Federer playing Squash

jiddy-p · Oct 24, 2013

Turns out Federer is a keen squash player. Along with Agassi and some others he has been trying to promote squash as an Olympic sport. I couldn't agree with them more, squash is a fantastic sport, way better and more universally played than sailing and handball.

But anyway, I wanna see Roger play squash! I've searched and there are no videos on youtube. Can't track anything down. Is anyone aware if this footage exists? I really want to see it.

He must dominate on the squash courts. There have got to be other tennis fans who want to see Roger play squash!

dirtballer · Oct 24, 2013

Squash is a great sport and a great conditioner. You have to be careful if you're mixing squash and tennis. The strokes are different and you can get in some bad habits.

tipsa...don'tlikehim! · Oct 24, 2013

Playing squash ?
Well, given his awful second semester he'd rather spend more energy on tennis but that's just my humble opinion of course

Vcore89 · Oct 24, 2013

What's the big deal? Stefan Edberg played squash as well [after he retired] for recreation.

Rock Strongo · Oct 24, 2013

Vcore89 said:
What's the big deal? Stefan Edberg played squash as well [after he retired] for recreation.

Didn't he become Swedish team champion?

Russell Finch · Oct 24, 2013

I don't think so, but he did play Racketlon, a competition where you play tennis, squash, badminton and ping pong against the same opponent, and the person with the most points across all four sports wins.

Vcore89 · Oct 24, 2013

Rock Strongo said:
Didn't he become Swedish team champion?

No idea, just know he always played even while in his playing days on the tennis tour. Team champion? For a serve and volleyer I think it would be harder to be squash (team) champion; one tends to want to put away the ball even before it bounce(s) routinely.

I know he is already good at it but to what extent, I have absolutely no idea. Didn't follow much on his squash.

vive le beau jeu ! · Oct 24, 2013

i wanna see a federer-edberg squash match.

SystemicAnomaly · Oct 24, 2013

I've only played squash a couple of times but I agree that it is a great sport that demands a high degree of skill to play well. Andy Murray is a huge fan of both squash and badminton and has also joined the effort to include squash as an Olympic sport. Have my doubts that is will make it though. London (2012) seemed like best hope for Olympic squash. The sport lost its bid for the 2016 Olympics in Rio and will probably lose out to Wrestling for 2020 (Tokyo).

Federer playing squash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO2kUr4VVt8&t=28s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WUe-bhadfY&t=12s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YQ0jP986_k&t=15s

Bonus (another passion):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De5veqHEBmE

dirtballer said:
... You have to be careful if you're mixing squash and tennis. The strokes are different and you can get in some bad habits.

Don't believe that this is much of a problem unless your tennis strokes are not yet grooved. I have no problem switching between badminton and tennis despite the similarities and differences. I used to play quite a bit of racquetball as well w/o detrimental effects on my tennis (or badminton) strokes.

JoshT · Oct 24, 2013

I want to enter a Rackleton tournament. That sounds badass.

SystemicAnomaly · Oct 24, 2013

Russell Finch said:
I don't think so, but he did play Racketlon, a competition where you play tennis, squash, badminton and ping pong against the same opponent, and the person with the most points across all four sports wins.

Rackleton was pre-dated by World Racquets Championship (broadcast by CBS Sports) in the late 70s or early 80s. It also feature racquetball (in addition to tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis). There may have been two of these championships. At least one of the these championships featured: Bjorn Borg (tennis), Sharif Khan (squash), Danny Seemiller (table tennis), Charles Brumfield (racketball), and Fleming Delfs (badminton). I'm fairly certain that the Championship was won by Khan, the squash player.

I had heard that the 2nd Championship was also won by a member of the Kahn squash dynasty. Here is a Rackelton page that references a post of mine from 2001 (on a badminton forum):

http://www.racketlon.com/newborgrack.html

Sharif Khan & Björn Borg in a unique picture from the pre-history of Racketlon

courtking · Oct 24, 2013

Many ATP Pro use squash as cross training.. It improves your tennis games 10 fold.. The most on the footwork, stamina and off balance shots.. Also the nasty nasty slices on both wings of squash can be a great weapon on tennis courts

Vcore89 · Oct 24, 2013

I am able to go back and forth with badminton and tennis effortlessly (even play it on the same day a lot of times). Table tennis, I am ok with but I played squash maybe a maximum of two times and I was terrible at it.

...so, Federer versus Edberg (squash) and Federer versus Borg (table tennis) would be nice if it ever happens!

RF20Lennon · Oct 24, 2013

I remember Fed recommending squash to young kids as it has similar footwork on tennis.

chicagodude · Oct 24, 2013

jiddy-p said:
Turns out Federer is a keen squash player. Along with Agassi and some others he has been trying to promote squash as an Olympic sport. I couldn't agree with them more, squash is a fantastic sport, way better and more universally played than sailing and handball.

But anyway, I wanna see Roger play squash! I've searched and there are no videos on youtube. Can't track anything down. Is anyone aware if this footage exists? I really want to see it.

He must dominate on the squash courts. There have got to be other tennis fans who want to see Roger play squash!

Squash is a fantastic sport indeed, I have been loving it for years!
It's way too different from tennis though assume somebody great at tennis would automatically also be great at squash. They're both racket-sports, yeah, but vastly different at the same time...

By the way, I'm not so sure about how universally played it is....handball is also pretty much played everywhere.

chicagodude · Oct 24, 2013

dirtballer said:
Squash is a great sport and a great conditioner. You have to be careful if you're mixing squash and tennis. The strokes are different and you can get in some bad habits.

