Spotting Opponents Weakness

[TigerSmash]

Mostly all of this advice is good and great to hear. You should give it a go in club night or something similar, just spotting out the weaknesses that the players have and try to exploit it. After experience and practice, you will have the ability to read that part of the game.
A good example of advance players could be in a doubles match, where the reciever will lift. If you know that the majority of the time he will lift rather than net shot, then be prepared to attack and intercept the play.

[Mikael]

I strongly disagree with the people saying just play u own game - noooooo. Maybee that is the first problem, u own skills or game migth not include the variation to reveal the opponents skills. I mean here u can read all these advices in this thread, do this and that play him around and observes, but it require that u can variate u own game to keep researching his skills. So the first thing u should learn is to change and variate u own game. Could be the explaination why u have trouble reading players at higher levels.

Next thing is to be able to link between technique and tactics. Ok u r told that this opponent is weak for backhand, but if u just play the shuttle in the backhand area all the time, he can easily take it with a forehand.

Also u can observe his body type pretty easy. Some people think that slim skinny people r very fast, but very "often" it is just the other way around, they r slow because their muscles r not build for explosiveness (Instead they should run a marathon, just not as fun ).

[Chong Fu Chih]

can someone teach me how to post a thread so i can ask something?

[neogenesus]

Through playing games with a lot of different kind of people with different kind of playing style, you will be able to spot someone's weaknesses. How quick you can read people's weaknesses is depend also on your badminton ability. Let say your opponent is weak against high clear (old 50+ people tend to have this weakness ), but you can't clear base to base, it will be useless for you. Also, if you have spotted your opponent weakness, don't always give him the same shot, give a little bit variety so he doesn't have time to adjust to your attacking. Variety is the key, but don't be too fancy tho because you might lose the game just because you are trying to be fancy.
I like here in the club that I am playing, they have a "challenge court" where winner stays. We usually just play double for 1 set or sometime full game and whoever team wins, they can stay for as long as they win or until 3 games at least. IMO, this is good experience to play with a lot of different players and there is no rules that say you have to be "this" good to play in challenge court. You are forced to read your opponent strategy and weakness quickly because you only have 1 set to play. This will make you adapt to a lot of different playing style (fast drive oriented, drop/net oriented, smash oriented, etc) and enable you to think what tactic or play is good against any type of play.

[Mark A]

I strongly disagree with the people saying just play u own game - noooooo. So the first thing u should learn is to change and variate u own game.

This is 100% true, so I think my opinion needs clarifying.

By "play your own game" I only mean that you should not do things that are outside your comfort zone because you aren't control of the rally - for example, trying a for a smash when you know you are out of position because you want to end the rally early. I can't count how many points I've seen Lin Dan win this way.

[jgbreezer]

Another short(ish) and sweet suggestion: when not playing in between games, pick a player and focus your watch on them, see how they play and try to predict what they'll do, and how they handle certain moves.

Next time, focus on someone else and see how they handle similar moves or if they are more or less predictable. Watch what they do as they prepare for a certain shot and see if you can predict what the shot will be from how they prepare for it. You might find yourself spotting the same patterns while playing the game (maybe against them, maybe against someone else).

[dlp]

As well as looking for obvious weaknesses look for their style of play consider the conditions and look for patterns and trends, its easy with some basic questions, both before and during the match:

Are they very attacking / defensive / deceptive / powerful/ fast/ strong / good endurance
Does the hall have drift / floor slippy / shuttles slow or fast
In doubles do they favour one formation, how do they defend (one sided etc), what serves do they use, where do they smash, do they back up the smash by pressuring net

[AirStyles]

I can't hit backhand clears myself. Only got a straight drop and X-court drop.

So I practice a lot of backhand corner overhead shots, just 1, 2, clear. those who're familiar with Lin Dan vs Chong Wei's usual "trade clears" (it doesn't happen as often after 2009) will understand what I meant.

At the same time, I cover my weakness up with weapons.

I shaped my playing style to a backhand focus playing style. And when they hit my backhand(Slightly bad quality, smash-able), they can have a taste of my overhead tap smashes/Slice drop.


As for learning other's weakness, you just have to remember how you win your points, and if you're able to produce the same thing, learn their tendency, for example, learn about what shot he's capable/incapable of hitting. Then you exploit them. Or what kind of shot they usually do when you hit a good X-drop? Can they get there fast enough to clear it? or can they only drop? If they can only drop, remember that, and next time you hit a good X-drop, you know what the reply will be. Charge ahead.