Squash (sport)

Lore & Background

Squash is a racket sport played by two or four players inside a four-walled court, using a small, hollow rubber ball. Players take turns striking the ball with their rackets, directing it onto the playable surfaces of the court’s walls, with the aim of making a return that the opponent cannot legally play. The sport is played regularly by about 20 million people across more than 185 countries. Its origins lie in the older game of rackets, played in London’s prisons during the 19th century. Around 1830, boys at Harrow School discovered that a punctured ball, which “squashed” on impact, offered greater variety. The game spread to other schools, and the first courts at Harrow were built near dangerous water pipes, buttresses, and ledges. Students adapted by modifying their rackets to have a smaller reach for the cramped conditions. In 1864, the school built four outside courts. The first North American squash court was constructed at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1884. The United States Squash Racquets Association, the world’s earliest national squash association, was formed in Philadelphia in 1904. The RMS Titanic featured a squash court in first class, available for a fee. By the 1980s, production of rackets shifted from English ash and natural gut to graphite, with manufacturing moving to East Asia. Modern rackets are commonly made with a teardrop head shape, even balance, and a weight around 130 grams for international singles. The ball is between 39.5 and 40.5 millimeters in diameter, weighs 23 to 25 grams, and is made from two pieces of rubber plastic compound. Different balls, marked with colored dots, are used depending on temperature, altitude, and player skill; the double-yellow dot ball is the competition standard. The sport is governed by World Squash, recognized by the International Olympic Committee, and will debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Reader's Guide

Squash has evolved from a schoolyard adaptation into a globally organized sport with standardized rules and equipment. The Professional Squash Association organizes the professional tour. Court dimensions vary: international singles courts measure 9.75 m long by 6.4 m wide, while North American hardball doubles courts are larger at 13.72 m by 7.62 m. The sport includes several variants, such as hardball squash, doubles squash, squash tennis, and Squash 57 (formerly racketball). The game's manner of play involves serving from a service box, alternating hits to the front wall above the tin and below the out line, with players returning to the T-shaped center of the court for optimal positioning.

Did You Know?

• Squash balls must be hit dozens of times to warm them up at the beginning of a session; cold balls have very little bounce.

From Prison Walls to Schoolyards: The Birth of Squash

Squash traces its lineage to the older game of rackets, which was played in London's prisons during the 19th century. The sport's defining turning point arrived around 1830 at Harrow School, where students noticed that a punctured ball would flatten against the wall on impact, producing a far more varied and dynamic game than the original rackets. This accidental innovation spread to other schools, though the earliest Harrow courts were far from ideal—positioned near water pipes, buttresses, and ledges, they posed genuine safety hazards. Students adapted by modifying their rackets to have a smaller reach, making them better suited to the cramped playing conditions. Natural rubber was the preferred ball material during this era. By 1864, the school had invested in building four dedicated outside courts, signaling that the game had moved beyond a casual pastime into something worthy of purpose-built infrastructure.

Standardization and the Spread Across the Atlantic

The 20th century saw squash expand rapidly through schools, clubs, and private homes, yet courts were built without any agreed-upon dimensions. The sport crossed the Atlantic when St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, constructed the first North American squash court in 1884. Organized governance followed: in 1904, the United States Squash Racquets Association (now U.S. Squash) was founded in Philadelphia, becoming the earliest national squash body in the world. In 1907, a subcommittee under the Tennis, Rackets & Fives Association of Queens, New York, was tasked with establishing standards, and by 1912 it published a unified rulebook drawing on all three sports. The game's cultural reach was already impressive by then—the RMS Titanic featured a first-class squash court on G-Deck, with a spectator gallery on F-Deck above, available for one-hour sessions at a rate of eight pence. In 1928, the Squash Rackets Association (now England Squash) was formed to set standards for Great Britain and the international community.

Rackets, Balls, and the Four-Walled Arena

Squash rackets today are capped at 686 mm in length and 215 mm in width, with a maximum strung area of 500 square centimeters and a permitted top weight of 255 grams, though most players use frames between 90 and 150 grams. String tension typically sits between 25 and 30 pounds. The balls themselves are small hollow spheres—39.5 to 40.5 mm in diameter, weighing 23 to 25 grams—made from two pieces of rubber plastic compound glued together and buffed to a matte finish. Colored dots on the ball indicate its bounce level, with the double-yellow dot, introduced in 2000, serving as the competition standard. Slower balls are preferred by experienced players because they tend to die in corners rather than standing up for easy returns. The court is a four-walled enclosure divided by a front line and a half-court line into three zones, with smaller service boxes in the back two quarters. The 1980s marked a major materials shift as graphite rackets replaced the old one-piece English ash frames, and production moved from Cambridge to East Asia.

A Global Game on the Cusp of Olympic Debut

Squash now boasts roughly 20 million regular players across more than 185 countries, making it one of the most widely practiced racket sports on the planet. The sport's professional circuit is organized by the Professional Squash Association, while World Squash serves as the global governing body. A landmark moment arrived with World Squash's recognition by the International Olympic Committee, securing the sport's inclusion in the Olympic program beginning with the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. This milestone caps more than a century of gradual institutional growth, from the ad-hoc courts of Victorian England to a fully structured international competition. The sport also encompasses several regional variants—hardball squash in the United States, doubles squash for four players, squash tennis, and a rebranded racketball format called Squash 57—though the international version has become the dominant form worldwide. Safety standards have also evolved, with many venues mandating non-marking shoe treads and eye protection, particularly for juniors and doubles players.