Ok, I can take a short service no prob but when someone serves long I kinda have trouble. I enjoy staying on the offense, so when they do a long serve, I take one-two steps back, jump backwards, and smash it. However, they immediately do a net shot rite to the opposite corner of where I am, before I even land from my jump! I have to recover from the backward jump to move forward, and even if I can recover I can't reach it in time! No matter where i smash he just returns it to that same corner and I can't recover in time. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

In my opinion, if you're playing singles, its not that advantageous to stand too close to the net for serves, forcing you to jump backwards to smash like you say, leaving you out of position. On the other hand, if you're playing doubles, your partner should be ready to get those net shots. Hope this helps!

I am assuming that it is singles that you are talking about. The question for you is if the serve is to the back baseline, why are you smashing it? Unless you are very tall and has a powerful smash, you should be thinking smash. A offensive clear to the corners will do as well in moving your opponent to play a defensive return.

A singles game is more a strategy game than just drive and smash. You will need to make use of the front and back corners in moving your opponent around. Check out the article on "Doing damage to your opponent" which was translated by Stephantis

http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7

The other thing is that if you have to smash from the long serve position, try and vary your shots (drops, clears, drives, etc) so that you remain unpredictable.

Good luck :D

Originally posted by Swordfish712
so when they do a long serve, I take one-two steps back, jump backwards, and smash it.
Unless you have a sure kill shot, you should avoid jumping high in singles. This is because you don't have a partner to cover a return shot while you are still landing. Also, jumping often in singles will wear you out.

As Jax said, you shouldn't be standing too close to the front service line. I usually stand about 1.5 metres behind the front service line.

As for smashing a high singles serve, I'll second WWC. You should try to hit an offensive clear off of a high singles serve. Difference between offensive and defensive clears:

Offensive - Relatively flat and fast overhead shot to the back of the court. It is possible to intercept an offensive clear before it reachs the baseline and starts to drop, in most cases. The reason for using this shot is because it is relatively fast, and can catch your opponent off guard sometimes, forcing a weaker return.

Defensive - This is a high overhead shot to the back of the court used when in trouble. It is impossible to intercept a defensive clear until it starts to drop. If correctly hit, this should force the opponent all the way to the back of their court. A disadvantage to this shot is that your opponent will not be rushed with a defensive clear, and will have many choices as to what to do with it.

However, if someone hits a singles serve high but it is still going to fall in about the middle of the court, feel free to smash away. :) If my opponent serves high and it is near the sidelines, I will sometimes smash down the line because they will usually have to lean over to retrieve the shot, producing a weak return. This is why you don't serve high near the sidelines, always serve high near the middle line.

Originally posted by Swordfish712
However, they immediately do a net shot rite to the opposite corner of where I am, before I even land from my jump! I have to recover from the backward jump to move forward, and even if I can recover I can't reach it in time! No matter where i smash he just returns it to that same corner and I can't recover in time.
It sounds to me like your opponent is making you do what he wants you to do. He knows that if he serves long, you will jump smash it. Then he will expect a smash and be ready to return it to the opposite corner from where you are.

Unless you are very quick and have great footwork, it is going to be very hard to retrieve the net shot if you are still in the air when he does the net shot. The solution is to not hit a jump smash off of a high serve. If you still insist on smashing, at least don't jump as much, so that you will be ready for the next shot.

Phil

Hi,

Avoid jump smashing in singles, it causes you too many problems, and half a court to play a drop, clear, anything. Play percentage shots and when THEY make the mistake, kill the shot.

Matt

Wow thx, this is a lot more info than I expected! I'll definitely take use all these strategies when I play! Thx again!