the.com/racquetball
squash's chaotic American cousin where every wall is fair game and physics files complaints.
means A fast indoor sport played with a stringed racquet and a hollow rubber ball in an enclosed court, where the ceiling, floor, and all four walls are in play.
from A straightforward American compound: "racquet" plus "ball." The word "racquet" itself takes a longer road — it likely traces back through French "raquette" to a medieval Latin "rasceta," and possibly even further to an Arabic word "rāḥat," meaning the palm of the hand, a reminder that such games were once played bare-handed before anyone strung up a frame. The sport itself was devised in the mid-20th century in the United States, combining elements of handball and squash, and the plain descriptive name stuck.
- invented
- 1950 by Joe Sobek, who fused tennis and handball
- speed
- ball can rocket past 180 mph
- full court
- ceiling, floor, and all four walls are playable
- peak era
- 3 million U.S. players in the early 1980s
- name change
- originally called paddle rackets
russ andrews — won 12 prpa national titles (1979-1990), considered the greatest racquetball player ever