I have this weird problem, Okay, so my partner and I have the offense, I am standing in the mid court area like 3 feet behind the service line more towards in front of my partner when he is smashing and my partner is smashing from the back. From where I am standing, I am anticipating cross court shots, weak/flat straight replies etc. Then, the opponents does a really tight cross court and wide cross court drive/drop to the allies forcing me to move and stretch doing a bad lift. Its not high enough for me to hit it down for the net kill its really tight and close to the net. What is the best way to get to the bird? Is it because I am standing in the wrong spot? Should I be standing more in the center rather than standing near my partner smashing? I find it really difficult to get to this shot and I usually have to scramble and play a nasty lift ): thanks!
Sounds like your opponents are good at counter attacking your partner's smashes. Also sounds like your partner should smash straight or to the middle, and avoid the cross court smash which is more vulnerable to the cross court counter attack as you've so experienced. The cross court smash should only be used as a surprise or if you notice the opponent committed to defending the middle.
yes! they ARE good at counter attacking ): which i don't like! lol. he smashes straight, but not so much to the middle, mainly, we don't cross smash because we don't trust ourselves and we know its a dangerous shot to do lol. Should me and my partner be mixing the pace up more? smashing down the middle? at the other person? dropping?
Yeah, smashing down middle would cut down their angles of counter attack, so that you in front can intercept more. Also confuses the opponents more as they can't decide who should take it. Same with drops to the middle, if not to mix up the pace a bit.
Partner should smash onto opposing players racket hip/shoulder area or smash steeper. You could move in slightly as shuttle passes you. Take the block early and play a push/net.
If the opposition are able to play either a tight x-court drop or a flat x-court drive, your partner needs to get their smashes a little steeper. Standing 3 feet behind the service line sounds about right, but you may be too wide to cover the x-court properly. You should be on the same side as your partner, but no more than 1 or 2 feet to the left or right of the centre-line. Remember, a tight straight block off a steep smash will give you time to get to the net and kill. Also, your partner can come forwards to take anything pushed/driven down the line.
In this case, you must always find the weakest link. Try to read your opponents game. If he's a regular in cross, try to anticipate it and more further forward to discourage him.
great advice from dlp and visor. I would also wonder how "set" are your opponents in defense? are they ready to move? Can your partner play a slice smash that will fall a little shorter and give them less pace to "counter hit" with? If they enjoy the pace of your partners smash, you could consider giving them a little less to work with. Punch clears are fun for a bit of a "surprise".
Matt Now that I think of it, they aren't really set on defense.. I can't slice smash, I can't only do a slice drop lol ): and my partner can't do it either. Like the others mentioned, I should try smashing towards the middle, or dropping there, which I really didn't think of. Mostly, when I was at the back it was just smashing straight. Quite honestly, I was probably too tense and not thinking I guess v_v I got them off guard a bit by smashing wider, like into the ally but didn't think about doing a punch clear, will try that next time.