It’s an old argument. And it depends on which side of the
net (or glass) you are on. Which sport is more difficult? Squash or Tennis?
A little background here: I am a teaching squash pro. I
first hit a squash ball in 1976 (yes, wooden
racquets!), I have played PSA, and have been coaching for over 30 years
internationally. To say that I am bias towards squash would be an
understatement and if I was asked this question 6-7 years ago my answer would
have been an immediate and curt “Squash of
course! What a stupid question!” with a smirk on my face of an underlying
sense of snarkiness at the idiocy of the enquiry.
But now I am of a much transformed opinion. A little more (recent)
background…: For the past number of years, I have been more immersed into the
very different world of tennis. My daughter has been playing tennis for about 8
years now and is currently highly ranked nationally in her age group, spends a
number of weeks a year in Orlando at the national training center, trains 5-6
days a week, and at home our lives basically revolve her tennis training and
tournament schedule (and school of course!).
My knowledge of tennis before my daughter started taking it
seriously was limited at best, and I was never inclined to sit and watch professional
tennis on television. I thought of it as very one dimensional – hit the ball as
hard as you can and get it past your opponent – and consequently boring to
watch. Now, after watching and experiencing many tennis tournaments and
observing many tennis lessons and practices, I absolutely do not consider
myself an expert by any means, but I look at tennis with very different eyes
and outlook. My admiration for the sport has been unquestionably enhanced, as
is my understanding of just how difficult tennis really is.
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| Tarek Momen |
But the question of “difficulty” is rather a broad,
ill-defined parameter. What exactly are you measuring when you think about
difficulty? For us squash players, our minds immediately jump to the fitness
requirements. The physical side of each sport. And under this category, squash is
indisputably harder. I am not sure anyone who knows both sports well could
possibly argue this point. There was an article written in April 2018 (Article
can be read here). Summarizing the piece, they measured squash
professional Tarek Momen during a 97 minute epic 5-game battle. The stats
included the distance he ran, time (percentage) the ball was in play, heart
rate, rest times between points, and the amount of times he hit the ball and
compared it to a 2017 Rafael Nadal match from Wimbledon where he lost in 5 sets
in 288 minutes (almost 5 hours!). The differences are eye-popping… although to
a squash professional not overly surprising. It could not be any more
convincing that squash is far superior when it comes to physical exertion.
So, Squash – 1. Tennis – 0.
But… fitness is not the only determining factor when talking
about how difficult a sport is. There are three other major measuring sticks
that in my mind need to be taken into consideration as well.
Technical. Which
technique is harder to learn? The squash swing I find for beginners can be
rather awkward to initially get right. I think mainly because even though the
technique is logical - it’s easy to understand why we swing a racquet the way we do - it’s not a natural movement. Generally speaking we
hit the squash ball from side on, our contact point is next to our bodies with
an open racquet face, but our natural instincts are to chase the ball and get
behind it. So the footwork and swing can take a while to get comfortable with especially
since a squash ball doesn’t bounce very much compared to a tennis ball. As a
player improves, the speed of the game gets faster, and the swing and footwork
adapts. Techniques become more varied based on the situation. That being said,
even though squash technique does differ between certain shots (a straight
drive (or rail) is not the same as a defensive cross-court lob for example) and
there is more than one way to hit a drop shot as well, the basic variations are
not all that severe and once you master the general swing, the rest is not so
much of a stretch.
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| Rafa Nadal |
The tennis swing is a different animal. Top spin is a total
enigma to me, but it does appear to be easier – and more natural - to initially
figure out for beginners. Contact point is generally in front of the body which
is easier to grasp as well. However, tennis has multiple techniques that are
vastly different to one another. Firstly, the grip changes based on backhand /
forehand / serve / volley. The tennis serve technique must be the hardest of
all racquet sports skills to acquire affectively, slicing is another aptitude
that is easy for squash players, but can be a challenge for tennis players. Net
volley, swinging volley, overhead volley, volley drop… all different. Clay
surface technique requires more spin than hard court. Outdoor factors can
affect the player’s swing as well – wind can be very tough to deal with for
example. And overall, and I think this is one of the most telling elements, it
is harder to keep the ball in play in tennis. Rallies simply do not go on as
long? Why? It’s technically harder to do so. The amount of ‘unforced errors’ in
a pro tennis match are infinitely greater. On technique, I really believe
tennis has the edge here.
