What are the rules for an Open (senior) league squash match in South Africa? Scoring, serving, lets and strokes, the ball hitting a player, appeals, eyewear, coaching, injuries and conduct.
Under the World Squash Singles Rules 2025 (Rule 2):
The marker calls the server's score first, with "hand out" when the serve changes, "Game ball" or "Match ball" when a player needs one point, and "10-all: a player must win by 2 points" the first time it reaches 10-all in each game.
World Squash Singles Rule 5:
A serve is good if:
Otherwise it's a fault and the receiver wins the rally. A serve touching the service line, short line or half-court line is a fault. If you drop the ball and don't swing at it, it isn't a serve and you can start again.
A return is good if the ball (World Squash Singles Rule 6.2):
The marker's calls when it isn't:
| Call | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Down | Hit the tin, or the floor before the front wall, or the front wall and then the tin |
| Out | Hit a wall on or above the out-line, any fixture above it, or the top edge of a wall, or went out of the court or through a fixture |
| Not up | Not struck correctly, bounced twice before being struck, or touched the striker or their clothing |
Note that a ball touching the out-line is out, and the tin counts as down.
After your follow-through you must make every effort to clear, so your opponent has a fair view of the ball, access to it, room for a reasonable swing, and freedom to hit it to any part of the front wall (World Squash Singles Rule 8). If you're the striker and that doesn't happen, stop and say "Let, please" without undue delay. A let request also covers a request for a stroke.
The referee then decides:
| Situation | Decision |
|---|---|
| No interference and no reasonable fear of injury | No let |
| Interference, but you couldn't have made a good return | No let |
| You played on past the interference, then asked | No let |
| Minimal interference (you could still see and reach the ball) | No let |
| Interference your opponent was making every effort to avoid, and you could have made a good return | Yes, let (replay the point) |
| You could have made a good return but your opponent wasn't making every effort to clear | Stroke to you (you win the point) |
| Interference stopped what would have been a winning return | Stroke to you |
Also:
A let means the server serves again from the same box.
Play stops and the referee decides under World Squash Singles Rule 9.
Your shot hits your opponent on its way to the front wall:
The ball, coming back off the front wall, hits a player:
If a player hits the opponent with the ball, the referee also considers whether it was deliberate or dangerous.
Yes, by saying "Appeal, please" (World Squash Singles Rule 10):
How the referee decides:
| Referee finds | Result |
|---|---|
| Marker was right | Rally result stands |
| Marker called wrongly | Let, unless the call interrupted a winning return, in which case that player wins the rally |
| Marker missed a bad serve or return | Rally to the other player |
| Unsure about a serve | Let |
| Unsure about a return | Let, unless the call interrupted the other player's winning return |
The referee's decision is final. If one official is doing both jobs, you appeal the "marker" call to that same person as referee.
World Squash Singles Rules 4 and 7:
| Break | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Warm-up (both players on court together) | 4 minutes, changing sides after 2 minutes |
| End of warm-up to first serve | 1 minute |
| Between games | 2 minutes |
| Changing damaged equipment (including glasses, eyewear or a dislodged contact lens) | 2 minutes |
Under the World Squash Singles Rules (Appendix 4):
If your glasses or eyewear are damaged or a contact lens comes out, you get up to 2 minutes to sort it out (Rule 7.3).
An event's own competition rules can also make eyewear compulsory.
Only between games. World Squash Singles Rules (Appendix 6) define coaching as any communication, advice or instruction given to a player by any means, and permit it during matches only in the intervals between games (up to 2 minutes each).
Receiving coaching during play is listed as unacceptable conduct under Rule 14, so the referee can penalise you with a Conduct Warning, Stroke, Game or Match.
Player analysis technology (for example a sensor in your racket) may record or store information during a match, but you can't retrieve it during the match.
World Squash Singles Rule 13 sets the recovery time by what caused it. The clock starts once the referee accepts the injury is genuine and decides its category.
Injury
| Cause | Recovery time |
|---|---|
| Self-inflicted (e.g. muscle tear, sprain, hitting a wall, falling) | Up to 3 minutes, then concede the game and use the game interval if available, then play on or concede the match |
| Contributed (accidental, by both players) | Up to 15 minutes, then play on or concede the match |
| Opponent, accidental | Up to 15 minutes; if you still can't continue, you are awarded the match |
| Opponent, deliberate or dangerous | If you need any recovery time, you are awarded the match |
Illness (cramp, nausea, a blister, breathlessness, asthma) gets no recovery time: play on straight away, or concede the game and use the game interval, then play on or concede the match.
Blood injury (enough blood to transfer to the opponent or court) means you must leave the court:
Cover any existing wounds before you go on court. A graze with no blood flow isn't a blood injury. It's always your choice whether to resume.
Under World Squash Singles Rule 14, the referee can give, depending on how serious the offence is:
A repeat of a similar offence can't get a lighter penalty than last time. Penalties can be given at any time, including during the warm-up and after the match ends.
Offences include obscenity, abuse, unnecessary physical contact (including pushing off your opponent), dangerous play or an excessive swing, dissent, trying to influence the referee, abusing equipment or the court, an unfair warm-up, delaying play (including being late back on court), deliberate distraction and receiving coaching during play.
How it affects the score:
You also can't leave the court during a game without the referee's permission, place objects in the court, or ask for an official to be changed.