Squash vs tennis | 11 differences between these ball sports

There are now a lot of players who have switched to squash, or at least are thinking about it.

Squash is gaining in popularity, but is still not nearly as common as playing tennis, and there are also slightly fewer courts available throughout the Netherlands than tennis courts.

Also read: how to find a good racket for squash, reviews and tips

In this article I want to focus on squash vs tennis and lay down a few points to explain the difference to you:

11 differences between squash and tennis

Squash is a fantastic game that is by now far from a minor sport, but should actually be more popular than tennis. This is why:

1. The serve is not so decisive in squash: Despite changes to tennis balls to slow them down a bit, the modern game of tennis is dominated by the serve to a far too great extent, especially in the men's game. Having a strong serve is essential to reaching the highest level in tennis and if you serve well consistently, you can win matches with just a few good shots.
2. The ball is in play longer: Because it is so important, most tennis players mainly focus on hitting a good serve that wins immediately, and because the server gets two chances to serve the ball, that also means that a huge part of a tennis match is spent on the line, waiting for the serve. In addition, a good serve usually means a short rally of no more than 3 shots, especially on a fast surface such as grass. According to a Wall St Journal analysis of 2 tennis matches, only 17,5% of a tennis match actually spent on playing tennis. Admittedly, 2 of the surveyed competitions could not be said to be representative to represent the entire sport, but I suspect the figure is very close to the truth. With squash, the serve is just a way to get the ball back into play and at a professional level, aces are almost never seen.
3. Squash is a better workout than tennis: You burn more calories per hour while playing squash. Because you have less waiting time with squash, you burn calories faster than tennis, so it is a more efficient use of your time. Also, unlike amateur doubles, there is little danger of getting cold while playing squash, even on a cold field in winter. (although those will be hard to find in NL). You are constantly on the move and once warmed up you will not cool down until you leave the field. Squash is therefore a great way to lose weight.
4. More equality in squash: Unlike women's tennis, who only play a maximum of three sets, even in a Grand Slam tournament, in squash, men and women both play the best of 5 games to 11 points. Men and women can also play against each other more easily.
5. Who cares what the weather is? The only thing that can stand in your way is a general power outage, but other than that there will never be any interruptions to bad light, and rain will only be a problem if the roof is leaking. Plus no danger of sunburnt arms when playing squash.
6. Pro squash does not benefit from child exploitation: No need for an army of ball boys and girls toiling without getting paid while the players make millions. Squash only has a few paid adults to mop up the sweat on the court when needed.
7. Squash is more environmentally friendly: Okay, this reason sounds a little weak, but read on. For every tournament tens of thousands of tennis balls produced because all balls are replaced at least once, if not twice, per game. Squash balls are more durable than tennis balls, so the same ball can usually be used for the entire game. So during a tournament, that means tens of thousands of balls less to use. Not only that, but because each squash ball is much smaller, less rubber is used to produce each ball.
8. Less egos in squash: Every sport has its idiots, but because even the most successful squash players aren't household names outside of the sport, (most) professional squash players don't have a big ego.
9. Professional squash players do not travel with a consequence: For that there is not enough money in sports. It's hard enough for players outside of the top 50 to pay for themselves and have a coach to go to different locations, let alone bring someone else with them.
10. Squash players don't moan with every shot: Why do tennis players have to do that? It has now even spread from the women's game to the men's game.
11. Squash doesn't have a strange scoring system like tennis: You get one point per rally won, not 15 or 10 like in tennis. Why tennis has persisted with such a strange system, the winner of the game couldn't get a maximum of 4 points to win a game instead of the current arrangement? This is an indication of the tennis federations' unwillingness to change.

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Of course I put it a little thick on top and both sports are fun to practice.

Hope you liked the article and it provided enough information for you to see which sport you would like to practice next.

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Joost Nusselder, the founder of referees.eu is a content marketer, father and loves to write about all kinds of sports, and has also played a lot of sports himself for most of his life. Now since 2016, he and his team have been creating helpful blog articles to help loyal readers with their sports activities.