Is it possible to win at single without smashing? Instead of smashing, you can do flick-smash, half-smash, clear, drop shot, drive-clear and so forth...The reason I ask, is because I am having some trapezius pain from over smashing over the last week. What do you guys think? Thanks.
At lower levels as long the other parts of your game are solid you probably don't ever need to smash because your opponents' defense aren't good enough to handle the variation. You could also try playing like Chen Jin and push your opponents to death.
He used to smash a lot 4+ years ago. Now his game is what tennis people would call "pushing," which means just keeping the shuttle in play as long as possible and hoping the opponent makes a mistake or gets fatigued, instead of being aggressive. For example, the recent match between him and Tian Houwei at the China National Games lasted far longer than it should have because even when Chen Jin got obvious smashing opportunities he would still respond with a clear or some other defensive shot. Edit: just rewatched that match. Chen Jin actually played a lot more drops than clears and was more aggressive in general than I remembered. Maybe I'm being too harsh on him or I was thinking of his matches with Peter Gade.
Below is how you do it - LCW managed to go point for point with the best player that ever lived without smashing. So theoretically(if you can get to LCW standard), as a tactic, it will allow you to win any game you will ever have to play(except of course you play against Lin Dan at your club night) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRNKfBmCa8M
What I find even more extraordinary about this, is that LD surely must have noticed or known already that LCW is struggling with a shoulder injury, so he should be fully aware that he cannot go out and play full power smashes at all - and yet LCW managed to get 19 points from a player of LD's quality.
Well. I played alright without smashing but my fitness needs some work. I'm 15lbs over weight. . Ya, I'm not lcw, his fitness is insane. Mine is good but still I need to lose some fat. Thanks!
Yeah interesting thought, but what could lin dan do? if he moved his base forward he would be pushed by clears and move base back vulnerable to drops. I thought some of the really steep deceptive forehand slice drops were more effective than LCW's normal style.
Its very difficult, this is where speed, deception and fitness comes in handy. Really vary your shots and hit them well. Clears at back line, fast drops and mixing between straight and odd cross court.
I watched that match after seeing it here on this thread. It seems LD was distracted. He service faulted twice, and in general seemed to have more unforced errors... Maybe he was distracted by the awareness that his opponent was injured!
Yeah, I think so. Maybe the ice spraying for LCW and the little breaks disturbed his rhythm. But then again, LD is usually the one to take unofficial breaks and to delay the game on purpose.
