Played a few sessions of singles with 2 friends over the past few weeks. Whenever I played a net shot (mostly straight), be it a tight one or a loose one (travels low but over the service line), they will return with a cross court net. I end up losing points over such shots because I couldn't get to the shuttle in time, even if I anticipate and try to move over as fast as possible to get to the shuttle. How could I improve this and make myself less vulnerable to such shots? Thanks.
Always lunge to the corners, that way you can recover quicker to receive shots. Do this instead of having both feet close to the net.
My feet are not that close to the net (I think? Not sure how close is close). The racket foot, after lunging, is slightly in front of the service line, whereas the non-racket foot remains slightly behind the service line. I am, however, always in the respective half of the court (left or right) when retrieving and returning such shots, which always opens up the other half of the court. That's when my friends will perform the cross court net shots...
Your footwork sounds correct but do you vary your serves? If you serve short every time, it's easy to take the serve early and play a great cross drop.
I serve high mainly and all the way to the baseline. Sometimes they return it with a drop shot, in which I will reply with a net shot. Most of the times, such net shots are returned with a cross court net shot, especially when I am not in a truly middle/neutral position (i.e. when I am at the other half of the court).
The feet sound correct. Things to observe are A) are you facing the net square on or turned to the side? If turning to the side, have you rotated enough? B) is your centre of balance correct? If you tend to lean more on your back leg, this will disadvantage you in moving to the net. Try to have your weight forward, I.e. centre of balance forward. C) do you do the bounce/split step as your opponent hits the shuttle? This is very important for acceleration and to save energy. D) after you split step, can you move your right foot towards the cross court corner of the net in one step. E) after this first step, do you have the correct footwork to make the lunge? Use a shuffle sidestep or cross over step. F) if you have the correct footwork, concentrate on the footwork rhythm
Lunge low and stay low. You know you are low when your trail/braking leg's knee is almost touching the court. For full cross court lunge, your racket hand's elbow should be below your racket leg's knee cap - now that is low. By the way, how tall are you? Good luck.
A) I am facing squarely at the net. B) Nope, my weight is slightly forward. C) Yup, I do. D) This is dependent on where my position is... If I am somewhat central, I could. If I am not, I am not able to. Not sure if I am limited by my height... E) Yup. Am not aware of any incorrect footwork... Haven't been corrected by coach for ages. The only issue he spots is that I am a bit slow. F) What's footwork rhythm?
Another thing to try or be aware of is intercepting the netshot at the point it crosses the net rather than following its flight right over to the side lines or wherever its going. Even if it is going as far as possible to the line there will still be a point it crosses the net and that crossing point will not be so far away from you, aim to play the shuttle at that point. That way you will have to cover less court and will have the added bonus of playing the shuttle earlier and with more options. If you have not recovered properly from your own net shot and are too close to the net you may find it difficult to intercept (as you will be drawn across laterally rather than moving forward diagonally to the shuttle) and will instead be drawn across the full flight of the shuttle before having a chance to play it.
Ah... You mentioned about recovering properly. I couldn't recover fast enough from my own net shot which makes me susceptible to cross court no matter how fast I try to move to the other half of the court to get the cross court net shot. Looks like I have to work on this area.
I will try to have one video taken as the sports halls here aren't really good for taking videos... Not enough space to place the camera in a good spot.
Most people who struggle to retrieve cross court net shots make the mistake of moving towards where the shuttle is going to land i.e. chasing the shuttle towards the tramlines. This is a mistake. You only have to move to where the shuttle CROSSES THE NET! Which is in the middle... which is right next to where to are waiting! You need to remember to go FORWARDS to cut the shuttle off before it gets too far, rather than moving SIDEWAYS and letting the shuttle go straight past you! Good luck!
MSeeley, that's another good point to note. I do chase the shuttle towards the tramlines, especially if the shuttle flight is really close to the tramlines. I will pay attention to this area as well when playing again.
