Adz - Your 2 points are very valid but what about the 3rd

• A right hander, serving from the forehand box, stands with one foot in the box, the other foot just about on the half-court line (well....how long are your arms), throws the ball up, aims 1.5m from the corner of the front wall approximately, which immediately decreases the angle the serve rebounds off the front wall and as a consequence of this angle the ball travels down the side wall, hugs the wall for a couple of metres, making stepping in and crunching the serve much more difficult.   Thus, the server  will  be able to  step into the middle  ready .
  

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1. It allwos you to see the exact position of your opponent whilst striking the ball
2. It allows you to step forward into the correct T position with very little effort and in a very fast time.

Executed correctly, the serve should be slow enough to allow you to move into position, and high and tight enough to cause your opponent a big problem to return.

Now the reason that I say that this shot is effective against certain opponents is because I've come across players (like myself!) who love returning these serves if they are flawed in anyway. Too loose gives time to attack off the serve and too slow allows me time to reposition myself to best recieve the serve. I have found that you cannot rely on just one type of serve all the time. You need to have a variety at your disposal incase you meet a player who can handle your serves really well. I once played a guy who as once the world no.8. My memory of the match was that he hit nearly every forehand return of serve straight into the nick. The only one he didn't clipped the top of the tin. Now THAT was a depressing situation. My serves were easy for him to return and I tried everything. Short, deep, low, high, soft, hard. EVERYTHING! They all came back as winners or incredibly tough shots. Against an opponent like this who is really on form, you can only rely on getting your position right to retrive the next shot (and yes I did get an ass whooping in that match!).

Anyhow, in answer to your original question....... high lob or shoulder height slice? I say BOTH! Learn to do all types of serves and shots and then you can use a variety against the opponents it suits.

Cheers

Adz

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Here is the Squash Library link to the Backhand Serve from the Righthand box.

Here is the Video clip link listed as Serve, Backhand from Righthand Box.

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