So, I regularly attend a badminton club at my college and I've been playing against a player who, unlike anyone else there, is extremely good at placement. I recently attempted a few singles matches against her and was leveled like a pancake... Her stratagy seems to be to force me into the far corners of the court and then drop it into the front. Switching sides on the drop at a whim. She's quicker than me and when I try to take advantage of her placement on the court she still gets to it! My only successful points have been a strong smash. Unfortunately, she leaves little opportunity for me to do this. Any suggestions on how to counter someone who can place the shuttle so well in the wonderful four corners of the court? Thanks
Welcome to BC! But unfortunately you have a pretty worthy opponent for which there is no easy answer, other than practice more.
Improving footwork would help a lot, If you can get to the shuttle early you have more options and so you can control the rally.
Heh, thanks guys... Footwork may be the biggest issue here, but I can't help but feeling that if I could force her to lift enough for me to get a good smash I could score more. Unfortunately, she's been controlling the game for the most part. At least playing singles with her will force me to do some footwork practice
Until you improve your footwork, a good idea is to sharpen your drops to force her to do a short lift and improve net shots. But it still hopeless if you can't get to the shuttle on time so footwork,footwork and footwork
The way to for more lifts is to win more net exchanges. That means you need to get to her drop shots. You need to determine if the issue is footwork getting to the drop, or poor form on the previous shot (like cause:footwork) allowing an easy drop winner.
Like mentioned here, Footwork is the very basic.. You may practice it for bettering at it. Also during the mean time, you may try a couple of things to force a weak lift (to the center of the court).... 1) When both of you are at the center of your respective courts, (flat rallies) just increase the speed of the shot, and direct it to her back-hand mid-court area (not in-front of her, but just should go past her).. if you succeed in doing so, you might well get a weak lift (if she is late in reaction) 2) You may force her to her backhand corner of the back-court, which will force her to do a back hand. (for this you both must be relatively in front/mid-court, and you may place this high lob to the back-hand-back-court) 3) The same can be applied to her backhand back-courner (where you will be forcing her to take the shuttle behind her body (in a side-angle), and advance forward to the forecourt, for a weak reply) 4) And don't try to smash from the back-of the court, as she will be able to intercept it and place it well. When you are at the back of the court, just make sure to clear to the center line at back-court. (target center-line to give her minimum angles for the reply) The basic for singles-game is just to make sure your opponent is not in a good position for the shots, and make sure he/she move for each shots.. Hope these helps..
