Recently, the general performance standards of women’s squash have progressed to very high
levels as demonstrated by several ‘spectacular’ world championships final matches. Our aim
was to identify successful game strategies of female squash players at the international level via
notational analysis. 25 matches were obtained for analysis from several international
competitions, including the Women’s World Championship 2014, the Women’s World Team
Squash Championship 2014 and the Malaysia Circuit Squash 2015. Analysis was based on
observation of the type of stroke performed and the rally outcome. The mean total number of
shots performed per game was 337 (SD=189.6) shots. The most preferred strokes performed
were drive (47.1%), followed by cross-court (19.9%), volley (12.7%), drop (11.1%), boast
(5.8%), with the lob (3.4%) as least frequently occurring shot. Meanwhile, rally outcomes were
categorized as winners, errors, stroke, and let. There were more winners produced (58.5%) than
errors (24.8%) or lets (16.69%). The findings indicate that defensive long rallies together with
offensive endings (such as well-timed drop shots) are characteristic of points played in elite
women’s squash. The practical implications of this analysis may help coaches and female
players enhance both tactical strategy and performance.