Just wondering the opinions of everyone on whether you should take every smashing / hitting down opportunity you get or if you should only sometimes. I play a very agressive style of play and sometimes get myself into trouble doing it. I like to set myself up for the jump smash or net kill but sometimes feel like that all I'm doing is jump smashing. I am planning to start hitting more drops and slices to try to open my opponents up more but just want to see your guys opinions on smashing opportunities.
I guess you should play to your strengths. If you are able to consistently produce winners just by smashing and can sustain it for the whole match, why not? OTOH, for myself, trying to smash from a sub-optimal position will just be suicide . So I play drops and clears more, and smash only when there is a good chance for an outright winner. Cheers
Smashing by itself, because it is your strength, should not be the sole objective. The objective is to exploit your opponent's weakness, avoiding his strength, so that the advantage swings over to you to go for the winning shot, which can be a smash, a drop, a net shot, etc. To smash against a strong defender from far back could be playing into your opponent's strength and strategy of setting you up to swing the advantage over to him. He then finishes you off instead.
As another guy who relies heavily on his smash, you need to mix it up. Going offensive, your opponent will be getting used to the pace/timing of your smash and will be able top pick it up more often. Also you'll find "weak spots" on certain players by varying your shots. I find that with Foley, going high and into the body gives him problems, but my left to right cross court smash, Which usaully results in a lot of points ( even against lefties, he picks up with the greatest of ease. Do not try to hit into the body of Will Milroy ( if and when he ever plays singles) - he's a friggen wall. In recent years a buddy of mine got me to work on a full swing slice that I can throw in there to keep my opponent off balance. It works not so much as a set up shot , but a change up. I've also worked on this quick crosscourt half smash (left side to right side) that I like to use when I'm receiving on the odd court. It's still an offensive shot like the slice, but I take my normal overly huge wind up then at the last second snap it cross court (Learned it from Keith Chan, though his swing is more compact than mine). It helps to throw my opponent's rythymn off a bit. So my opponent knows I can boom it at him, but he has to think about two other shots that migth come at them of the same looking swing. The other one I'd try is a half pace smash. You'd be surprised how many people will wiff it early when they are expecting heat. One of the things I force myself to do to get away from the smash game is play practice games where the only smashes I can do are net kills. It'll force you to work on conistency and rallying skill.
Indeed, also read the more elaborate answer from taneepak. Yeah, exactly the same tactic I use.....only that my full-smash is so weak the opponent will swing at it too early /mats
ya Will is a wall. I played doubles with him last week, the guy gets everything. I was talking to one of my coaches who basically said Will has everything he needs to do well on international except an internationally solid partner to train with / against. I watched him do this offensive drill yesterday in practice... it was crazy, not because his shots were that hard, but because he hit like 100s in a row with no mistakes and they were all accurate with him being pushed around the court. I think he went 5 minutes with like 2 mistakes.
Yeah, only dimension he needs is a little more speed to his smash - everything else is techncially world class. (I can grin cause I am one of very few to drill him in the chest with a smash during a game . Tell him I owe him a sub for his Birthday)) Don't think Jon Vandervet is around, but he's another one to watch on his various smashes.
