zug that squash stars Rachael Grinham and Jenny Duncalf were squash’s first openly gay couple produced an overwhelming wave of support from throughout the squash [...]

Time waits for no man, apart from the never-ending knock-ups in squash By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor At long last, the PSA are planning to reduce the length of pre-match knock-ups. A trial will be held in the forthcoming World Series Finals taking place on stage at Dubai Opera House. And I hope all [...]

Squash and academia partnerships in the UK By ROSANNA RADLINSKA – Squash Mad Columnist   As a parent of a sixth form student/squash player, I feel it is the right time to explore the opportunities of combining squash and studies in the UK. I have had a look at the University of the West of England and the Elite [...]

Former star is on the ball, growing the game in India By ALAN THATCHER Squash in India is being given a massive injection of energy thanks to the efforts of former professional Ritwik Bhattacharya. The staging of the $50,000 Men’s CCI International at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai was the most ambitious project [...]

Join the fight to save the healthiest of all sports By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor It was wonderful to see Britain’s national newspapers present the health benefits of playing squash and racketball in their coverage of a recent survey published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Regularly playing squash and racketball could help [...]

Packed venues bring top-class squash to new levels of drama By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor The successful delivery of the US Open, with the jumbotron screen above the glass court inside the Drexel University sports arena, the San Francisco Bay Bridge towering over the court at the NetSuite Open, and the spectacular renaissance of [...]

Squash’s video output dwarfs racquetball efforts in the USA By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor My friend Freddy Ramirez writes a terrifically engaging racquetball blog called Restrung Magazine. We have been communicating online for some years and frequently discuss ways in which racquetball (or racketball) can find some harmony with squash to produce some mutually [...]

Racketball: a (very) brief history; and why WSF should think again By DAVID IRESON – Squash Mad Correspondent in Aberdeen   The passage of time allows a great deal of opportunity for reflection and review of past events, to scrutinise their efficacy as carriers of both positive and negative actions and impacts on our daily [...]