React, or anticipate/predict?

For me personally, when I play with beginner players, I might stand a bit forward and just predict their shots. However, if my opponents are almost at the same level as me or even higher, I dare not to anticipate their shots early because they have lots of trick to play. Usually i just rely on my reflex, react at the right timing to return their shots.
I think those 3; footwork, speed and stamina are very important, especially footwork. I have found that when you have a good footwork, you can easily move around the court without hesitating and you can easily react to any kind of drop shot.

 

there is always reaction involved, and anticipation.
Anticipation itself is too limited...one trick and you fail. When you get good enough to hit really deceptive shots that becomes a problem.
I personally rely on a strange mix. I can anticipate decently, because i usually know my opponents and how they play, because they are friends, or i watch them when they warm up. But its very little.
For me, its all reflex, because though my footwork is not fast, i can react to my sight fast... Tho i cannot get to the bird as fast as some, i can see where it is going and know to move before they do.

Yes, i think that warmups before a match are very important, not to warm youself up, but also to observe the opponent

 

you probably need a bit of both. the really top players can predict shots, yet they don't move before the shuttle has been hit.

basically, every shot your opponent makes, you react to it. if you don't, then it's not badminton. your opponent makes a shot, and you react by moving towards where the shuttle will land. however, predicting a shot does not mean you will move to meet the shuttle there. because predictions can be wrong. and it's very important to know that. if we could guess every shot of an opponent, well, that's not prediction. so don't ever move before they hit the shot, or, more correctly, don't have just what you think is going to happen on your mind. predicting like that is dangerous. at the top levels, players have strokes which are near identical until the last tenths of a second, far too short a time for a person to predict it will go left and change if they get fooled.

whoever said professionals are that good because they can predict is wrong. they are good because they have a solid base in footwork, technique, stamina and experience. even they get fooled. it's just the way it is. you rarely see them leaping towards the net when the opponent hasn't even hit the shot. the times you see them get fooled is when they're under pressure, chasing down a shot with a large amount of court to cover.

so if you think you can get good by jumping towards the net before they're hit the shuttle, well, it's not going to work. what you can do, however, is to use that prediction to your advantage. following your predictions before the opponent has hit the shot is foolish. however, using that prediction to alert your mind to an incoming shot is good. so if you think they're going to play a cross court net shot, don't move from base, but as you are expecting that shot, if it happens, you get an advantage. if they play something else, you haven't lost anything as you haven't moved.

so, basically, don't let your predicting skills control you, and follow your predictions blindly. use your prediction skills to allow for a quicker reaction time. just remember, predictions are purely that. it's what you're guessing, but try not to react to those predictions. by all means, use prediction to get an edge on your opponent so you can move to the shot quicker. react to the shot your opponent makes, not what you think they will do.

 

Shifty has said what I meant to say.........
Though there are cases when one might want to act on a really solid prediction, especially in doubles, where you partner can cover for you if you are wrong, such as rushing what seems to be a really weak lift that you could kill, or rushing at a netdrop.

 

yes, agreed. i was mainly referring to singles. in doubles, it's safer to make predictions as you have another person covering for you. or course, you can't make ridiculous predictions, as you can get caught out even then. however, taking a step up to the net to threaten any net reply is certainly a good tactic to use.

again, use your predictions to guide your reactions.

 

It's a balance.

Anticipation can be very good, because you can take the shuttle earlier and potentially win the rally. But incorrect anticipation can lose you the rally.

You need to make a judgement: how confident are you that your opponent will play a certain shot? The more confident your are, the more you should anticipate.

Against good players, you will rarely be certain what shot they are going to play. When they are under pressure, however, you can often narrow down the possibilities. For example: under pressure in his backhand rearcourt, you know that your opponent cannot hit a good length cross-court clear (and perhaps not even a good straight clear). You should be moving in somewhat towards the straight net corner.

Some players are highly predictable in particular situations. For example, I play doubles socially at a low-standard club where one of the players always plays a flick/high serve. He never serves low to me! So when I receive his serve, I just stand near the back. There's no point covering a shot that you know your opponent will not play.

That's an extreme and rather silly example; but the point is that you can spot patterns in your opponent's play and adjust your positioning to exploit them. If you spot a situation where your opponent is highly predictable, then you can try to create that situation as often as possible. Sometimes this even involves encouraging your opponent to play a favourite shot: although it may be his best shot, you know where it's coming.

