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By Peter Langmaid
You don’t win squash matches with spectacular winners or trick shots—the percentages will get you every time. Winning squash is a matter of positioning; working your opponent out of position so that an average, high-percentage shot will win a rally. To send an opponent on this journey to oblivion, you must control the action of each rally and put your opponent on the defensive. The best way to take control of a rally is to focus on keeping your opponent behind you in the court. No one ever won a squash match with his or her butt glued to the back wall!
 One poor shot--a shot that gives your opponent the advantage of controlling the subsequent action--determines the outcome of a vast majority of squash rallies. Often that shot is either an ineffective serve or a weak return of serve—the rally’s over before you ever get in it. Why, then, don’t we give the serve and return of serve more time and attention in practice?
Though you want to vary the pace and trajectory of your serve to avoid becoming predictable, the ideal serve is deep in the court and tight to the sidewall, giving your opponent limited return options (which are easy to read) and the feeling that they’re swinging in a broom closet. The key to depth is trajectory. A lob serve that seems like it’s dropping from the ceiling is difficult for an opponent to attack because it’s out of reach until it’s done it’s job of pinning the returner in the corner. Perfect sidewall tightness has the ball kissing the side wall a the same time your opponent’s trying to hit it, therefore forcing him/her to scrape it off the wall, again limiting the return options. A useful rule of thumb to keep in mind is to make all your serves hit the sidewall before reaching your opponent—it’s simply harder to judge a rebound than a ball that reaches you directly. Keep your opponent on his heels and behind you
As with serving, you should always vary your service returns to avoid predictability, but the objective of the service return is to get into the rally and negate the server’s inherent advantage (i.e. they can hit any shot they want, you have to respond to what they hit). Service return outright winners feel good, but the number of times you’ll hit the winner versus set your opponent up vastly favor the server. The most effective service return sends the server to the back wall, which allows you to get to the T and into position to take control of the rally. Dictate how the rally will be played Variety
So, to keep it simple, always try and get the ball to the sidewall before it reaching your opponent, and when returning serve focus on getting the ball to the back wall.
About the Author (In his own words): Peter Langmaid is a sixty year old squash player who came to the game in his mid-thirties. He loves the intensity and competiveness of the game. Like most squash players, he has more opinions than skills.
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