Squash – 1. Tennis -1.
Tactical. The torturous
physical brutality of squash is amplified due to the incredibly problematic and
grueling task of getting one’s opponent out of position. The tactic at a
beginner level is dreadfully easy – simply hit the ball in the back corner. Of
course, once a player has learned to retrieve the ball out of the corner
effectively, squash suddenly takes on an abusive form of self-mutilation. It
becomes considerably more strenuous to win rallies. Tactics at pro level are quite
subtle. One shot winners are not that common. Ripping a ball down the wall for
a ‘sudden’ winner is rare at best. Nicks are spectacular but come with high
risk and not a lot of players are willing to do that regularly. Working your
opponent out of position is a highly challenging task and takes a string of
shots to achieve, only to have that advantage nullified with a decent defensive
lob to reset the rally… and off you go again. A loose shot is punished –
players don’t hit unforced errors that easily, so tactically you have to remain
accurate while your heart is pumping at 180+ beats per minute.
This is where I find tennis a little more basic. There is no
back wall – or side wall – to work your angles. Once the ball is past you, the
rally is over 90%+ of the time. One may argue it makes tennis tougher
tactically, but I disagree. One shot winners present themselves often and
obviously are more common in tennis – in fact, you only need a huge serve to
win in some cases nailing ace after ace. Also, because the technique is harder,
players hit a lot more mistakes and often the only tactic one needs in tennis
is to simply keep the ball in play. Upsets are more frequent, how often does a
very low ranked player beat a top ten ranked? I figure if that can happen, then
the tactic can’t be that complex. In
squash, anyone outside the top 20 would rarely beat a top 10.
Considering the ‘angle’ factor in squash adds another
dimension, plus squash utilizes the front corners so often as compared to
tennis where drop-shots are sporadic at best. Squash takes this one.
Squash – 2. Tennis -1
Mental. I will
probably be raked over the coals for this, but after all I have ‘analyzed’
these past years, tennis is by far the mentally tougher sport. A huge reason
for this: the scoring system. Tennis is broken up into small pieces. A player
is never more than 4 rallies away from being game point down. That alone
increases the pressure on every rally you play, every shot you hit, every
double fault, every ball you hit out or into the net, or – every winner you
hit. There is a constant burden on the players with these mini-dramas built
within every game and set. Constantly having to save game points. A short
mental lapse in a game will cost you. Coming back from 0-40 is common. Squash
on the other hand certainly has its own mental challenges due to the pure energy
exertion required of the sport, and we consider mental toughness as basically
pushing through the physical pain we experience, but the game pressure on a player only really builds when both players are
close to the end of the game. There are no persistent situations where a player
is always just 4 points from losing a game. Coming back from 0-10… errr never.
Furthermore, the length of a tennis match can take hours.
Keeping the mind focused for that long, often under extreme weather conditions
(Aussie Open heat for example… or even constant breaks in the match due to rain
in Wimbledon) is simply more taxing on the brain. More money involved (yes,
that one hurts squash players to hear, but when the difference of winning and
losing is literally millions of dollars, then it is added pressure) larger and
louder crowds, more media scrutiny… There is increased pressure coming from
more outside influences. It piles on. A vast percentage of tennis professionals
have mental coaches for this exact reason – dealing with all these stresses. Squash
has these demands as well to some extent – but nowhere near to the same levels
- I wonder how many squash professionals employ mental coaches?
End score: Squash – 2. Tennis – 2
A tie? Both sports are equally demanding based on my four
criteria. However, that being said, I would also suggest (much to the chagrin
of my fellow squash players) that tennis is actually tougher to get to the top
with. Why? Numbers. There are simply more tennis players in the world. Greater
competition means it’s harder to stand out and harder to win.
Obviously, this is one man’s opinion. I am sure there are
many of you out there that have more experience in both sports that would
counter my arguments. Have at it. But I do have to say that tennis is not the
straightforward sport I once thought it was and I have grown to appreciate the
complexities and challenges behind it. Both sports are incredibly tough in
their own way. Comparing apples to oranges is always a call for disagreements, just
like arguing… who was the greatest squash player of all time? Jansher?
Jahangir? Hashim? Heather McKay? I welcome all your thoughts.
