like the title, here in Holland almost everybody is a singles player. only the Fat kid with astma claims to be a doubles player. Everybody still wants to single. so I wonder what makes a (professional) player choose to became a (mixed) doubles player. are there certain quality's he has for doubles? or things he lacks for singles?
I watch an interview with tang xing fu & li yongbo. back in their playing times, those who fails to make it big in single turn to doubles like himself li yongbo. as he said back then, double and single play do not differ so much. In the old days, only good singles junior player are consider for the national teams but now there are some facotrs which coach thinks they are good double player not single???
Most players initially train as a junior to become a singles player, usually ignoring doubles or leaving it as an afterthought(not always true however, as Peter Gade won a gold at the world junior championships for doubles). If a player fails to make the grade at singles they might turn to doubles
That was decades ago. China ignored the importance of trainning double player when they were in early teen, and that's why the chinese' men's double is very weak during the whole 90's. So, don't listen to chinese coach's opinion on trainning double players, coz they don't really know how.
I guess that the dutch never really concern to train the doubles.I believe that both games r the same important.I'm playing both single and double.I still prefer double,even my single is not so bad.The reason is maybe i'm more interested in doubles,as doubles is fast.Probably they have the same reason out there,of what they like to play better.But i wont deny that there's a fact that some player plays single better,vice versa,like lin dan when he played double in his free time with XieXingFang,his girlfriend.I believe singles requires more power n stamina,while doubles,i'm not saying for the recreational kind..is so fast.Pro's double is damn fast,requires both good defensive player n a good offensive player at once.Teamworks r also required.U can see indo for example,they have alots of double legends.
doubles footwork is hugely similar to singles. here in england i play for middlesex juniors U15s and they mostly train us to become singles players unless there are some indestructible doubles pairs. We mainly do singles footwork training but play doulbes afterwards.
its just what he wants to play, maybe his buddy is also into badminton and they have been playing together and wanna stick together on court.
me and my friend make a invincible doubles pair as he short and can play unbelievable spinning net shot and i play the high power smashes and drops. We are trained to be singles players but whenever a tournament comes around we train for doubles
Modern Malaysia is a real exception case.Some promising singles players like Hoo Tien How and Goh Wei Sherm were made to switch to play doubles, leaving a big void in the singles. To makes things worse after switching to play doubles they have not made much headway. In the past though failed singles players were switched to doubles, Martin Dew freely admits to it.Cai Yun is another example. I think doubles require team players.
In my opinion, I think there is huge difference between Single and Double in term of ... everything. I am not a pro to explain you the differences in detail, but just by my own experiences I can tell that. I play double very bad and probably the main reasons are my smash is too weak and I move and make shots like in single. There were many times, when others beat me at double, they thought that I am a weak player and challenged me to play single but then failed miserably. At my level, the big difference that I can obviously see between Single and Double is footwork, I also put a lot of work into footwork and rarely do trick shots. In single, with a good footwork I can put myself in a very fluent rhythm and able to outmaneuver my opponent. Whereas in double, sometimes I just stand still waiting for the shuttle, which is for me quite annoying. Single also requires better mental ability, you have to think fast and see the weakness of your opponent, whereas in Double there is almost no time for thinking and there are also quite a lot of factors influencing your decision (4 persons instead of 2) so that is so hard to make a good one.
What I have been told is as an indicator they (the coaches) look at a player's swing: short-n-compact = doubles
stamina vs speed I started out as a singles player when I was young. Back then, I had good stamina. I switched to doubles when I started working. At first, I was really terrible. I didn't know the proper rotation. The game was too fast for me. Through the help of badmintoncentral, I got better gradually (at least that's what I think). And I have to say, my net skills improved in doubles as well as my speed. However, now that I'm older, it was harder for me to catch my breath when I play singles. I'm no longer used to longer rallies. It's harder for me to apply movement pressure against my opponents. Doubles and singles are totally different. If I were a coach, I think I'd look for 2 different qualities to find singles and doubles players. Singles player - excellent stamina - excellent court coverage - excellent in applying movement pressure against the opponent (can make the opponent move around the court) Doubles player - superb reaction (especially in defense and fast exchanges such as drives) - excellent attacking skills (at the net or the rear court) - better in forcing opponent to have limited shots (in other words, good in setup for his/her partner to kill the rally) But of course, they have to have all of the qualities mentioned here. But there would always be better qualities in a player.
So far [venkatesh] have a very good points. . . I always wonder what if LinDan pair with LCW play double, train for a while, and they will be one of the most powerful and best double team? haha. . .
Well ... ... that's a thought. However, based on my experience, there are some singles players that are not as good in doubles especially when it comes to rotational movements. I have difficulties with these kinds of players. And I've noticed that they usually don't like being pinned at the front court. Perhaps it's because they're so much used to covering the court by themselves. I can only imagine if Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei were to partner as a doubles team. They would fight on court. Hahaha.