 

yes, i agree with you. however, whilst it's ok to anticipate, you shouldn't act out completely as you predict. i.e. you don't stand right at the net for your backhand scenario. you stand biased towards the net. which is fine, i guess, as long as you're not diving in to cover just the net area.

so there's a balance, just like you said. but that balance should never be completely towards anticipation. that's dangerous.

 

Only if you're wrong.

There are many situations where your opponent is almost guaranteed to hit a certain shot. Obviously this happens more often with weak opponents; but when a strong player is under huge pressure, his options are very limited.

When my opponent is in a very bad position, I often know exactly what he will do. So I just go there. There's no point trying to cover a shot that will not happen. Occasionally I could actually put my racket where the shuttle is going to be, and just leave it there (although that would be silly).

This happens much less frequently when playing against strong opponents, because they have better resources for getting out of trouble. But it still happens sometimes, and you should be aware of that. It happens even at the world-class level.

Learning how to predict your opponent is an important skill. Don't ignore it.

 

I am currently at the same stage as you are in my club. When I play weaker players, they are far more predictable to me. This allows me to anticipate shots before they actually play the bird. When dealing with stronger players who have greater racket control, this sort of anticipation is actually quite detrimental.

From talking to and watching the better players at my club, it looks like the next step for me in dealing with them is more a situational awareness. That being and understand of where I need to stand, face and balance myself in accordance to where the shuttle is being played by my opponent.

Really good players seem to know from a particular spot on the court what shots are available, what are the highest percentage shots and what shots are most difficult to return. They then setup their position, stance, balance and racket accordingly to deal with the situation.


I really only had this come to my attention as I was watching videos and reading a few books on shot deception. From any particular hitting stroke and position on the court (eg. Forehand Overhead Stroke from rear right corner of the court), there are a number logical attacking and defensive shots. Knowing what shots are available, you are then able to categorize the shots based on pace and trajectory of the bird. From this you can place yourself in a position that will give you the best chance to react to your opponent.

In fact it seems like after hitting a shot, really good players seem to know where they need to be to play a return from the shot they are currently executing. And as part of the shot being played the follow through and recovery are directed to moving to the correct position on the court.

 

I usually react with most of the shots that my opponent makes. At times, when my opponent only has a few options, I anticipate. Before anticipating, I think you should look at how your opponent plays, so you know where your opponent usually hits his shots.

 

I usually look at the racket of my opponent, where ever there racket faces/points to w.e i follow that direction but I sometimes predict too.

 

It is quite true that when playing against an opponent that is at or above your own skill level one tends to react more than predict. When I play I always observe how my opponent responds to various shots and from that I can make a reasonably accurate guess as to what they SHOULD do. But all of this mental work is negated if you don't have proper footwork and technique.

 

when you react, anticipation helps, as it can narrow how many possible shots you have to be ready for.

 

Anticipation is always important, & is an advantage, but also risky.
but risks are to be taken.

It's about how you react to the next shot, even when they decieve you.
Footwork & reaction is both needed.
Hitting against the wall may help.

 

Anticipate in your head. Not in, or less, in your body.

As Lee Jae Bok once said, "60% that way! 40% that way!"

 

In singles play the best way to prepare for a shot is to get back to the middle of the court since it's the closest to all points on the court. Rather then getting in position for where you think the shot will go pay close attention to your opponents and then move as soon as the shuttle is hit and you see it's flight path. As for getting there the ideal movement is to sort of shuffle or glide along the court while always facing the front and for dropshots lunge to do a net shot or jump forward so that you can use the momentum for a drive or net kill, for the back of the court if it's a clear shuffle back before jumping backwards and rotating your body to smash or drop in the event that it's a drive or smash attempt to meet the shuttle earlier so it's trajectory is still high so you have a better chance of either dropping, driving, or clearing successfully. After you finish your shot return to the center of the court and prepare for the next shot never run.

 

you should practice your footwork and make it very good and your speed and stamina around the court has 2 be good then only the advanced guessing will come into your game.because every international player who guesses alot has great footwork 2 match so the guessing will come as you progress and in the international level if your faster than your opponent and have betta footwork you will surely win

 

i think double games we can anticeple more , becos when u rush in there will be your partner covering. If you play with high level in single game, we cant anticeple much. Lower class can, example you will know attacking the backhand will give u weak return.

Maybe i am wrong just a comment.

 

I find myself anticipating more in doubles as well. It really depends on how well your partner can cover you when you move into the new position. The last thing you want is to open up a hole that will put you into defensive even if you partner manage to retrieve the return. You will have to decide how much to trust your anticipation.

Interesting thing I observed is that delaying a return seems to stop players who anticipate a lot. The opponents tend to slow down quite a bit after that .