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If you’ve watched the clips, or had some coaching, you’ll know by now that taking the ball early cuts down your opponent’s time. And that time in squash, is like oxygen to your lungs. If you don’t have enough of it things will very quickly become unmanageable.

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Taking the ball early usually means volleying, or perhaps taking the ball earlier on its path after it has bounced. One example of this would be making a little extra effort to get in position to hit a ball before it has reached the back wall rather than let it hit and bounce off the back wall before playing your shot.

The simple story is, the earlier you hit the ball the less time your opponent has to recover his or her position back to the T area. This in turn will rush your opponent into their next shot, meaning a less incisive one, which again you can hopefully take early and so the virtuous circle continues until your opponent can not.

I’d just like to illustrate this point really clearly by looking at the actual figures that lie behind it.

Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man moves at just over 10 metres per second. Let’s assume that the player we are modelling can move at 5 metres per second – half his speed over 100 metres, but on a squash court. This of course won’t be accurate for everyone, but will give us a measure to go by.

Let’s take a scenario where you take the ball 0.1 of a second earlier. In this time your opponent can move 0.5 of a metre according to the above assumptions.

So you are not allowing them time in which they can move an extra 50cm. How many times do you or your opponent miss the ball by less than 50cm? Yes, lots!

So by taking the ball only one tenth of a second earlier this is the potential impact on your opponent and their ability to retrieve the ball.

You need to add another advantage to this as well. By taking the ball earlier, you are striking the ball closer to the front wall. Now when you strike it, it has less distance and time to travel back to the front wall, than if you had taken it further back on its path. Again this compounds your opponent’s problems, by further restricting the time available to recover and play the next shot. An extra bonus!

I hope this shows how important it is to take the ball at your earliest possible opportunity. If you watch a professional event, especially the men, look how often a ball that is outside roughly 6 floorboards of the sidewall manages to reach the back wall – virtually never. Everything even slightly off the sidewall is volleyed, all for the benefits shown above.