By Melanie Jans Burke

Have you seen the incredible underspin forehand Roger Federer has been known to hit? He attributes it to the squash he played with his father when he was a teenager.

Below are 5 ways squash can help improve your tennis game:

1. Fitness: Squash is a great cardiovascular workout even for the novice player since the ball comes back faster and stays in the court even when mis-hit. This results in longer rallies to maintain a higher and more consistent heart rate. You’ll feel less winded on the tennis court as a result of this improved level of fitness.

2. Quicker Footwork: Most of the movement in squash is in quick spurts both forward and backward as well as laterally. This is ideal for moving around the tennis court quickly. Particularly charging to the net and then back for lobs. The "serve & volley" style of tennis has proven to be an effective strategy.

3. Quicker Racquet: Because there is less time to prepare for the ball in squash, you become accustomed to getting your racquet ready early thus improving your reflexes and allowing you to react much more quickly. When you get back on the tennis court, you’ll feel like you have loads of time out there!

4. Ball Watching: Because of the quicker pace and smaller size of the squash ball, you are really forced to zone in on the ball to see it. This will improve your ability to focus on the ball on the tennis court as well.

5. Grip: Squash is played with a continental grip which in tennis, could be used for serves, volleys, smashes, the underspin backhand & forehand plus most emergency shots.

It may sound strange but if you’d like to improve your tennis game, why not get out on the squash court? If however, you’d like to make a career out of tennis, I don’t recommend you play squash every day…so Rebecca Marino, stay off the squash court! However, I challenge the rest of you to give it a try for a few times and see if you notice a difference when you go back on the tennis court. You don’t even have to change your tennis swing!

If you’re still not convinced that squash can help your tennis game, just ask anyone who plays both.

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