Hello everyone, whenever someone gives me flat or speedy return to my rear forehand side I'm unable to hit the shuttle with strength, most of the times shuttle is very low when i play the stroke and i don't have any other option but to give a slow drop. Do I have to change my forehand grip for these kind of strokes or not ? Strangely I'm not having this problem with my rear backhand side shots.
When you are late in that position a fast drive/flat smash is the best option here, imho - you see the pros play this shot regularly. It limits the options your opponent has to return the shuttle. Another one would be a deep high clear, which is much more difficult, technically. A slow drop shot is not a good option here.
When you're so late and low to your rear forehand (or backhand), one surprise shot you can do is a short sharp whip shot to drive it straight or cross court preferably to the empty space or opponent's backhand side. If you can do this with a bit of deception by looking straight but hitting cross, so much the better.
Is this singles or doubles? In singles you have to be able to deal with this situation with variety. If the only thing that you can do is straight drop/straight drive, then if/when your oppo realises you're gonna have a bad day. You need to be able to play at least one of a) hook/pull clear b) cross court pull https://youtu.be/ktP_S838Sxk?t=646 https://youtu.be/ktP_S838Sxk?t=754 https://youtu.be/ktP_S838Sxk?t=843 https://youtu.be/ktP_S838Sxk?t=956 https://youtu.be/ktP_S838Sxk?t=1056 Yes, the further behind the shuttle is, the more your grip should change to backhand.
This is one of the situations where being early to the shot decides whether you can play a counter attacking shot or just defensive.
I'm sorry for the above reply, did it by mistake, i have this problem only in singles, in doubles I'm able to manage it, I'll try that semi backhand grip for this stroke today, thank you
Whether this is Singles or Doubles, you need to have variations. Usually, when you are in trouble, a slower defensive clear is a better option; you want to slow down the rally, and allow yourself to recover for the next shot. You could play finesse shots e.g. fast drives or drop occasionally as surprises, and hope to get away with them. To start with, see if you could have 2 different shots working for you from the same hitting position. Another idea is one of prevention. See if you could cut off the shot earlier with a side jump. You could block it, or add a little wrist/fingers to speed up the downward shots. On the other hand, I'm curious why it's only the forehand side that you have this problem. Won't you have an even bigger problem on the backhand side?
Thanks a lot for your suggestions, the videos posted in this thread were really very helpful. I tried today to switch to half backhand grip with my thumb and index finger at same level and it gave more speed to the shuttle. I will surely work on that. Thanks amleto As far as backhand is concerned even if the shuttle has gone far behind i'm still able to return it with nice speedy drops. If the shuttle is in my range then i have no problem in cross court and parallel base line returns with my backhand. The prime reason why my rear forehand is affected might be :- 1. I never used to change my forehand grip to semi backhand grip for rear forehand shots. 2. I keep my racket head is close to my body and then hit the shuttle for rear forehand. But with backhand I can even hit it with racket head far from my body. I guess i'm losing lot of time by not extending my racket head.