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Imagine you deliberately throw your racket as a result of losing your temper or you unintentionally let your racket slip out of your hands. Do both these situations classify as throwing your racket? Let’s answer these questions based on the official squash rules.
Deliberately throwing a racket is not allowed in squash and the player will be penalised by the referee. The taken measures can vary between a ‘let’, a ‘stroke’, a ‘game’ or even losing the ‘match’ and are dependent on the severity of the offence.
Now we know that throwing is not allowed, it raised the question: what is classified as throwing? First, we dive into the basic principles that allow us to properly answer the question.
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The basic principles in squash
There are two basic principles set by the World Squash Federation (WSF) to ensure you can play, namely safety and fair play. If in any case there needs to be a trade-off made between doing whatever it takes to hit the ball and the players’ safety, safety first! Next to that in order to play meaningful games, the players need to respect each other. These guidelines form the basis for the squash rules as defined by the WSF
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The referee needs to ensure players are adhering to these basic principles. In case a player is misbehaving, the referee needs to take appropriate measures as we will see later on. When non-players are interrupting the game, the referee needs to suspend the game until the behaviour stops.
In order to promote safety, there are rules to consider after returning a ball. Your opponent should have reasonable visibility towards the front wall, as well as the ability to hit the ball without any obstruction anywhere on the front wall. Next to that, your opponent should be able to make a proper swing. When your opponent is not able to do any of these things, he or she can stop and request a ‘let’. The referee can also interfere for safety reasons and grant a let or strike without a request by either one of the players.
in order to play meaningful games, the players need to respect each other.
Can you drop your racket?
The racket may be dropping as a consequence of the ball hitting the opponent’s racket. The opponent may pick up the racket and resume the rally. However, this does not apply when the ball hits the racket or if one of the players is distracted by the dropping of the racket. Besides, the rally is also ended in case the referee fouls one of the players.
More specifically, if the striking player drops the racket because of interference from their opponent, they can request a let. The other player can also request a let when they drop their racket due to any attempt from the striking player to return the ball.
The referee will grant a let based upon the specific scenario. But generally speaking, if the striking player is not able to properly return and hit the front wall, the opponent is awarded the point. The same holds in case the ball hits the striker after returning from the front wall, given the fact there is no interference. If the ball hits the opponent (or their racket) after returning from the front wall, the striker is awarded the point.
However, when the striking player would have been able to return the ball properly and hit the front wall, either a strike or a let is granted. As of now I am not even considering if interference occurs.
What happens if you get injured by a racket?
There are many ways to get injured by a squash racket, but for now, let’s start with classifying them as either caused by themself or caused by the opponent.
When the injury is self-inflicted and for example, the player throws their racket and injures himself, the player is allowed to recover for a maximum of 3 minutes. If the player is not able to continue, he loses the game and can use another 90 seconds to recover. If he is then still not able to continue, he loses the match since you are not allowed to concede more than one game.
If the injury is caused by the opponent, the rules first check whether it was by accident or intentionally. In the first case, the injured player is allowed to recover for 15 minutes. If after those 15 minutes, the player is still unable to play, the injured player wins the match.
Finally arriving at the scenario, where the opponent throws his racket and you get injured. If a player was injured by the opponent intentionally or as a consequence of dangerous action, the injured player wins the match if he needs time to recover. If the injured player is able to continue without any recovery time, the opponent will be penalised. If the dangerous behaviour leads to a blood injury, the injured player wins the match.
If a player was injured by the opponent intentionally or as a consequence of dangerous action, the injured player wins the match if he needs time to recover.
What happens is you misbehave in squash?
A player that abuses their equipment or the court will be penalised by the referee. Depending on the severity of the misbehaviour the player will be penalised.
For lighter offences, a warning might be given and can be given at any point including the warm-up or right after the match. Generally, a let will be awarded if the referee gives a warning while playing.
The referee is also able to give a point or stroke to a player, either during or after the rally. If the referee awards a stroke during the rally, it marks the outcome of the rally. If the stroke is awarded after the rally, that point is added to the score and the players remain at the same side of the court for the next service.
For more severe offences the referee can also award a player a game, while the penalised player retains the point gained in that match. If the referee stops the rally, the current game is awarded to a player. However, the referee can also award the next game (without any break in between games) if no game has been started. On a more general note, a player can get penalised with more than one warning, stroke or even game.
Finally, the referee can even decide to award the match to a player. Note that the penalised player will retain all points and games already won.
A player that abuses their equipment or the court will be penalised by the referee.