ABSTRACT
In 2000 the Professional Squash Association (PSA) introduced a reduction of 2 inches to the tin height (for professional men's squash only). This effectively increased the playing court dimensions because attacking shots to the front of the court bounce for a second time closer to the front wall meaning that the distance covered to return a shot is greater. This meant that it was easier to play winning shots (since it was harder for the opponent to return the ball) and hence it was hoped the new tin height would encourage players to be more attacking (drop shots, kills and low drives). It was thought that this would result in more exciting squash for the audience, shorter rallies and lower match durations. With the objective of reducing match durations, in 1996 the World Squash Federation changed the scoring system for professional tournaments from playing to 9 points with scoring on serve only to an alternative scoring system to 15 points, point a rally scoring system (PARS). This was further amended in 2004 so that professional matches now play up to 11 points (PARS). Shorter and more predictable match durations (PARS is more predictable that point on serve only) also make scheduling tournaments easier. Previous research in professional squash has only assessed game related activity played with the lower tin under the old scoring system to 9 points, with scoring on serve only (Vučković et al., 2009). This research showed that for elite matches the ball was in play for an average of 547s (SD = 216s) with an average of 34 (SD = 11) rallies each of duration 16.42s (SD = 4.48s). This paper will assess the extent to which the new scoring system has changed the game characteristics for professional male squash.
