Hi . Im 15 and have been playing for 7 months I play twice a week. 2 Hours on a thursday at my school team and 5 hours at a club on saturday I played in a tournamnt today and was playing well asides from the fact I was finding it hard to get to fast drops from clears which i played from the back or the court I would clear my opponent and found it hard to get to fast drops...well like halfway between a fast drop..I lost most of my points this way and found myself not being able to get to them although I can manage to get around most of the court quite well and return clears well. So any tips on mayb differant shots i should play to avoid being dropped...positions to be in if i am anticipating a fast drop basically any tips or exercises that would help and make me able to get to them quicker. The drops that these were were to the left or right i dont find it too hard getting to the ones in the middle Thanks
Lots of shadow run and practice lundging to the front and touching the net tape with your racket. To the extend that your skin on the sole may give way. That's to the extreme level.
Make sure your returning to your base position quickly, this shouldn't be a problem if your hitting a clear though, since it gives you lots of time to get there.
Ok thanks to both of you ill take both of them into account Extreme-cool basically do more exercises on lunging to my shots.that way ill get faster at doing it ..as its not my shot from the drop thats bad its getting to it in the first place and Lam_cheers basically make sure im reay by always going to base position
Also, always be ready to MOVE not just be ready If you look at professionals, the have a certain "hop" aspect when waiting for a returning shot. You should always be ready to move, things such as bouncing (not like...bunny hopping btw but more subtle) and waiting on the balls of your feet instead of flat-foot.
I'm one of the people that loves to do the overhead drop from the baseline. What you need to do is to not think every time your opponent hits from the baseline it its going to the back as a clear. Usually we tend to be prepared to get to the back since when people attack clear its difficult, so you would lean to the back. Do not do that. You need to have a mentality of covering your court not only to your back. Find his weak point in doing this shot. When he hits a fast drop from the back, doesn't he leave his front wide open? He must run quickly to the front if you drop it back. This is your chance. If you have better footwork you would get to the front earlier, when he runs forward you have the option of flicking it back or dropping it. This will make him run, alot.
Another alternative is to change your strategy. Each opponent is different. Each has his or her own strength and weakness. If this is the only oponent you have trouble with his drops from your clears (attacking clears, I presume), then do less clears and instead drop, smash or half smash, or drive more. This way he cannot use his strength against your weakness-drops or fast drops.
Beat him to those drops. Drop back at him. You will beat him psychologically since he can't win with his best shot. Hahaha.
All of these are correct. Preparation and practice are key. However, I feel the primary problem is not your footspeed: In order to hit a fast drop at a good angle and still have time to recover, you must be under the bird well in advance. What does this mean? That your opponent has a lot of time to hit his/her drops. What does this mean? Your clears are too short. I suggest taking note next time of whether or not your clears are reaching the opposite baseline. I have a suspicion they all falling short. If you can get your clears right to the back, I believe this will help your problem very significantly.
hey, im 16, 5'6", and ive been playing competitively since i was 13. I've also had this problem for awhile, and i improved it recently. first of all, your clears are probably not deep and high enough, try practicing ur strokes and make sure ur hand motions are right, get a coach to correct you and tell you what ur doing wrong. second, ur footwork is probably not that great. if your clears are nice and long, you should have way enough time to get back to the middle, and no matter how nice they drop, you should still be able to get the birdie.
It isn't a problem with speed of footwork as its probably more to do with speed of anticipation/reading your opponent and your base position. Fast dropshots will land somewhere near to the front service line, straight slightly further away from net, crosscourt slightly nearer. Maybe you could try moving your base over to cover the straight drop leaving a space on the crosscourt side for your opponent to hit into. So now you have negated two corners by covering straight but have left a big space crosscourt, but hey you know this because you want him to hit it there. If you manage to block this cross court drop to the net or push down the line onto his backhand then your in control of the rally. HAPPY Straight, look CROSS You also would need to time your arrival to base with a split step. Try not to be standing still in base, ARRIVE, SPLIT and GO. Not arrive, wait, vertical split, move slow. Find a rythym in your footwork and hitting routines
Make sure your clears are getting to the back line for a start, that gives you a split second longer than if a foot or two short.
Make sure your clears are high and deep, not with body weight but proper stroke and minimal effort. Also, i agree with coachgary on the importance of the rhythm of your footstep
Change of mentality to catch drops Here to share my experience on drop shots. Normally drop shots are harder to catch than clears to the baseline. If your backward movement is excellent...try to stand further forward towards the net rather than centre....you also look very threatening..... Drop shots are easier to catch with a one step lunging movement rather than 2 or 3 small steps. Always do a scissors kick after you clear to your opponent's baseline, It will help increase the power of your clear to your opponent's baseline. Not only that, your body will propel forward towards your home base (Centre) with a dynamic force from the sisscors kick.
