of course when people serve in doubles its USUALLY going to be backhand....i was just thinking, my coach once told me that there are 3 places that u should be returning the bird to when u receive serve in doubles, assuming its a short serve. Mid-court forehand, middle, mid-court backhand(of ur OPPONENTS court). Front forehand, front middle, front backhand. i hope ur still following me XD. well is there any one place to hit back that you find more effective? my coach told me that you should drop to the front-middle because ur opponent will lift it which i find true but hitting other places works too. if you dump it at mid-court backhand, the front player aint gonna go for it so the back player will have to and sometimes they dont. anyways just asking for your opinion =)
If you have really good wrist power and control, I personally am in favor of a fast drive going down to the very corner of your opponent's backhand side. His shot choice will then be very limited. You might be able to get a weak lift, which your partner can smash and kill, or you can finish it off at the net. But this can be dangerously if not done properly. Return a soft net shot can also be effective if it's tight and your opponent is slow to react to it. But if your opponent is experienced, he can make a good net exchange or even put it away. Midcourt shot is okay for the most part if you manage to keep the shuttle down at all time (no projectile motion). Otherwise it will give your opponent who's standing in the back a lot of options. A backhand cross court drive.. down the line drive.. these can get you in all sorts of trouble. The thumb of the rule is, hit the shuttle down. According to law of physics, to be able to return the shot over the net, one must hit it UP. And you'll be on the attack side from there on.
There are lots of options, and you should use them all. The best reply is a net kill. If your opponent's serve floats much high, you should tap it sharply and steeply downwards to win the point immediately. If your opponents serve is a little bit too high, then you can still kill it if you are fast. The kill won't be as steep, so his partner might return it, but you still have a good chance to win immediately. Try to direct the kill into the tramlines (not crosscourt!). If your opponent's serve is lower, but you can still take it above the tape, tap it flat and fast to the body of the server. Don't do this if you are hitting upwards, because the server can intercept. This must be flat or slightly downwards. You can also make this reply into the nearside tramlines. This is a safer shot (no chance of the server intercepting), but the server's partner should be able to reach it. More effective to his backhand. Crosscourting it is more risky. If the opponent's serve is really tight, then you have to hit more softly. Hard hit returns will go upwards, which is dangerous. A very tight netshot directly in front of the server will force him to lift. Netshots directly away from the server into the tramlines are also effective -- but don't hit crosscourt! Another excellent return is to push the shuttle just past the server into the tramlines. This brings the server's partner forward to lift the shuttle. You can do this return even when you are hitting slightly upwards (although downwards is better). Again, don't crosscourt! Finally, if it all goes horribly wrong and you take the serve very late (maybe the server deceived you), then just lift it.
yep.. agree with all of gollum's points.. if you can get it to the backhand corner flat and fast then you stand a good chacne of the return coming weak either straight or cross court to your partner. there are also a couple of deceptive returns that you can play occasionally. 1.. let the shuttle drop a little below the tape and makie it look like a straight net return and then at last moment turn you racquet and push it across the net crosscourt.. (hard to show / describe this) 2. make the action for a push / drive to the backhand no-mans land or corner, at the last moment turn your racquet face to the forehand and play the shot in the other direction.. This is a great shot in mens - the idea is to decieve the server since he can intercept the forehand push and drive if he's ready.. his partner can' really see what's going on and is guessing the shot based on your body language. anybod got any other deceptive service returns they like to do? Coops
i've been pushing, dumping to the opponents bakchand corner for a while now, that is BEFORE i saw WC videos and started dumping/pushing/dropping to the server. if its fast enough the server will be hit in the body or if its slow they'll lift. it also works if the netshot is RLY tight.
