Tips for deceptive and fast drops

Suppose we're playing singles. Let's consider a crosscourt drop from your forehand rearcourt to the forecourt on your backhand side. You want it to land near the service line and the tramline.

The most effective fast drops are heavily sliced. Try slicing your drops gently; then increase the power but also increase the slice to keep them landing in the same place.

It's harder to use more slice. If you hit the shuttle powerfully but fail to get enough slice, your shot will be like a bad, loose smash. But if you get enough slice, the shuttle will travel faster (but land in the same place!) and swerve more.

Heavy slicing is also more deceptive, because the arm movement does not slow down as much.

Slicing crosscourt is easier. To slice a straight drop heavily, you would have to angle your body so that it is pointing crosscourt (and then slice to produce a straight shot). In practice, this means that straight drops have less slice than cross drops.

Don't forget to contact the shuttle in front of your body, rather than directly overhead or behind you.

 

Yes, you could work on slicing the shuttle, as Gollum suggests. That way, you still have a fast swing, but more of the energy of the swing is directed across the path of the shuttle instead of into it. That makes it look to the receiver like a smash is coming and you may catch him sitting back waiting for the shot to reach him while the shot actually falls well in front.

There is another possibility. To hit consistently good drops, you need to stroke though the shot, meaning your swing should have a smooth, continuous arc. Most people who hit drops by decelerating the swing, as you describe, do it by tightening up the arm muscles to apply the brakes to the swing. This is just the opposite of the best way. Drops should be hit with a loose, relaxed swing, so that the shot is given direction, but a minimal amount of energy is directed into the contact.

My suggestion is to try this:
Take a practice session to have someone feed you clears. Start by hitting drops with a smooth stroke, using a loose, relaxed arm-wrist-hand, but not an especially slow swing. You will still have some follow-through on the swing after the hit. Initially, your emphasis will be on developing the stroke. Once you feel comfortable with that, work on accuracry. When you are able to hit well-placed drops with the relaxed swing, gradually increase the speed of the shots by using your hip rotation and strength to accelerate the swing. Keep the same arc in the swing, but now you want to transfer more energy into the hit.

What I'm advocating is to develop the drop first, then develop the smash (or attacking clear) off of that instead of the other way around.

Let us know how things work out for you.

 

i agree with californian.if u have a problem with ur drops first check ur grip.if grip is okay then before starting, warm up our arms and wrist properly.then toss for atleast 10 minutes continuosly with someone.then with almost the same action try a drop by hitting the shuttle a little downwards.it should be a continuos action with no jerks in between.do this atleast for a week and u will aldready find a change.practice with a cool mind and dont think much about ur drops.first get the basic drops right then u can try the slicing as others mentioned.adn one more thing ,dont think u can drop like pros just in a day.it will take u a while.

 

use dumbells and train your wirst power, pracitse basic dropping once ur familiar with the stroke , further modify your style, like.. suddenly changing direction of racket head to drop opposite direction.