A lot of people i play with say that after a shot they look at the angle of their opponents racket head just before they(the opponent) strikes the shuttle... They all claim that this aids in knowing where the bird is going to go... I dont really purposely look for this, or perhaps i do and just dont quite realise it. I'm still fast at returning shots though! Is it a paricularly good thing to be focusing on though??? Thankyou kindly
By looking the the racket angle we can roughly guess the angle of the shuttle tat it is to be hit to. If u are relying mainly on tat to move den u will be in big trouble when ur opponent slices the shuttle. But still one still have to try to anticipate the shot tat is gonna be made by ur opponent so tat one can move faster to it while staying in the middle.
You don't need to guess the exact angle of the shot, I think... Processing that information already makes you lose valuable time. I tend to anticipate the shot at the earliest time it can be anticipated without going in the exact opposite direction. So I react as soon as I see the wrist movement. Too many people I know can change their shot in about 0.2 seconds before they actually do it. I find watching the wrist movement the best way speed-wise. Following this, though, means frames and top-of-net shots are real killers.
One must look at the shuttle and never at the racket. Otherwise, if you face a player with good deceptive skills, you'll be always fooled.