May 10, 2012
Racquets Might Be Contributing To Excessive Lets
At one time, squash racquet heads were pretty small. When Head developed the first graphite racquet in the early 1980's and everyone else followed, the head sizes increased slightly but not significantly.
Now we have these trampoline racquets where the strings come almost down to your hand.
It's possible that the excess power generated by these huge string surfaces makes it more difficult for the pros to clear their shot, thus contributing to the PSA "Let" problem that is currently such a source of concern.
I recently had an interesting email exchange with racquetball pro Randy Stafford who said the following about his sport:
"1997: USRA changes rule to allow oversized frames of 22” in length. Total length and width is approximately 32”, about 25% larger than original racquets which resulted in 50% more hitting area for more power.
"This change was made in racquetball due to the manufacturers' demands to increase sales and royalties. No question, the changes to the racquet size changed the game from a control and manageable power game, to one of excess speed that not only changed the original design and intent of the game, but increased the speed of the ball to a level that is quite unmanageable for the everyday player."
The word "unmanageable" stands out.
If you hit a squash forehand down the wall from mid court with the trampoline racquets, with your opponent in decent position, there is a good chance you won't be able to clear your shot.
This is not the way the game was designed.
A look at Hunt and Mohibullah Jr. in action with the original racquet heads is refreshing, not to mention impressive on several levels, as you're watching two of the greatest physical specimens ever to play. -TG
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If you hit the ball down the wall from the red line when your opponent is fully back in position parallel to you, that's going to result in a let, unless your opponent is willing to sacrifice any chance of cutting the ball off and politely accomodates you by heading to the back wall. That's true with any ball and any racket. If you look at this film carefully, on the only occasions on which a player hits down the wall from the red line, his opponent is split-stepping well behind him or has been otherwise forced out of position.
ReplyDeleteOf course the new rackets have made volleying easier and more powerful off the short stroke, so perhaps the player moving to the ball nowadays is less willing to give up the potential volley.
Sasha
The Hunt-Barrington days of endless boring softball rallies were awful. An interesting video, but by comparison with today’s matches- Deadly Dull.
ReplyDeleteThe legendary Jehangir match which lasted 2 hrs 43 minutes, and was won in four games( !!!) was unwatchable and stupid.
I don’t think that the issue of lets and strokes is that big a deal . I don’t think lets and strokes decide many matches.
The PSA refs do a very good job in making decisions, and they are fair.
The game which really changed is the doubles game.
ReplyDeleteThey way these guys play doubles today, which is a power game of bombing and volleying everything and massive pace, could never have been done with the old singles ball and the wooden clubs from the 60s and 70's , plus the old big doubles ball used to mark the walls, and if you got nailed it could leave a welt and a blood clot. The top amateurs and pros today play a tremendous game more akin to racquets than to singles softball squash.
There is very little cross-fertilization between the singles and the doubles games. They have two completely distinct constituencies. In the old days that wasn't true, but now there are big doubles tournaments literally every weekend, all season long starting in September, and there are even some good tourneys in the summer.
With the exception of a few guys like Baset, Gustav, Stanley and John Musto the dubs guys play dubs only, and the singles guys don't play singles at all. At the Lapham Grant this past march EVERYBODY wanted to play doubles and they had to twist arms to get guys to play singles. Wowowowowow who'd ever a thunk that....
Rackets play an important part in your game. It is very necessary to select the right to help you become a better player. I suggest head squash racket.
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