I'm a male singles player- of intermediate skill. I'm playing a tournament in two days time. At the lower tiers of the tournament play ie. the first few, gymnasium courts are used. I often find myself stuck with the side immediately in front of a wall. When my opponent serves long, I can't get a good clear, because the wall leaves me no space to extend my arm. Any recommendations for shots to return, not including a clear? Also- I often try to return the shuttle even if it's about to land out. Is it better to take the risk, and see if the shuttle is out, or to have a weak return?
Have you tried to do a straight or crosscourt drop taken from the side at around shoulder level (forehand)? If it's on your backhand side, you'll have to take the bird from above.
i think this gymnasium sucks and you shouldn't compete in the tournament!!! lol ........ j/k try going for a drop down the centre of the other side, that way your opponent doesnt have much angle to play with. going cross-court sometimes is a little risky as it opens up the court. also before you play, estimate how far it is from the wall to the back of the court. that way, when you move backwards, you can approximate if the shuttle will land out or not. if you really have to take the shuttle late, try to drop it over the net and dont use too much power to hit it unless you are certain it will go to the back of the other court. the drop should be to the opponents backhand side as it is more difficult to execute a good backhand net kill than a forehand giving you the chance to return it if it goes over.
Usually if it's close I just hit a well placed hit unless i know it's out. Seems more reasonable to hit a good shot, rather than take a chance to see if its in or out and end up hitting a half decent shot 50% of the time. Don't be like my friend, who puts his racquet down, looking like he has given up, then wait for the opponents to drop their racquets to actually hit the shot. >_< lol
If I read the situation correctly, it is not even possible to play. Your shot options are literally: clear smash half smash drop If you cannot clear, you cannot smash so you are left with the half smash or drop. This essentially means that you cannot move your opponent to the rear so he can wait for you further forward in the mid court. Your only hope is if you know how to punch-clear. This shot uses very little space but will re-open your opponent's rear-court so he cannot neglect it.
Punch clear is the shot. Very little backswing, all in the rotation of the forearm and snap of the wrist. The hall that i play in has about 20-30 cms space at the back of the court between the back line and the wall, yet it is surprising how few times anyone hits the shuttle accurately enough to give me a problem, so maybe things aren't as bad as you think they are. Indeed, once you get used to it, it sounds like a weapon you can use to your advantage.
Jump toward the wall when the shuttle is not yet at its peak height. Hold the up button and lightly tap the jump button right when you land on the wall to do a wall-jump, timing is critical. Then, when you are at the peak of your jump, hit the jump button again to do a double-jump. If you did it correctly, you should be right above the shuttle and can finish off with a Meteor-smash or just a Tornado if you're low on MP. More seriously, how far away is the wall from the court's backline? If your racket hits the wall for any swing, then it sounds quite bad. If it's absolutely impossible to clear, then that would be a huge disadvantage and you should try to play on that side of the court in the first game. What I mean is: Game #1, play on wall-side, lose 0-21; Game #2, play on non-wall-side, win 21-0; Game #3, play on wall-side, start losing 0-11, switch sides, win 21-11.
Last Minute Tips? Well- tommorow's the tournament day. Any last minute tips, in general? Sports drinks, sleeping, often-neglected techniques?
take the shuttle early so you're hitting the bird a few feet from the wall. This means you"ll have to jump and hit at higher contact point. I don't know if you can manage a jump smash but a jump clear/drop should be feasible
drop and drive are the most common returns on singles what walls are you talking about? your gym must be small and alway stay at the ready postion stay in the middle of court when waiting for return
If your opponent is not too strong, try to force him into the back court area so he may choose to drop or smash instead of clearing all the way to the baseline. Otherwise... you will probably have to stick with intercepting the shuttle early to do a jump clear/drop, and maybe you could try to use some deception to keep your opponent from anticipating your drops (slice and reverse slice.. if you don't know how yet then don't worry about it). Also you want to try to judge whether a shot is going out when it is still above you, so you can still make an overhead swing. It's still better to do an overhead return even if the shuttle was going out, than to hesitate, wait for the shuttle to fall much lower, and then either do a weak return or hope it goes out. Sometimes just doing that will make you seem confident and strong in the back court, so your opponent may clear WAY too much, or just not hit too many to the back. Either way it is good for you. I just know that if I were playing someone who constantly had judging issues with the back line, I would continuously force him back there and snatch up any weak returns. Sounds like a downright awful place to host a tournament...
you dont need to step outside the court to clear from the baseline, if you need to step back, just leave it , its probably out. try take the shuttle early and unless it a very good defensive clear, you should be able to hit it when its still a foot from the baseline giving you plenty room. and punish him when you change sides in the 2nd set.
I think the key point as stated in the title is that the opponent does a long serve. I used to consistently get my long serves to within 6 inches of the baseline at either corner of the service area -- it's not difficult with some practice. You take the shot from the same spot regardless if you jump, unless you can jump very very very high. You do not have to be standing at the baseline to return the shot but it will be ideal if you want to do anything with it. If you are attacking (smash/drop), you want to follow the stroke with a forward momentum that will aid your faster recovery. Even if you choose to clear deep, there must be sufficient space behind the court. Just imagine trying to clear with your racket starting from just 1 feet behind the shuttle.
