The other day I was watching some instructional videos on dropping. One of the videos said that when you drop you should slice with an inwards motion. The other video I watched demonstrated a more outward motion. NOW I AM JUST COMPLETELY CONFUSED! From what I can see the inwards motion is more deceptive. It looks more like a smash and the birdie doesn't go in the direction of the racquet motion. Is this another one of those choose whichever one is more comfortable situations or is there a clear right/wrong here?
I don't know for sure what the relative pros and cons of the inward and outward motions are, but yes, I wondered too cos in two of the instructional videos by Zhao Jianhua and Xiao Jie, the slicing motions the two chose to demonstrate were opposite directions (even after taking account that Zhao is lefthanded and Xiao is right-handed). I do believe the direction of slicing motion is also affected by whether one is slicing from the forehand side or backhand side, whether the shuttle is intended to travel crosscourt or not?
Which type of slice you use will depend on the situation. A sliced dropshot has the racket facing inwards; a reverse sliced dropshot has the racket facing outwards. Slice is used from your forehand corner to play deceptive crosscourt drops, and from your backhand corner to play deceptive straight drops. Reverse slice is use from your backhand corner to play deceptive crosscourt drops, and from your forehand corner to play deceptive straight drops. (I am only talking about forehand drops here.) You can produce the deception by angling your body or your arm swing towards the corner where your dropshot will not go. For example, in your forehand corner you can angle your body/arm swing to point crosscourt, and then use reverse slice to change the direction and play straight instead. For drops played to the middle, you can choose between slice and reverse slice and angle your body/arm swing appropriately. For drops to the middle, I would usually use slice from my forehand corner, and reverse slice from my backhand corner or from the middle. Reverse slice is more deceptive than slice, because the arm moves in the opposite direction to the shuttle. That's why I prefer reverse slice from the middle.
well, you can also reverse slice iny our forehand corner, a straight drop, (from a semi-straight lift) is very do-able, if not easier than a normal slice...
Yes, the Chinese National team do it to great effect. Just watch more of Zhou Mi's tournament videos.
Peter Gade does it as well... he pulled of a great one versus KJ in the last Aviva Open, KJ just stood there looking, gasping for breath...
Reverse slice drop shots are more effective because of an element of deception and the shuttle also drops more vertically and nearer the net. With reverse slice the racquet face is square to the net and the whole body and arm motion go in one direction with the shuttle going the other direction, confusing the opponent. I believe Zhao Jin Hua used reverse slice drop shots exclusively, maybe in keeping with his deceptive playing style.
Reverse slice definately has the change in direction advantage. However, I find that the reverse slice is done with a slightly slower racquet speed, and that the reverse slice doesn't have quite as much of a change in speed from very fast to slow like the slice.
A fast drop which looks like a smash may appear to have a greater change in speed, but the reverse slice's drop shot may even have a greater change in speed. It can be made to look like it floats in the air. Sometimes a fast normally-sliced drop shot from the back forehand cross-court is not very different from a cut smash. When using the reverse slice drop shot against sluggish opponents, the racquet may even be be tilted fractionally back at impact to give the shuttle 'air' and so drop so wickedly ever nearer to the net. Also reverse slice drops will slow down the reaction time of the opponents more than the normal slice. This is what you are looking for.
I still don't see how that's possible. You can't use reverse slice to play crosscourt from your forehand corner.
That's the best explanation about 'slice drops' that I've ever read. Are you an instructor or something? Anyway, thanks for sharing.
Glad to help Yes, I'm an instructor (coach). I'm also a writer, so I try to combine the two disciplines here.
Well it must be possibe however it would surely look funny! You would almost be aiming at a point on the side wall on your own side of the net! I'm going to give it a try tonight and see if I can confuse some of my opponents!
Great explanation Gollum, very clear and concise. The only thing puzzling me slightly is this last paragraph. Isn't the same thing true of slice shots as well? In the backhand corner the slice movement will send your arm crosscourt and vice versa on the forehand side?
Your arm movement will always be somewhat right-to-left (for righthanders). You may be referring to the first part of the arm swing, before you hit the shuttle. For this, it can be very effective to fake crosscourt (in the backhand corner), then play a straight drop with slice. But the follow-after movement should be in the direction of the shuttle. For slice, regardless of which corner you are in, the arm movement will follow-after across your body, which is roughly in the direction of the shuttle. For reverse slice, it will also follow-after across your body, but the shuttle will be travelling in the opposite direction. When your opponent watches your arm movement, the reverse slice will be more deceptive, because he will follow the direction of your arm as it comes across your body. The point here is that there is a natural forehand swing with the racket follow-after initially straight but then coming across the body. Although you want to keep this swing controlled, you don't want to stop it entirely. In the case of reverse slice, this following-after across your body can be very misleading to your opponents. You may even want to exaggerate the misleading elements of your arm swing. The can be very effective. For example, you can exaggerate the follow-after across your body, faking a crosscourt smash, but use reverse slice to play a straight drop instead.