What do the squash rules ask of you as a tournament player?

Your match begins with the warm-up, not the first serve. Under Rule 4.1 you and your opponent go on court together and hit the ball for up to 4 minutes, changing sides after 2 minutes unless you already have. Keeping the ball to yourself for too long is an unfair warm-up, which the referee handles as a conduct matter (4.2, 14.6.8).

Up to the 2024 edition the gap before play and the break between games were both 90 seconds. The 2025 rules lengthened the game break to match the PSA. The German federation summed it up for its members as “Satzpause 2min (bisher 90s)”.

The referee calls “15 seconds”, “Half-time” and “Time” (3.6.7). The rule adds a note that staying close enough to hear those calls is the player's responsibility. Coming back to court late counts as delaying play (14.6.9). If you both want to start earlier, you can (7.2).

Rule 5.1 settles the first server with the spin of a racket. The server picks a service box at the start of every game and after every hand-out, then alternates boxes for as long as they keep the serve (5.2). After a let you serve again from the same box (5.3). Go to the wrong box and the marker tells you; if nobody notices, the rally stands (5.4, 5.11).

Wait for the score. You may not serve before the marker has called it, nor before the receiver is ready (5.12, 5.6). A receiver who is not ready and makes no attempt at the ball gets a let, unless that serve was a fault anyway (5.10).

Under Rules 5.7 and 5.8 the serve is a fault, and the receiver wins the rally, when:

• you strike the ball without one foot on the floor inside the service box, or that foot touches a line of the box;
• the ball does not reach the front wall between the service line and the out-line, or hits the front and side walls at the same time;
• the ball, unless the receiver volleys it, first bounces outside the opposite quarter-court or on one of its lines;
• the serve goes out.

The note under Rule 5.8 adds that a serve touching the service line, the short line or the half-court line is a fault. Dropping the ball without swinging at it is not a serve at all, so you simply start again (5.9).

Squash gives a player two set phrases, and the referee expects to hear them.

“Let, please” (Rule 8.2). Stop and ask without undue delay when your opponent has taken away your view of the ball, your access to it, room for your swing or the freedom to hit any part of the front wall (8.1). There is no separate request for a stroke: a request for a let includes a request for a stroke. The referee answers no let, let or stroke under the seven general provisions of Rule 8.6. Play on past the interference and ask afterwards, and there is no let (8.6.3). If you have already hit the ball when your opponent asks, and your shot then goes down or out, the opponent wins the rally (8.5).

“Appeal, please” (Rule 10). An appeal is against the marker's call or the lack of one. Either player may stop a rally to appeal a missing call; once the rally is over, only its loser may appeal (10.1, 10.2). After the next serve you can no longer appeal anything that happened before it, except a broken ball (10.4). An appeal on the last rally of a game has to be immediate (10.5). The referee's decision is final (10.7), and you may not ask for a different official (14.4).

The decisions themselves, rule by rule, are in our let, stroke and no let guide.

Rule 13 sorts every stoppage by who caused it. Recovery time starts once the referee has accepted the injury as genuine and announced its category, not when you go down, and the score of the rally in which it happened stands (13, 13.2.2).

The last row is new in 2025. Cover any existing wound before you walk on court, because the note in Rule 13.3 makes that your job. Blood visible through a dressing does not count as a blood injury.

Rule 12.3.7, also new in 2025, deals with the floor. If you slip, lunge or dive and leave a wet patch, you must play on or concede the rally, and your opponent may ask for a let before hitting the ball. If play continues, neither of you can then ask for a let on safety grounds. Ordinary sweat is a different case: either player may ask for the floor to be wiped at the end of a rally (12.3.6).

Coaching. Appendix 6 defines coaching as any communication, advice or instruction given to a player by any means. During a match it is allowed only in the intervals between games. Receiving coaching during play is on the list of unacceptable behaviour (14.6.11), so the referee can treat advice shouted from the gallery mid-game as you receiving coaching (14.6.11), and can stop play until the shouter goes quiet (3.6.14).

Penalties. Depending on the offence, the referee gives a Conduct Warning or awards a Conduct Stroke, a Conduct Game or a Conduct Match against you (14.7). A penalty can come at any time, including the warm-up and after the last rally (14.9). A repeated offence of the same kind cannot draw a lighter penalty than the first one (14.8). Rule 14.6 covers dissent, abuse of the racket or court, pushing off the opponent, dangerous turning and attempting to influence the referee.

Eyewear. World Squash recommends protective eyewear for every player at all times on court, warm-up included, and makes it compulsory at all WSF doubles and junior events (Appendix 4). National rules can go further. The DSQV requires every U19 player to wear it for the whole match, warm-up included (Turnierordnung, Appendix 6). The RFES competition regulations make goggles compulsory at its Sub age-group championships (March 2021 edition). If your glasses break mid-match, you have 2 minutes to replace them (7.3).

Most amateur tournaments have no panel of officials. Since 2025 Rule 3.1 says a match should normally be run by one referee, or by a referee and a marker, and a lone referee also does the marker's calls (3.2).

In Poland the PZSQ regulations hand that job to the players. Each match is refereed by the two players from the previous match on the same court, or by people the tournament referee appoints (§13.2). The opening matches of the tournament are refereed by people the tournament referee names (§13.4). Players may not avoid the duty; the tournament referee can penalise them, for example with the first match of the next day to referee (§13.3). Before your first event, note the PZSQ amateur licence introduced in 2025. It costs PLN 10, is valid for a year and covers D tournaments and the Polish Amateur Championships (IMPA), not C, B, PST or the Polish championships (IMP).

In Germany the DSQV Turnierordnung lets organisers add a note on the participants' refereeing duty (Schiedsrichterpflicht der Teilnehmer) to the tournament announcement. Either way, stay by the court after your match and know the calls.

JudgeMate puts the score in the hands of whoever sits in that chair. When the organiser attaches a live scoreboard to a draw match, its referee QR code opens the scoring panel for that one match, and all the codes print on a single sheet. The squash board counts PAR-11, best of five games, and has Let and Stroke buttons: a let records the decision without a point, a stroke awards the point. It has no No let button and does not time the warm-up or the intervals, so keep a watch for those. The organiser takes the board's result into the draw with one confirmation. Without a board, the organiser enters the score by default; if they switch on player reporting, singles players enter group and round robin scores themselves and the opponent confirms them, while knockout results stay with the organiser. Organisers start from the squash event creator; a single club match runs on the squash scoreboard.