Singles - Clearing to the backhand

[Maradona]

Somewhat related to the "how good is your singles game" thread, but I figured it should probably deserve its own thread....

How useful is the clear to your opponent's backhand as an offensive tenchnique? Generally clears are thought of as a defensive shot, but when I play singles I try and work the backhand as much as possible...smashes, drops, half-smashes, AND clears. Since I'm a right-hander and so are most other people, hitting to my opponent's backhand is keeping the bird on my forehand side. My forehand is stronger and more accurare, and successfully hitting to my opponent's backhand usually sets me up for a winner. In all the single's discussion I've read, I haven't seen much talk of the offense clear to the backhand. Suggestions, comments, criticism's?

[yonexfanatic]

Well really an offensive clear is pretty much an attack clear, a clear that's quick but lower than a safety clear and pushes your opponent back. Many get the idea that it's a good strategy to hit the bird to your opponents backhand. This is quite effective for opponents that aren't strong with their backhand. However when getting to a higher level, say advanced and up to pro, you'll notice that even their backhands are quite developed and even if one hits to the "backhand side", they have the ability to get behind it and still make a forehand shot or around the head. It can be a good thing to do when wanting to move around your opponent as well, but there are tons of shots you can do besides hitting it to the backhand.

[chub2003]

It depends how good your clear is. It should always be hit to the baseline with a fast clear, sort of like a really high drive. Also, it depends what kind of shot comes before the clear to the backhand, if he is perfectly balanced and standing in the middle, he will get to it easily, however if you do some good placement shots and get him far away from that corner or off balance, it works well

[jayes]

Clearing to your opponent's backhand can be useful, especially if you notice that your opponent has a weak backhand reply and consistently using his/her backhand. If your opponent has a very strong backhand, however, you might want to vary your attack.