True, I play both as well (albeit it at a slightly more modest level..just slightly

), but switching always takes some time to get used to the way you play strokes again. Squash requires much more of a wrist action than tennis and you can't afford yourself to have a big back-swing.

TheCanadian · Oct 24, 2013

Federer played a lot of squash with his dad when growing up. This could explain many of his wristy shots that look like squash shots in terms of technique. I play squash and it has improved my tennis game. You have to watch your grips, however, but if you use the continental grip like you're supposed to, transferring to tennis shouldn't be a problem.

Mainad · Oct 24, 2013

vive le beau jeu ! said:
i wanna see a federer-edberg squash match.

I wanna see a Federer-Nadal squash match!

I wonder which one would be the GOAT?

:wink:

vive le beau jeu ! · Oct 24, 2013

Mainad said:
I wanna see a Federer-Nadal squash match!

I wonder which one would be the GOAT?

:wink:

roger wins by KO: the nadal smashes himself against the plexiglass back wall when doing his lame intimidation run right after the coin toss.

ForLoveOfTheGame · Oct 24, 2013

Squash is so much fun! I highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to play. It is highly aerobic and works your leg muscles HARD.
I can see how Roger has made some of the squash type shots he's done, both from playing it and by using a smaller racket that allows for an accurate wristy shot. You don't have to hit hard in the box but you do have to be fast to be the best!

dominikk1985 · Oct 24, 2013

didn't fed also play a lot of badminton with his coach when he was younger?

Dags · Oct 24, 2013

Vcore89 said:
What's the big deal? Stefan Edberg played squash as well [after he retired] for recreation.

Edberg once played Greg Gaultier (the current world number 4) at squash, with Gaultier using a tennis racquet. I'd love to see some footage of it, but the closest I've ever found is this interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35_vfThzSJk

When Federer bows out of tennis, I'm hoping he might consider some exhibition squash to help boost the profile. The current world number 1, Ramy Ashour, is a bit special, and deserves wider recognition. Here's a point against Gaultier from earlier this year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEBiJguscMY

sureshs · Oct 24, 2013

Squash promotes bad backhand technique for tennis

TheCanadian · Oct 24, 2013

I find that squash improves your slice BH by a million. It's a fantastic sport that doesn't get the respect and visibility it deserves. Mainly because it's not very spectator-friendly.

chicagodude · Oct 24, 2013

TheCanadian said:
I find that squash improves your slice BH by a million. It's a fantastic sport that doesn't get the respect and visibility it deserves. Mainly because it's not very spectator-friendly.

Squash will frankly probably never make it as an olympic sport, unless they find a way to make it spectator-friendly on TV. The sport is fast, exciting, and matches generally don't last that long, which is all good, but the ball is so damn difficult to see on TV

(in person it's very easy, strangely enough...)

Some digital technique to have the ball be bright-red on TV even during live matches, maybe? hehe

Povl Carstensen · Oct 24, 2013

Federer promoted squash for the olympics.

atatu · Oct 24, 2013

Back when I was in high school ('81) I played tennis with Rudy Hartono, from Indonesia, who is one of the best badminton players of all time. I beat him, but that guy was quick !

Bobby Jr · Oct 24, 2013

chicagodude said:
Squash is a fantastic sport indeed, I have been loving it for years!
It's way too different from tennis though assume somebody great at tennis would automatically also be great at squash. They're both racket-sports, yeah, but vastly different at the same time...

I agree in some respects - but insofar as practising sharpness squash is excellent. It's also amazing for fitness even if footwork is far less important in squash (lighter ball/racquet means you can get away with more)

Le Master · Oct 24, 2013

Here's Federer at the Hampton Royal Palace in 2005 playing Real Tennis. Real tennis is a really, really cool sport, and I suggest learning the rules and watching some videos of it. It's what lawn tennis derived from, and it has been played continually for many hundreds of years. Here's a photo of the court for some perspective.

Here is one article discussing his playing there.

Le Master · Oct 24, 2013

Also, last November Federer played some Rackets (which is closely related to squash) when he was in Queens practicing for the WTF. Apparently he dropped in the gallery to watch others play and got so excited about it that he returned the next day to ask if he could give it a shot.

(Courtesy of Dom Wright from the realtennisonline.com boards)

SystemicAnomaly · Oct 24, 2013

atatu said:
Back when I was in high school ('81) I played tennis with Rudy Hartono, from Indonesia, who is one of the best badminton players of all time. I beat him, but that guy was quick !

Kudos! Where/How did this happen? Rudy is just a few year older than I am so he had to be in his early 30s at the time. He was a little bit past his badminton prime but he was still playing professionally.

Deleted member 307496 · Oct 25, 2013

I'm glad he is giving squash some attention. It's a great sport

Fugazi · Sep 4, 2014

JoshT said:
I want to enter a Rackleton tournament. That sounds badass.

Racketlon is nice, but unfortunately it's biased against tennis players: the serve equalizes things in tennis, so a much better player can win maybe 21-7 at best, whereas the better player in the other sports (squash, badminton, table tennis) can litterally win 21-0 against a lesser opponent. Also, tennis is played last, so sometimes it's out of the equation entirely.

Russeljones · Sep 4, 2014

jiddy-p said:
more universally played than sailing and handball.

This is untrue. To put it mildly.

Fugazi · Sep 14, 2016

Le Master said:
Also, last November Federer played some Rackets (which is closely related to squash) when he was in Queens practicing for the WTF. Apparently he dropped in the gallery to watch others play and got so excited about it that he returned the next day to ask if he could give it a shot.

(Courtesy of Dom Wright from the realtennisonline.com boards)

Seems pretty clear from these pics that Federer isn't a good squash player. Terrible technique, C player probably.

Federer playing Squash

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