Racquetball Court Positioning

Court Positioning

Being at the right place at the right time is crucial to success in racquetball. When it is your turn to hit the ball, you must be in a position to hit it before it bounces twice and, ideally, be in a position to strike the ball in your "kill zone." The kill zone is an area about calf high and slightly out from your body where you're able to hit the ball correctly--that is, straight into the front wall and low to the floor.

Get To The Middle
The best place in the court to be closest (on average) to every ball that is hit is in center court. In center court, you are as close to the left side wall as to the right side wall and about as close to the front wall as the back wall. Within a couple of steps, you can cut of down-the-line shots, pick up cross court shots, dig kill shots, or make a play off of the back wall. Also from center court, you can hit pass shots down the opposite side of the court from where you opponent is. There are several things to remember about center court positioning.

The middle of the court is not a single spot--it is an area.

Stay off the walls. Learn to hit forehands AND backhands.

You can't be in the middle if your opponent is hitting from the middle (if you set him up--it's your fault if he hits from center court). Avoidable hinder. An arching or slightly circular path to center court will usually allow you to move into proper "center" position while allowing your opponents their entitled down-the-line and cross court shots on every hit.

In doubles, the middle isn't where you want to be, but it needs to be covered.

Go Where The Ball Will Go
If you wait to see where your opponent has hit the ball before you begin to move toward the ball, you are too late. You must anticipate where and how your opponent will hit the ball and begin moving before he swings.

Where is the most obvious place for your opponent to hit the ball? Down the line? Cross court? Pinch?

What are the favorite shots of your opponent?. Typically have to "feel out" someone you have not played before to figure out their style of play and where they like to go with the ball.

Read the opponent's body language. Do they telegraph where they intend to hit it with foot positioning, hip positioning, or speed of arm swing?

In doubles and cutthroat (i.e., when you have a partner to help cover the court), you need to play as a team. Player can charge the front or move to cut off potential hard angle shots easier and with less risk of being passed when a partner is there to back them up. When a partner moves to front court, the other partner must be ready to cover center and back court until both players can move back into doubles position.

Push 'Em Back
Taking center court is only a piece of the court-positioning puzzle. For you to most effectively control the game from center court, your opponent needs to be somewhere other than center court. Making opponents move to the back corners gives them less choice on where to hit the ball, it keeps you out of their entitled hitting lanes, and gives you the greatest variety of shots to win the rallies.

Important to hit to back corners and down walls--drive opponent from middle and take middle ground

Use the ceiling when needed.

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