Watching a lot of Lin Dan forehand shots, he seems to spin his take back before hitting drop, smash and push. This is more pronounced with LD but other players do it. Is this for disguise or the beat way to play a high forehand shot, like an anticlockwise elliptical arc. Is it worth copying?
Lol, helicopter style... But yes, it's a result of his opening up his chest and pulling back his shoulder during the wind up.
But the arc of the swing is not straight back but wide circle, even on half shots. He is the most pronounced player to do this swing. some shots here
All I'm seeing is a preparation where the racket is turned out (palm facing sideways) rather than facing forwards. This is a very common style of prep. I wouldn't say it's better or worse than other styles (like strings facing forwards). I do feel it has some advantages when teaching players, as for many players it prompts them to turn their shoulders / body.
Is for disguise to fool the player in to expecting the the cross court as he doesn't do the all the time?
I was taught strings facing forwards, but prefer the LD style of preparation. In my opinion, strings forward is better for constant attack, If you're in the rearcourt in doubles, strings forward makes more sense. Strings forward is a shorter preparation, and will allow you to keep pace up when attacking. The LD style, string bed side on, allows you to take the shuttle from more positions. As you can see, he doesn't have to get all the way behind the shuttle to play a clear or drop, although he would prefer to do so for a smash. It lets you build momentum to use with step-out shots, that when combined with body weight movement, allow you to hit full court clears out to the side and a little behind the body. I think the 2nd has more application in singles than doubles, as it increases your opportunities to take the shot. But as Gollum has said, neither is better than the other. They're just different. Even though I think strings forward is better in doubles, I still play with the racket side on approach in doubles. I try to persuade my opponent to play to my forehand side (left side), usually partner's backhand side, so that I can do a China jump and smash. But sometimes this doesn't always work and I don't have time to get behind the shuttle to smash properly, so I play a step out shot and either clear, drive, or drop the shuttle. I think there may be a better element of deception in there - or rather I think I should say - there's more natural inclination to slice with this preparation. Because your racket is already moving across the shuttle, you can just get creative with it and start slicing into different places. So one gives you pace, and more immediately threatening shots, a bit quicker to prepare... the other gives you the opportunity to avoid pace, play more passive shots when in trouble, maybe a bit more deception involved.
I'll warn you now, step out shots aren't particularly easy. If you're always dropping with them it becomes way too predictable, and if you can't clear full length with it, it's actually not much help because you'll set yourself up to lose the rally. If you're already used to one form of preparation, I don't think there's enough reason to change it, because it'll effect your timing and so on.
I know my own preparation varies depending on the amount of time I have, and to a lesser degree, the shot I want to hit. People tend to over-emphasise the idea of having the exact same preparation all the time. It's a good basic idea, since you don't want to signal the shot you're about to play; but in reality, your opponent is unlikely to notice small differences.
A lot of fun in badminton is try to learn different shots and techniques, as a developing player I have the luxury of not have a fixed style of play, so enjoy trying different styles.
If you meant the wide swing, I am guessing it is just an old habit from his training days, or could be towards a more efficient footwork (he can hit the bird without getting away from the center), or could be due to his preferred panhandle grip which enable him to hit that kind of shot. Panhandle grip can do wonders, and most pros use this grip for power smash, and can be very effective with slice drop (as charlie point out)
When I prepared racket facing sideway, I found that I alway hit with square racket face. But when start with racket facing forward, I mostly hit with slice racket face. Maybe it relates to the degree of pronation which depends on each person habit.
