smash defense

[cooler]

Yes, i too have questions sometime. Maybe there is no right answer but here is my question.

On the receiving end of men doubles, both right handed, which partner should pick up a smash down the middle of the court? should the left side partner or the right side partner take it? Personally i prefer the right side partner should pick up the down the middle smash but my partner(on the left side of the court) said he should pick it up because his forehand is stronger than my backhand.

Maybe the right answer could be something the partners agreed to prior to the double games. Since the pros play together alot, this who should take it is likely sorted out beforehand. But for us recreational players who pair up different partners quite frequently, a quick verbal agreement beforehand might save some racket clashing.

But technically, which partner should be better taking the down the middle smash?

thanks

[Hoang Nguyen]

to my experience, the backhand has more control for returning smashes. That is if you grip correctly. forehand proves to be weaker and less control. well...that's my experience.

[kwun]

the forehand partner should take it. the forehand side has a longer reach.

some other saying is that the cross-court player should take it.

even pros sometimes clashes rackets. us mortals should be happy that we don't completely destroy each others rackets. :)

[Kelvin]

Technically speaking it should be the person on the left hand side, as they will have more shot choice with the return... also not everyone has a strong backhand, so it would be tragic to lift the shuttle right into your opponents smash range again.

I guess if you decide before hand, it would be best...
If it is your serve, then I guess the team could return either way... but if the opponent has a chance to score a point off a mistake, play it safe, and let the lefthand side take the shot... assuming they are right handed... if the person on the right hand side is left handed let them take it... Lots of factors to consider here...

[Mar]

If the smasher is smashing from the right side, the receiving left partner should be covering smashes to the middle of the defended court, because the defender on the right side should be covering the line. Vice versa for smashes coming from left side.

If smash is coming from the center of opponents court, smash in the middle belong to person with cheaper racquet!!!

Besides, who lifts to the middle of the court

[jayes]

With the criteria that you presented, here are a few samples that I've tried previously:

1) If I have a partner that I'm comfortable playing with, usually the one who can return the fastest between the two of us will take the smash.
2) Assuming that we are standing ready for the smash and we both right handed, usually the left hand side will take the smash.
3) If one partner is not in the position of returning the down-middle-smash, the one who is more ready will take it.

Those are a few samples that I've tried previously (among other tactics).

Recreationally, I find that agreement before playing helps though not necessarily effective for some situations.

[Yogi]

The down the middle smashes are the best at any level of the game.

Even the pros have problems negotiating them.

In my view the best way to take these depends on the position of the partners. if both the partners are right handers and standing in the normal backhand position to receive the smash then the person who has the natural back hand i.e the player in the right court(view behind the partners) should take it.

This would be made easier to understand by the simple fact that it is so easy to change from a forehand grip to a backhand grip but not vice versa.

That is why even the pros take smashes that come to their forehand by using the backhand grip.

i hope this helps.

[cooler]

thanks all for their suggestions. I believe i have a better handle on it now. Boy, it's awfully quiet around here. Have people gone golfing or something?

[May]

Cooler, u should give us a situation. Including how good each player's backhand and forehand and all.

[cooler]

May, if the defending pairs are of different competency, i wouldn't have to post my original question. Of course my question address a situation where the defending pairs are of same height, same rackets, same strings, same tension, both with excellent racket skills, same everything except their DNA. Hopes this help in your assessment of my original question.

[cooler]

May, I'm sorry for biting at you from my last post. I dont know what got into me. Maybe writing a big cheque to the government of canada for taxes due gets to anybody once a year. It's tax time in canada in case u dont know.

[May]

lol, it's ok.

[Pebulutangkis]

for return of smash my tip is hold backhand grip at all times, even if its forehand u can return with backhand grip. but a word of precaution if ur wrist is weak dun sue this backhand grip to lift from your forehand side cause it will end up half court or 3/4 court and in this instance the point would most probably have been loss unless a miracle occurs.

for the down the middle smash, for me n my partner is just pure instinct. the guy in best position to take will take it, not necesarrily the guy with forehand chance. anyway let me raise a point. u won't be standing exactly side by side with ur partner in defence. face it. 1 guy will be slightly in front. another thing to consider when there is down the line is steepness. if its very steep, the guy slightly in front will take it. if not, the other guy take it. please dun misunderstand slighlty in front as the front n back formation. i hope u guys know what i mean.

well i play mostly doubles and my doubles is better than singles. but from experience, no matter how gd ur partner is, ur REGULAR partner is always the best. i never play my best when i'm not with my regular partner. other doubles specialists would know this.

[cooler]

that is the style i'm using now, to take the forehand smash return with my backhand. My reaction is alot faster than trying to bring my backhand positon to a forehand position.

[Steplantis]

It`s interesting to see some of the opinions on this point - I guess it`s why it`s such a good shot to play in doubles. I would say that generally it should always be the right side player who makes the return, with only a few exceptions. If the smasher is in the back forehand court ( looking from the defenses` point of view the back left side ) the defense should be set up in a kind of right-angled triangle shape ( the long line from the smasher to the Left-sided receiver and the Right-sided receiver forward of his/her partner ). In this case the R player takes the " down the middle " shot as it`s on their backhand and they are further forward. I know that it`s possible for the L player to take it on their forehand but as you get into higher levels of doubles, with stronger and steeper smashes it`s hard to do anything except block onto the net and good opponents pick up on this and use it to their advantage.
With the smasher in the rear backhand court the R player is now facing the straight smash and the L player is covering the cross court shots. Again the R player should try to take the middle shot as it`s on their backhand. However if they get pulled out of position by a down the line smash and the next one comes down the middle the L player should be ready to try and help out.
If one player is left-handed then you have some more to think about and in some cases a down the line smash is better than going for the middle ( ex. the R player is right-handed and the L player is left-handed and smasher is in the rear forehand court ).

[Brett]

To change the topic 180 degrees, let's say that you've received a clear in the back court that is good for smashing, but too far back to get a really steep angle on your smash. Will the smash be more effective if it is made on a medium steep angle into the middle of the court between the opposing players, or on a more shallow angle to the back of the court?

I have had the latter choice work effectively at times because the other side was expecting a lower shot and did not get their racquets up until after the shuttle had passed between them. However, if the player receiving the smash is quicker or more prepared, they can get a better angle on their return, sending it back in a drive, rather than a more lifting shot if the angle is steeper. Also, with a deeper, more shallow smash, there is some chance of the shuttle going out. What do you guys think?

[Cheung]

It sounds pretty sensible to me Brett.
Variation is a key.
Lets say you have smashed quite steeply a lot of the time, then a flatter smash is going to work.
If the opponents start driving the shuttle back a lot, you can back off on the power a bit, say 80%. Surprisingly, quite a few people will mistime the return sending the shuttle out. Mix in a couple of drops to the centre and hey, you got some freebie points.

[Pebulutangkis]

hey if the smash is too shallow, a fast player would be able to return it very tight, impossible to smash. i always do that to such smashes.

[Roy]

i agree with comments from Steplantis, these are the tactics that former malaysian national palyer Ong Beng Teong from Malaysia uses. I was coached by him for a number of years, in essence the person on the same side as the smasher should cover the downline smash, while the cross court defensive player needs to cover the middle, very rarly will good player smash cross court so need to cover.

[cooler]

ur ok, may :)