Doubles play and lines

[okieoutie]

The only time I use a long serve right now is if I can serve down the centreline to a backhand. This tends to force the reciever to take a backhand shot that has already moved past them - very difficult to pull off, considering that I'm standing at the net waiting for it.

I have quite a bit of problem receiving this serve. i.e. I am right handed on the right side of the court and certain servers will serve to the back corner on my backhand side. I tried to adapt by turning my body counter clockwise so I can reach better with my backhand. They are pretty consistent with such a serve too. What would be the best way to deal with such a serve?

[drop2it]

I have quite a bit of problem receiving this serve. i.e. I am right handed on the right side of the court and certain servers will serve to the back corner on my backhand side. I tried to adapt by turning my body counter clockwise so I can reach better with my backhand. They are pretty consistent with such a serve too. What would be the best way to deal with such a serve?

This is exactly the serving situation that I am talking about, and it has worked very well for me due to reasons expained in my earlier post. If I was forced to defend against such a serve, I would:
a) hug the centreline so as not to present a backhand target in the first place
b) keep my left foot forward and my right foot behind, with my racket at head level.
c) as my coach says, "lean forward, but think back." This means that a reciever needs to be prepared to leap back very quickly in order to smash the long serve, but still be able to attack the short serve
d) My left foot would be about 0.5 metres from the short service line.

Hope this helps. The main thing is to anticipate the long serve, and be fast enough to jump back for the smash. If all else fails, hit an around-the-head forehand rather than a weak backhand. Good Luck.

[alexh]

Question: When you say serve long to the corners, am I to assume that you mean the outside corners? I find it difficult to believe this is effective because then the flight pattern of the shuttle would be directly above the receiver's head...

I used to think so too. But after studying Gollum's excellent web site, I decided to give it a go. It really does work--thanks Gollum!

[okieoutie]

For my problem, I watch Lee jae bok's video and found a solution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_V38c4kDP8

Watch 1:50-2:20. He is in the left court instead of right but the idea makes sense when waiting for a serve on the right side of the court. I have used it against players that serve to the backhand far corner and I had no problem returning it now. The idea is to have your right foot forward. This way, you can easily reach shots to your backhand and forehand. I probably hold the racket a little above the head in front of me.

This is exactly the serving situation that I am talking about, and it has worked very well for me due to reasons expained in my earlier post. If I was forced to defend against such a serve, I would:
a) hug the centreline so as not to present a backhand target in the first place
b) keep my left foot forward and my right foot behind, with my racket at head level.
c) as my coach says, "lean forward, but think back." This means that a reciever needs to be prepared to leap back very quickly in order to smash the long serve, but still be able to attack the short serve
d) My left foot would be about 0.5 metres from the short service line.

Hope this helps. The main thing is to anticipate the long serve, and be fast enough to jump back for the smash. If all else fails, hit an around-the-head forehand rather than a weak backhand. Good Luck.

[Gollum]

I used to think so too. But after studying Gollum's excellent web site, I decided to give it a go. It really does work--thanks Gollum!

Thanks, glad it helped.

I used to play all my flick serves down the middle, but when I moved up a grade, I found they were reliably getting smashed down my throat. Playing the flick serve wide solved that problem.

It was also very noticeable that everyone else was using wide flick serves, and serves down the middle were rare. I can't guarantee this trend is monotonic, but it certainly seems that the pros usually place their flick serves wide.

I now reserve a straight flick serve for exceptional circumstances, such as when the receiver's partner is blocking his route backwards along the centre line.

For my problem, I watch Lee jae bok's video and found a solution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_V38c4kDP8

Watch 1:50-2:20. He is in the left court instead of right but the idea makes sense when waiting for a serve on the right side of the court. I have used it against players that serve to the backhand far corner and I had no problem returning it now. The idea is to have your right foot forward. This way, you can easily reach shots to your backhand and forehand. I probably hold the racket a little above the head in front of me.

That's a very strange solution. While it may help you cope with this particular serve -- a drive serve down your backhand side -- it severely limits your ability to cope with the more standard serves.

As a right-hander, receiving serve with your right foot forward is a bad idea. With this stance, the only way you can possibly cope with a good flick serve is to be standing back well behind the service line -- giving you time to turn your body.

With your left foot forward, you can get much closer to the service line -- ideally, your left foot would be almost touching the line -- and still be able to cope with flick serves. Being closer to the service line is desirable, because it gives you a much better attack of the low serve.

It does take quite some practice to get used to this: you need to learn the footwork to move quickly backwards to attack the flick serve. Nevertheless, having your left foot forwards is the right way to receive serve. Every professional player receives serve with his non-racket foot forwards, every single time.

If the serve is very flat -- a drive serve -- then you need to cut it out as early as possible. You should hit it without even moving from your forwards position. This will require quick reactions and a well-controlled round-the-head forehand. The result is normally an immediate winning shot.

If the serve is somewhere in between -- a slightly high drive, or a very flat flick -- then you will likely need to make a single jump backwards to reach it. Again, this is difficult but possible.