today, I had a tournament and I won every game but two, the problem is his serve, they both have this serve that goes very high and far to the back of the court but doesn't go out of the court, I was wondering where I should return the shuttle to when he serves like that. thank you.
I would clear it to the middle so I have better chance of returning his shot. Because if i drop it at the net the opponent would always hit it at the net and i cant get it because i am too far. If i clear it to a corner it will be much more difficult to predict his shot, he can either smash down the line or cross court
From there, you either want to clear straight, drop straight, or drop cross-court. If you have a strong clear, I'd advise hitting an attacking clear to the opposite corner as it may put the other player on the defensive and you will have plenty of time for recovery. Once they start to anticipate you doing this, I suggest throwing in a drop every so often, so long as it is a tight one and you are prepared to get to a net shot if they hit one.
Check Smash ? I guess the best would be to fake a smash stance followed by a drop shot.. Or simply Cross Court Drop.. I normally Drop or Clear in Corners (often backhand to him) If you can play with 1 stance, for all shots, then you can receive the serve and the opponent won't be able to anticipate
At the beginning of the match, I would have cleared just to show the opponents that I can clear baseline to baseline if I have to. Then maybe as the game progresses, I would mix in some drops. IMO, drops work a hell of a lot better when your opponent knows you can clear. When I first started, if the shuttle got too far back, I would always try and drop it because I knew that I couldn't clear far enough. After awhile my opponent would see this and keep clearing deep, and then anticipating the drop.
