Squash Match Day: Fueling, Hydration, Warm-Up and Between Games

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Saturday at a club tournament. Your name is on the draw sheet for 10:40, and if you win, again at 3:00. The viewing gallery smells of rubber and coffee, someone’s shoes squeak on the glass court, and your bag holds two rackets, goggles, a towel, a bottle and a banana. Squash match day is short on breaks and long on effort, so the small things (what you eat, what you drink, how you warm up and what you do in the two minutes between games) make a real difference. Here’s how to get them right, from a junior’s first tournament to a five-game final.

The breaks you get (and the ones you don’t)

Under the World Squash singles rules (2025 edition, in force since September 2025), which most events follow:

• Warm-up: up to 4 minutes on court together, switching sides after 2. That’s for the ball and your strokes, not your body. Warm up your body before you walk on.
• Before play: up to 1 minute between the end of the warm-up and the first serve.
• Between games: up to 2 minutes. This is your time to drink, towel off, change grips and get coaching. Under the rules, coaching is allowed only in these intervals.
• Broken equipment: up to 2 minutes to change it, including damaged goggles or a lost contact lens.
• Cramp is not an injury. The rules class cramp, nausea, a blister and breathlessness as illness. You either play on straight away or concede the game and use the interval to recover. So preventing cramp matters.

Games go to 11 points (win by two at 10-all), and matches are usually best of five, sometimes best of three. A five-game match can last an hour or more. Check your event’s format in advance; leagues and juniors sometimes use their own.

Before the match: what to eat

The joint position of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and sports dietitians suggests a carbohydrate-based meal 1 to 4 hours before competing. Keep fat, protein and fiber lower then so your stomach is settled. Think oatmeal with a banana, toast with honey, or rice or pasta with a little chicken three hours before; a banana or a few crackers an hour before if you’re hungry. Carbohydrate matters in squash. In a New Zealand study, players who ate a high-carbohydrate diet for the two days before a simulated five-game match completed it faster than after a low-carbohydrate diet with the same calories. Don’t try new foods on tournament day.

Hydration: squash courts are hotter than they feel

The court is indoors and the air may feel mild, but squash produces a lot of body heat in a small box where sweat doesn’t cool you well. In elite tournaments, researchers recorded core temperatures of 39.0–40.1 °C even in mild conditions, with heart rates above 90% of maximum for long periods. Muscle cramps, an early warning sign of heat illness, are common at tournaments. In a study of elite players training at about 20 °C, the average sweat rate was 1.1 liters an hour, with wide differences between players. Sweat sodium averaged 46 mmol per liter. Players who trained again the same day hadn’t replaced their fluid and sodium by the next session.

• Start hydrated. Pale-yellow urine before the match is the ACSM’s simple check.
• Drink at every interval. A few mouthfuls to a cup of water or a sports drink in each 2-minute break. Keep a full bottle like the Nalgene 32 oz by the court door.
• Add sodium if you sweat heavily or tend to cramp: a tablet like Nuun Sport (300 mg sodium) or a mix like Skratch Labs Hydration (400 mg sodium plus carbohydrate) for long matches. In tennis, heat cramps are mostly linked to sweat and sodium loss, and the same logic applies in squash.
• Don’t overdrink. NATA warns against drinking so much that you gain weight during exercise, which can dilute blood sodium (hyponatremia). Weigh yourself before and after a training session to learn your own sweat rate.

Heat illness is an emergency. Confusion, collapse or a very high body temperature after a match need cooling right away (NATA: cool first, transport second; cold-water immersion is the most effective method) and a call to 911.

Warm up before you walk on court

Four minutes of knocking up with your opponent isn’t enough to prepare your Achilles, calves and knees for a full lunge. Arrive early and give yourself 10 to 15 minutes off court:

• 3–5 minutes of easy jogging, skipping or cycling (AAOS’s warm-up advice for tennis, which suits squash too, starts with light cardio).
• Leg swings, walking lunges in different directions, calf raises, arm circles and trunk rotations.
• A few short accelerations and some gentle ghosting to each corner, building speed.
• Goggles on before you enter the court. World Squash recommends wearing them for the warm-up too, and US Squash requires them on court at its events.

Then use the official 4 minutes to warm the ball and find your length. Our squash training page explains why the lunge and quick turns put so much load on your legs.

Between games: a 2-minute routine

• 0:00–0:30: step off, breathe slowly, towel your face, hands and racket handle.
• 0:30–1:00: drink. Water for short matches; add a sports drink or electrolytes once the match goes past about an hour or you’re sweating heavily.
• 1:00–1:30: one or two tactical points from your coach or yourself. Keep it simple.
• 1:30–2:00: wipe or change goggles if they’ve fogged, check your grip (a fresh Karakal PU Super Grip helps when the handle gets slippery) and get back on court in time.

Two matches in a day

Tournament draws often mean a second match a few hours later, and the study above showed that players training twice in a day often hadn’t caught up on fluid and sodium. Straight after the first match, start drinking, add some salt (a salty snack or an electrolyte drink), and eat carbohydrate with a little protein. A sandwich, a smoothie or chocolate milk all work. Keep moving gently, change into dry clothes and stay out of the sun if you leave the club. Eat a lighter, carb-based snack 1 to 2 hours before the next match, and warm up again properly. More on the hours after a match is on our squash recovery page. Kids playing junior events need the same basics, with an adult keeping an eye on water and food; see youth squash.

Back to the squash hub. For daily eating and supplements, see squash nutrition. For how tennis handles changeovers and heat rules, see tennis match day. We compare drink mixes in best electrolyte powders.

Squash match day questions

How long is the break between games in squash?

Up to 2 minutes under the World Squash singles rules in force since September 2025, with up to 1 minute between the warm-up and the first serve. Some events and older rule versions use 90 seconds, so check your tournament’s rules.

What should I eat before a squash match?

A carbohydrate-based meal 1 to 4 hours before, with less fat, protein and fiber, as the ACSM’s joint position suggests. If the match is close, have a small snack like a banana. Stick to foods you know.

How much should I drink during a squash match?

Drink at every interval. Elite players sweated about 1.1 liters an hour on average in one study, but individuals varied a lot. Weigh yourself before and after training to learn your own losses, and don’t drink so much that you gain weight.

Can I get injury time for cramp in squash?

No. The World Squash rules treat cramp as illness, not injury. You must play on or concede the game and use the interval to recover. That’s why fluids, sodium, fuel and fitness matter before the match.

How long is the warm-up in a squash match?

Up to 4 minutes on court with your opponent, switching sides after 2 minutes. Do your body warm-up off court beforehand so the knock-up is just for the ball and your strokes.