Do You Do Any Disguises In Your Shots?

Most intermediate and above players use trick shots. I use basic ones once in a while like the smash slice drop, but only in singles. More often, I'll do the "You have no clue what shot I'm going to play until the last second" game. It's a must at some point.

Before you use trick shots, I'd suggest having the same form and technique for the start of your shots. For example, a good overhead clear technique can be used for a drop or smash. A good net drop can be switched to a defensive clear in the blink of an eye. It gives you that little half-second edge you need.

Right now, I have the same technique for all my forehand and backhand overhead shots and short/long forehand and backhand serves, and I'm working on my net drops/clears.

I knew a semi-pro that played at my old gym who did all his shots with his wrist, smashes and all. You never knew what he was going to do and had about a second to get to the shot.

Not that I played with him. He was clearly above everyone there

 

Well.... i use a veraity of trick shots but an easy and effective trick is this one..... if your opponent plays a drop or a net shot, go for the shuttle but before you lift move your racket down slightly and then play the lift! If done properly the opponent will think you are going to play a a net shot! Takes a while to master it, but when mastered dont use it all the time as everyone will know what your going to do!

Another trick shot is.....
If the shuttle is high swing for it but miss it then play the shot in your forhand or backhand ( this trick is mainly for playing with your mates not tournements ) It really confuses people!

 

Actually, you're supposed to play net drops as high as you can, which comes up at tape level if you're fast enough. From that position, it's already impossible to tell a drop from a clear.

I often play this guy from the school team. He's pretty much all deceptive and uses that kind of shot all the time. It's really a good trick shot if you have the time to do it, because even when people figure it out, they have to react after the shot in order not to miss it...

 

i liek to hold my swing...
swinging gentle, like a drop. and them a last-minute-clear. or smash when i'm feeling good....
or just use a "neutral" swing, and decide at teh last moment wich corner your drop....

 

Well, i almost never play trick shot, may be because I'm an honest person in life, so it's the same how i am in court :crying: .

I had really hard time playing single since my shots were easy to guess. No disguise. If it was a lift, i would lunge forward, big swing. A smash - i would jump, big swing and BANG! ....

when my techniques improve, my shots become more difficult to guess. As some of you suggested in the above post, i have the same preparation for all forehand and backhand shots at rear court. And in net play, i often stop my racket a little bit then play the shot. I would not call it a trick or disguise because i never meant to fool my opponent, honestly. What i get is that my opponent really has to wait till i played the shot to make his move. This somehow makes him slower. It surprise me that sometime my opponent is late to move back when i play a lift. Also, sometime my opponent stands still when my slice smash with full swing come just one step to his right/left. Actually i think my two shots mentionned above trouble my opponent most.

there are many player who play wonderfull trick shots. Even in international level, we see it alot. But before learning those trick shots, i think it's better to develop good techniques. From my experience, if you have same preparations for all shots, and you have good footwork, you can give your opponent hard time to guess, without having to fool him.

just my 2cents

 

If, by "playing net drops", you're talking about returning a drop shot by tumbling a net shot over the tape, then there should be a difference between that and a lift. The lift requires some kind of backswing (in this case a downswing) whereas a net shot (here, we call them "hairpins" because of the shape of the trajectory when viewed from the side) involves stabbing your racquet forward with absolutely no backswing. I believe that what wiseman is saying is that if you get there early enough to slice your racquet under the shuttle around tape level then from that starting point you can pull it down into a backswing and then execute the lift. Up until the point when you start your backswing, the motion will look exactly like a "hairpin" and, indeed, you will often decide to execute the net shot instead unless you see the opponent cheating and coming forward in anticipation of your short return. Taking the shuttle high at the tape then gives you this secondary benefit in the form of time you then have to do the quick backswing and lift, the primary benefits, of course, being the decreased likelihood of raising the shuttle too high on the "hairpin" and the length of time your opponent has before your shot lands or falls so low as to force a high reply.

 

Exactly right event! You can use this 'pull racket down then swing' in may shots for instance: Playing a backhand shot about belly button high but instead of droping your racket down you move it towards your body! It is a shot where u can play it anywhere!

Another type of shot is where you lean to the oposite way to where the shuttle is going to go! Again it makes your opponent move in the wrong direction!

 

When hitting the shuttle, use the same stance but with different outcome, that way your opponent has to keep guessing the next shot.

 

trick shots : when you're at the net and someone clears, you run to the birdie and hit it backwards between your legs (andre agassi) i love that shot. i also have wicked slices that look like clears then just drop. also, this guy at my club has an amazing doubles serve, he but like top spin on the birdie and swings really hard so its just a short serve, but sometimes he doesnt put spin, its tricky, he also has white strings that make it even more difficult to trackl the progress of shuttle after he serves.

 

No offense to this person. However, I wonder if his serve is a legal one 1st or not. There're a few rules he might break (i.e. racket pointing downward, contact point below waist, contact point 1st on cork, etc), in order to make it illegal.

 

one which i use is to disguise a drop shot by seemingly rushing to the net from a low serve and making it look like i am about to push to the back but right at the last second before contact use my wrist to slightly tap the shuttle.

 

One of my favorite deceptive shot is when I swing hard while slicing the shuttle. This makes the shot look like a smash. The shuttle even moves as fast as a smash the first second. Since the shuttle spins, it slows down. This can really irk an opponent.

 

my dad's friend showed me a very nice cover up for my shots. he told me to always "hide" your strings. which means when u have ur racket up to hit the birdie instead of havin da face of ur racket facing your opponent, you have the side of your racket's frame. what that does is that it the wont know if you'll hit to the right which at the last moment u turn ur racket to the right or if you'll slice it which you just slice it or if you clear it in the left corner. (im right handed btw)
-sam

 

hand fake drop

this is sort of hard to describe....

on a short or return of serve (or any return I guess) that comes back to the middle i sometimes do a sort of hand fake where I drop the racquet head as I lift my racquet hand and step forward. Then I do a quick sideways push as the bird falls by the head and drop it to the sideline. It helps if you are playing doubles (wider court) and if your opponent actually moves the wrong way . It's supposed to look like I'm lifting it so they step backwards toward the middle. Sometimes the bird goes high and then I feel pretty stupid but when it works it's a pretty satisfying way to end a rally!

I also love the unreadable back of the court overhead cross-court drop.

 

It sometimes helps to try and make it look convincing as well i.e. if you're going to jump for the shuttle and just drop shot instead of smashing, moving the head of the racquet quickly but slow it just before hitting the shuttle so it looks more like a smash.

Another variation/addition to that is holding the racquet in the position for a smash (hand at the right at the bottom end of the racquet handle) and only do a drop shot. Or the other way round, hold the racquet at the top of the handle for a drop but do a well-placed smash.

I think the key to Any disguise being successful, is Always changing what you do. For example, don't do the same thing 20 times in a game. Maybe do one trick, then a different one, and switch between a few, if you can.

Sorry if I've repeated anything anyone else has already said.

 

Preparing for a straight around the head smash or clear, but in the very last moment changing the angle of my racket and doing a sliced cross drop

 

The only time I do tricks shots is when I mishit the shuttle. I trick everyone, especially myself.

 

perhaps another relevant question in this thread is when do you start to do trick shots? I tried doing them a few times but so far I think i have to be more honest in my shots.