Squash serve rules: stance, target, faults, and serve changes

Squash serve rules come down to three things: one foot inside the service box and off its lines, the ball hitting the front wall above the service line, and the first bounce landing in the opposite back quarter. Miss any one and it's a fault — no second serve, the receiver wins the rally.

Squash serve rules: what makes a serve legal

The squash service rules below are the World Squash singles rules; doubles is played on a wider court with its own service conditions.

Where you stand

At the moment your racket meets the ball, one foot must be in contact with the floor inside the service box, with no part of that foot touching any boundary of that box. The lines are the boundary — a heel resting on the short line is a foot fault even with your toes well inside.

Your other foot can be anywhere: in the air, halfway to the T. The boxes are 1.6 m squares against the side walls behind the short line, and the rest of the squash court dimensions matter here, because every serve target is a painted line.

Where the ball has to go

The serve must be struck directly to the front wall — not the side wall first, not the floor — hitting it between the service line (the cut line, 1.78 m / 5 ft 10 in up) and the out line (4.57 m / 15 ft). Touching either line counts as missing it, and a ball that catches the front and side walls at the same instant is a fault as well.

The first bounce must then fall in the back quarter diagonally opposite the box you served from: serve from the right box and the ball lands in the left back quarter, touching no line on the way down. Between the front wall and that bounce it can hit the side wall, the back wall, or both — a lob that clips the side wall high and dies in the corner is entirely legal. If the receiver volleys it, where it would have landed stops mattering.

Every way a squash serve becomes a fault

One serve, no second ball. Each of these hands the rally, and under PAR the point, to your opponent.

• Foot fault — no foot on the floor inside the box at contact, or that foot touching one of its lines.
• Down — the ball hits the tin (0.48 m / 19 in; some professional events use a lower one) or the floor before the front wall.
• Out — the ball hits the out line, the wall above it, or anything outside the court.
• Below the cut line — the ball meets the front wall on or under the service line.
• Front and side wall at once — the serve must find the front wall cleanly.
• Not struck directly — the ball touches a side or back wall first.
• Wrong quarter — the first bounce lands in front of the short line, in the same-side back quarter, or on the short or half-court line.

Swinging and missing is not automatically a fault. You may strike the ball on a second or later attempt as long as it hasn't touched anything else — floor, wall, or you. Drop the ball and make no attempt at all and it isn't a serve; start again, no penalty. Once the ball touches the floor, it's gone.

Returning a fault doesn't make it good. The rally ends the moment the serve fails one of those conditions, and if the official misses it, the player who lost the rally can appeal. Without a referee, players call their own serves.

Who serves next: serve possession under PAR

A racket spin decides who serves first in the match. After that the squash serving rules are short: whoever wins the rally serves the next one.

Win a rally on your own serve and you keep it, switching boxes for as long as you keep winning. Lose it and the new server picks whichever box they like, then alternates. Whoever wins a game serves first in the next. If a server uses the wrong box and nobody notices until the rally ends, the result stands.

Under PAR, every rally is a point regardless of who served, games run to 11 — win by two from 10–10 — and the serve changes hands whenever the server loses a rally. Older English scoring, games to 9, let only the server score, and you'll still meet it socially. PAR-11 is the standard now.

A let replays the serve: same server, same box. That's the usual call when the receiver isn't ready and makes no attempt to play the ball — though if that serve was a fault, the server loses the rally anyway. Mid-rally, lets and strokes get more complicated.

The serve can change hands several times inside one game, so the score is easy to lose track of. Squash Scoreboard is a squash scoreboard app for iPhone and Apple Watch that tracks match scores, so the running total isn't sitting in two tired memories.

Three serves worth owning

Knowing how to serve in squash legally is half of it. The other half is picking a serve that costs the receiver something.

Serve	Contact	Where it finishes	Use it when
Lob	Soft and high, just under the out line	Back corner, often off the side wall	Your default, and on a warm, bouncy court
Hard body	Flat and firm, just above the cut line	At the receiver's racket-side hip	The receiver steps in early to volley lobs
Backhand from the left box	Backhand, facing the front wall	Tight to the right side wall and back	Your left-box forehand keeps sitting up in the middle

The squash lob serve

The squash lob serve is the one to build first. Hit softly, it meets the front wall a foot or two under the out line toward the far side, floats above the receiver's reach at the T, brushes the side wall high, and drops into the corner. A cold ball won't carry, so hit it firmer or it lands short and sits up. At 10–10 it's almost always the right call.

The hard body serve

Driven firm and flat, this one arrives at the receiver's racket-side hip. Swinging at a ball coming straight into you is awkward — the receiver has to move back and sideways at once to make room. Keep it as a change of pace, spent while they're still standing deep for your lobs.

The backhand serve from the left box

A right-hander serving forehand from the left box hits across the body, and the ball often finishes in the middle. Serving backhand from that box lets you face the front wall, cut a tighter angle onto the right side wall, and step straight back to the T. Height is harder to find on the backhand, so most players use it as a firm serve into the back-right corner rather than a lob. Mirror it for left-handers.

FAQ

Do you get a second serve in squash?

No. You get one serve, and a fault ends the rally immediately — under PAR that's a point and the serve for your opponent. There's no tennis-style let serve either.

Can the receiver volley the serve in squash?

Yes, and strong receivers volley everything they can reach — taking the serve early keeps the server out of position. Once the ball is volleyed, the condition about where it should have bounced no longer applies, so only the foot position and the front-wall contact can still make that serve a fault.

Can a squash serve hit the side wall?

Yes, as long as it reaches the front wall first and doesn't hit both walls at the same instant. After the front wall it may touch the side wall, the back wall, or both and still be good, provided the first bounce lands in the correct back quarter.

Which service box do you serve from first?

Whichever you choose. The winner of the racket spin serves the first rally from the box of their choice, and so does a player who has just won the serve back. After that you alternate boxes for as long as you keep winning.