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Created 12/31/01

Court Positioning by Carl Moody

The racquetball court is divided into three areas. The front court is the 15 feet from the front wall to the first solid red line (the foot fault line). Mid-court is the 10 feet between the foot fault line and the dotted safety line (with the short line in the middle). The back court is the remaining 15 feet behind the dotted line.

A rollout is defined as shot that bounces twice in the 15 feet before the foot fault line. A killshot is a shot that bounces twice before hitting the short line (the second solid line, 20 feet from the front wall).

In terms of strategy, let’s just give up trying to retrieve rollouts. If a ball bounces twice before the foot fault line, that’s a pretty good shot. It is also a pretty low percentage shot. In a typical rally, 15 percent of the shots are kill shots, so rollouts occur less than 15 percent of the time. So, we are going to give up trying to cover the first 15 feet (the front court) which leaves us a court that is 25 by 20. The best place to be is in the middle, at about 12 ½ feet. Since the dotted line is 10 feet behind the short line, the best place to be in a racquetball rally is 2 ½ feet behind the dotted line.

We know that in a typical rally, 15 percent of shots are killed, however 15 percent are skipped. That means that 70 percent of shots are left up in the area behind the short line and you have a chance at them if you are in good center court position behind the dotted line.

If you take a deep position on the court, well behind the dotted line, you are inviting your opponent to kill the ball, because you probably have the pass shots covered. That means you are forcing them to try to kill the ball, which has only a 15% chance of success. You have the percentages on your side. If you get in front of the dotted line, the reverse is true. Now you are asking your opponent to pass the ball, which is a much higher percentage shot. So, don’t get caught in front of the dotted line, the percentages are against you.

Now, the second part of court positioning is to choose whether to be in the middle, left of center, or right of center from side wall to side wall. Remember, you must always give your opponent two shots, the straight in and the cross court. So if he or she is shooting from the center of the court behind you, you must either move to one side or the other out of the way, or jump over the ball. However, if your opponent is shooting from deep court, behind you in one of the corners, then you have your choice.