When someone serves to me i tend to drive it back at them. But sometimes im not fast enough. What do you guys do to return a serve?
Depends on your and your opponents' skill. If the opponent is weak in returning fast drives, by all means do that until you win. If they have fast reaction, try dropping to force them to hit upwards. If they are beginners, clear it for them to hit.
For a short serve there are many ways to return such as lift, drive or drop shot. For a flick serve you can have all returns such as lift, clear, drive, drop shot and smash. For short serves i prefer to drive the shuttlecock into the opponent and for flick serve i mainly do drop or smash shots.
You probably were in bad position and it gave it away so he knew it was a drop. Or maybe your drop was too high. Personally I think the best way to return the low serve is a nice angled drive to the backhand or the forehand. Whichever side their not serving on.
si this singles or doubles? high serve or short serve? drive serve, flick serve? that might help. because you certainly don't play shots returning short singles serves as you do high serves
In doubles.. I drive it back most times. Sometimes I netkill it if it goes high. I sometimes play my crosscourt deception and embarass them .. If it's a flick serve, I have no choice but to smash it or drop it back. And in Singles, I have so many other options.. and I dont play the same shot all the time because I need to have a variety of shots.. otherwise I'll be too predictible.
Today when i served (short serve), the person dropped it to the corner then I jumped towards it with a lot of speed and smashed it cross court. Then i did it again but it was then a backhand. I was pretty impressed myself
Biggest problem with return of serve in doubles is trying to do too much with it...a simple dump return that causes a lift from opposite team is best...you dont lose the point by hitting out or getting killed on their return...when they lift you are on offense and offense wins 60% of the points...of course you have to mix in a few pushes etc or they zero in on your return....
i think is better to be in a offisive side, so when return a serve make sure u are still in offisive, example when opp serve low serve, do a netting or a push, if opp serve do a drop shot or smash. as long as the shuttle no high is offisive. But it depends on the situation as well. Visit this blog, which my friend set up : http://allaboutbadmintontrainingdrills.blogspot.com/
My advice applies for singles: You have to know what to expect from your opponent. Your shot of choice should be based on where the player serves and where the player is. If your opposition is a strong smasher then a clear to the back , while I acknowledge it can be a good way to gain some precious seconds to gain a good position, can have disastrous consequences. If you don't know how your opponent plays then a drop will be your best bet to avoid such an incident. For example, in my case, if someone serves high and to the back, my choice is usually a smash. If they serve low and just into the service box, then a drop shot or a well placed shot to the back of the court is best since your opposition would most likely remain in the front. The best bet for any player is always to hit a low shot away from the player at all times. In that way, your chances of success are always increased!
I was "nice" to people and returned them in a fashion where they felt confident with their shots, and it was hard for me to return. After some time, i started getting those shots without a problem. Sure i lost about 80% of my games, but i enjoyed it and i play better now compared to when i started. This also allowed the people i played against to improve their skills.
we have a club player and he stands really close to the service line when receiving. when i serve short to him, he just moves up and sort of pushes the bird really lightly so it goes passes me, but lands in front of my partner at his feet. he does this really well and always to the sides, so my partner usually has no choice but to lift it. sometimes i can guess right and go to the same direction and smash it back if it's too high
if he's hard to win i do a clear shot to start out with. if i could win against the guy then i either smash hard or start a net play.
For doubles...there's a trick shot.. Put the birdy at the half-court between the front and the back player. The front player will think his/her partner (the back player) will take the birdy; Unfortunately, the back player will also think the opposite This should be done fast..anyway, this return can only be performed on short services.
Where they do a short serve. I smash it on them. When they do a high serve. I smash it on them. What better way? Haha.