So Ray you are saying that any shot, eg drive, cross court, volley, hit with power and authority, and is unable to be returned, is a "kill" shot. So my delima still remains, is it a kill shot because of the position of the opponent, or because it is the actual shot itself irrespective of the position of the opponent?

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hi all

to me, a kill shot can be either straight or cross court. If it is straight you still require some width and/or height to find the nick otherwise there is always the possiblity of the shot being retrieved.

Although the cross court nick requires less spin (thru the open face racket), the best player to play this type of shot, Rodney Martin used a very open faced racket. His accuracy was uncanny (from first hand experience!). During his win over Jahangir in the 91 World Open, his backhand was particularly effective, especially with two of his shots.

His backhand volley (straight) found the nick at least 6 times whilst his firmly hit drop from the back of the court was similarly effective.

In the first instance he hit the outside of the ball with the open face which helped the ball spin off the front wall into the nick.

In the latter, Jahangir used the serve just to the right of his body (to prevent Rodney from hitting the cross court nick off the serve) but this meant it gave Rodney more width to hit what was really a low drive with an extremely open faced racket. The open face slowed the ball and made it spin. Once it hit the front wall, it spun down into the nick.

Both deadly shots.

Jahangir himself also hit the nick on a number of occasions with his backhand drop shot from the front court. Again they were hit when the ball had some width.

From memory, only one or two cross court nicks were hit in the entire match and that was by Rodney. The straight kill also has the advantage of being very effective even if it does not find the nick. On the other hand, if the cross court does not hit the nick, it can give your opponent an advantage.

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Hello everyone - the more this "kill" topic continues the more confused I have become. It could be impressions or terms (the squash talk) that is confusing here. I thought KILL meant die or dead (if it is to be all over in one hit). So what are we trying to KILL, the ball or the opponent? Maybe both or whichever comes first! Do we attack hoping to kill? When I see the top pros practising what I considered to be a kill shot they do a routine of high figure of eight from the T and then "crack" the ball into the nick so it dies. It is a really hard shot that hits the nick and runs along the floor and cannot be picked up.
By the way, the figure of eight is not an easy routine, only accomplished at a top level.
I had it in my mind that hard low shots were attacking shots, eg cross court low and hard, etc.
What does everybody else term a "kill" ?

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Dear jdrulez

Check out the link below in solo drills and click "kill shot and recovery" . It is a drill I have used over many years.

You will need a very open racket face, firm wrist and controlled but powerful swing and a very confident attitude. Experiment and see how you go. I cannot emphasise the open raket face enough otherwise the ball will rebound too far back in the court.

Also, you must hit the ball no later than at the top of the bounce, slightly earlier if possible.

Solo Drills

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can you suggest some drills to practice the shots too

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dear jd
rita has provided some info, but i will put together some diagrams or pics about this style of shot. it may take a week or two, so please be patient.

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jd - thanks for your good words about squashgame.
Firstly, I would define a "kill shot" as one where the striker "goes for broke" (attacks), gives the shot all the power possible, but makes the ball impossible for the opponent to return - well almost! The ball will hit the front wall, and land somewhere towards the front of the court, and die in the nick (by skidding across the floor).
There are limited opportunities for this shot in a match, and it is a low percentage shot because of the accuracy required - sure looks exciting when done by the pros though.

As I explained about the DVD's to Vitty, we are slowly transposing our hard copies onto the web site but it all takes time, and anything is possible, in the future.

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