So I have a question about performing a drop: How far away from the net is a drop suppose to land? Is it suppose to be on the service line? close to the net from the service line? or a little bit away from the net from the service line? My drops seem to reach a little further away from the service line and they are easily returned. Any tips for improving my drops to become a little closer/on the service line? Thanks~
depends what kind of drop, but ideally you want all your drops as close to the net as possible for a slow drop being as tight to your opponent's side of the net as possible is what you're aiming for. this means that it is before the service line for fast drops it can be a little further back, upto maybe 2 feet past the service line, but the goal is to hit it to the side lines as close as you can no matter what drop you hit though, you always want it to be tight to the net so your opponent can't step in and kill you
this all depends on what kind of shot you want to play and all in your stragety. you can play a drop shot that is tight to the tape and lands close to the net or you can play one "off the net" which means its further back in the court. there are benifits and downfalls to playing each however. if you play a tight dropshot its easy for your opponent to play a tight netshot back since theres not a huge distance that the shuttle would have to go in order to make it over the net. however if you played a drop shot that landed near the service line thats a long distance for your opponent to have to return the shuttle to play a tight net shot. ontop of those things theres the reason you would play them so where your opponent is on the court etc. for making them tighter you will want to practice your drops and have a coach check out your technique you might be putting a lil extra power than you have to into them. also how are you roverhead strokes? so for clear, drop, smash do they all look the same? if not then thats something to work towards for deception purposes. but for why there being returned so easily coudl be so many factors maby your opponent can see which shot your going to play or your hitting it to/close to them so they dont have to move much in order to get it back. could be a really slow drop which would give them lots of time to get it back or they are a fast player and can get to them. could be lots of things. but well hope you can find an answer and improve your drops to the standard that you want to.
Most of your drop shots should be fast drops, landing about the service line. Slow drops take too much time to cross the net, and so fast players will usually attack these with tight spinning net shots or even net kills. For more detailed analysis, read my singles tactics page about drop shots.
