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In a serve, a ball must hit the front wall first, and then it should fall into the opponent's half. But before falling into opponent's half, if the ball touches the side wall, will the serve be considered as legal?
To be clear, there are actually two ways:
Ball touches the front wall first, and then before falling, it touches the side wall, and then it gets into the opponents's half.
Ball first touches the side wall, and then hits the front wall, and then finally gets into the opponent's half.
Your first scenario is legal (front wall first, then side wall, then opponent's half). The second is not (side wall, then front wall, then opponent's half).
PDF of the rules is linked at the bottom.
Rule 5 (The Serve) says the following about a legal serve (5.7):
A serve is good if:
5.7.3 the ball is struck directly to the front wall, hitting it between the service-line and the out-line, but does not hit the front and side walls at the same time; and
5.74 the ball, unless volleyed by the receiver, bounces for the first time in the opposite quarter court without touching any line
Since the ball needs to be struck "directly to the front wall" it cannot hit a side wall before hitting the front wall. However, there are no restrictions on what it can hit between the front wall and the bounce in the quarter court (except the floor and any "out" area).
Rules: http://www.ussquash.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/131023_Rules-of-Singles-Squash-2014.pdf
The 1st scenario is valid but the 2nd scenario is invalid.
Excerpt from the world squash federation site:
Yes - the ball on being served can hit the back wall or a sidewall before hitting the floor (ground). Of course it has to hit the front wall first between the service and out lines.
Visit http://www.worldsquash.org/ for more info.
Taken from World Squash RULES FAQ 03, the service section.
