Driving me nuts.....

[Sakura]

Everyone, I need some advice/help on dealing with a very tight to the net cross court. I suspect that the problem starts with my first drop shot. I drop straight along the alley, then he returns with this cross court shot. Then I dribble the bird over the net (straight back), but then the cross court shot comes again, going the other way! This will continue until the angle is so sharp that I can't deal with it because it's beyond my reach and a decent clear is not possible for me. I'm shorter than the net and have a difficult time chasing these very close to the net shots. Any suggestions?

[Neil Nicholls]

Then I dribble the bird over the net (straight back)

don't do that then, lift it deep to the back.

[Neil Nicholls]

I suspect that the problem starts with my first drop shot. I drop straight along the alley, then he returns with this cross court shot.

or the drop shot is inappropriate or too loose/too slow

[meteo]

One way is to make sure that you aren't tumbling the birdie when you do the straight redrop. Simply push the birdie slightly back. A lot of netplayers tend to stick too closely to the net (myself included) and it'll throw them off. It sounds like a weak return, but its harder for them to do a tight crossdrop. Its also harder for them to do a tumbling straight redrop, and most likely it'll make them lob it back.

You can also practice and make the birdie tumble and still push it back a little. Of course that takes practice and good footwork to get into the correct position in time.

The last way is to simply intercept it midway during the crossdrop.

[Sakura]

Thanks for the tips. Certainly a few things to try and train on in the new year.