Hello all. My question is about how to position oneself during a rally in doubles.I'm a player who prefers to play in front of the net, rather than in the back. My partner usually have the upper hand in the back as he is better at smashing while I have the upper hand at the front court since I have a good reach and push shots. If I remember correctly, the commentators during the elite matches say that Matthias Boe for an example prefers to be in the front court as well. My question is how do one build up tactics in order to get into such positions?
build the rally backwards if you are in sides, then getting you to the front means either: 1) you or your partner play a shot and you move in (normally need push/drive for this) or 2) they lift/clear and you go to the front. 1) is the main one that you can affect, so concentrate on the counter attack and get an understanding for him playing blocks/pushes to the net and you following in. Another thing to work on is how to rotate when you are in attack formation but the 'wrong way' around. A key point here is consistency and to maintain the attack. e.g. if their defense is equal to most of your attack, then you have to keep the advantage until your partner can rotate out. This means *no clear*, and no dumping the shuttle in the net!
First things first, attack, attack attack... aim to get the attack all the time. Doesn't matter where you are positioned on the court, your no.1 aim is to get on the attack, whether that is you attacking at the net or creating an opportunity for your partner to attack from the back. Obviously if you're better at the net and your partner is better at the back then it makes sense to try and keep it that way. However, there will be times when your roles may need be reversed so you must not think that all you are "responsible" for is the front court. If you have a clear weakness in your rear court abilities and similarly for your partner at the net, good opponents will try to expose that. So you must develop adequate skills from the rear court too. Just as your partner will need to develop skills at the net. Players like CY, LYD, MB etc may be net players but are more than proficient at the rear court but may not be able to sustain the level as well as their partner. In terms of tactics, if you're at the back, it's about hitting a shot that you can follow into the net whilst your partner has enough time to get back to the rearcourt. In preparing to move back in an attacking formation, your partner should be positioned slightly further back than usual anticipating you coming into the net. So you will need to play a shot that does not expose the gap that your partner is about to leave, that may be driving/smashing it down the line - which makes it difficult for a cross court return (if implemented well) or perhaps a steep drop but you must following in very quickly. Obviously there are other shots you can play but it will depend on the situation.
But looks like this is not level-doubles. And if one can't follow the shot to the net with a drop shot, what/when would be a better chance?