I played doubles against a particular guy last year who used a backhand serve. When I backhand serve, like most people I know, I line the shuttle up with the racket, swing back and then forward. Anyway, this particular guy swung back and held his racket their for a few seconds before swinging forward and hitting the shuttle. It was a really hard serve to receive. As we expected the server to swing his racket forward immediately after swinging back, we often moved before he hit the shuttle. My partner has a tendency to move forward a bit too quickly on a normal short serve, so it was quite amusing to watch him run forward, then be flicked, somehow get back and receive the serve, win the point, get away with it, and watch the opposition stare in disbelief at the umpire for letting hime get away with blatantly running before the serve has hit! When I got back to my own club I tried the same serve with great effect. I actually didn't even hit the serve and won the point. I would swing back wait for the opponent to move and just take the point. Not a very sporting thing to do, my friends on the other side of the court got really angry, but funny all the same. Could you actually do that in a match situation. Swing back, pause, wait for the opponent to move, and say, hey you moved - our point.
Another question on the short serve. Where exactly is your waist? Is it he racket head or the shuttle that has to below the waist?
Cite your source. The rules say that the service starts at the first forward movement of the racquet. They say nothing about the backswing. See the rules and 9.1.7 and 9.4 in particular. Nothing there about a backswing.
9.1.5 the whole shuttle shall be below the server’s waist at the instant of being hit by the server’s racket; 9.1.6 the shaft of the server’s racket at the instant of hitting the shuttle shall be pointing in a downward direction to such an extent that the whole of the head of the racket is discernibly below the whole of the server’s hand holding the racket as in Diagram D; 9.1.7 the movement of the server’s racket must continue forwards from the start of the service (Law 9.4) until the service is delivered; 9.4 Once the players have taken their positions, the first forward movement of the server’s racket head shall be the start of the service. Correct me if I'm wrong (everyone else usually does), but did I read somewhere that the waist is generally accepted to be the bottom rib? John
the serve is perfectly legal - i've seen it used to great effect at the english nationals.. is it was fault receiver.. granted he was livid.. altho once explained he was more careful.. the waist is defined as the lowest point of the bottom rib.. note that the lowest point is actually at the back of side/back of the ribcage and not the front.. the only trouble i find with performing this serve is that controlling the stop and forward motion is quite difficult, especially when your watching to see if your opponent is comign forward.. Coops
I need a bit of clarifcation on this one. Are you saying that once the racket starts to come forward then the servr has to be hit before the racket comes back? You seen I was playing in a match the other night and this guy swung back then forward and actually touched the shuttle, swung back again then swung forward and served the shuttle. It really put me off as I was looking for the shuttle in the air or short then the shuttle came a couple of seconds after it should have we me not quite being ready to return it. Can someone put me straight. Thanks bilbo
now this is a fault.. only one forward motion is allowed.., you cannot stop once you have started the forward motion either.. obviously tho if you are not ready then simply don't play the shuttle - let it drop.. if this is the first time you've seen his service action it's fair play to say you weren't ready for this sort of service action. This gives you chance to explain that he is only allowed one forward motion, and also to explain that by not making an attempt to play the shuttle that you weren't ready and as such it is a let.. i had an interesting one last week - i was getting ready to receiver serve - literally putting my feet in teh right place and just as i was about to look up the shuttle landed at my feet.. we had a good laff about it and played the let as i was clearly unready... moral of the story - if your not ready, or you think the serve is a fault - don't try to return it the first time. as he/she serves put your hand up, rub your eye - anything... most opponents are quite forgiving - provided you don't repeat the trick over and over... hope this all helps Coops
I thought this was clearly a fault. Any sort of pause in the middle of the service action, once the racket head has started moving is a fault. I used to get called on it by my coach at school, and a few years ago I saw Gail Emms complaining to an umpire about a Thai woman player who was pausing, just barely a fraction of a second, but it was definitely there, and Gail was lunging forward before the shuttle was struck. It really put her off and she kept complaining. The umpire called the server on it once, but it did throw Gail's game completely off. Are you guys saying you can pause between the backward and forward actions in a backhand serve? I thought the rule was, once you've set, then once the rackethead starts to move, it has to move CONTINUOUSLY until the shuttle is struck. It can change direction, backwards or forwards, but it has to keep moving. If the rules have changed, then I'm definitely introducing a LONG pause in the middle of my serve - would seriously put off serve rushers!
hehe - interesting you should mention gail - because if she's struggling serving to a rushing man in her mixed she will pause to get the fault - take a look at the video of the MVP Cup of her and nathan against the asuncion's she does it - unsuccesfully i might add because she flicks it out - but kennie goes flying forward clearly before she strike the shuttle. the rules have already been stated in this thread.. the service begins with the first forward motion of the racquet, and once this forward motion has started it must be continuous. the pause is legal Coops
When you pause on the backswing, can you bring the racket back again after the pause to generate power for a flick serve?
so you mean go back, stop, back then forward..? if so.. then yes - service doesn't begin until forward motion.. granted - this sort of serve would be quite difficult to perform consistently -and i'd guess that your opponent would soon begin to anticipate it.. A word of advice - keep your service action as simple and as short as possible.. this is the key to a swift service action and good deception.. the less your opponent ahs to watch the harder it is for him to indentify the serve. the quicker your action the less time your opponent has to get to the net and attack it.. Coops
I agree - pause is legal. I like to do that when my opponent is rushing my serve. Changing the duration of the pause also can throw your opponent's timing off so he/she cannot time your serve. According to the rule as mentioned above, the start of a serve is when your racket head begins to move forward.
what's even more hilarious about this is that it shouldn't be necessary to pause in the first place because it's caused by receivers trying to set off before you contact the shuttle. think about it - how many times have you, your partner or your opponents set off before the service was delivered?? Coops
You can do that, but you do not win the point, it is a let. You win the point if the receiver moves between the start of the service (first forward motion of the racquet) and striking the shuttle. At the point where you have paused, the service has not begun.
Dang! I have a headache after reading this thread. Summary: 1) The serve has to be one fluid motion when the racket is going forward. The server cannot pause or stop during the forward motion. 2) Pause is allowed on the backswing. For instance, back-pause-forward or back-pause-back-pause-back-pause-foward. I hope this is correct.
If it's legal, that's great, I'm definitely going to try pausing against serve rushers now. Especially against ones I KNOW can't maintain their forward stance for long. You know, the ones who after a couple of seconds start to slowly keel over because they're leaning too far forwards.
Be careful in a tournament situation, the umpire may call you on delaying the game and you may get a warning. All I can say is use the pause wisely and do not waste the "surprise".
legal... another fun way is moving your racket back very explosive, and then pause, and then serve(forward) the really anxious almost rol oevr when i move myr acket back that fast.. only use it for shits 'n giggles though. not sportsman-like to do it in competition, especially without real umps..
agree.. it is really only used in competition when you suspect the receiver is setting off before you deliver the serve.. Coops