One day when I was at practice, my coach told me to try and read the shot then he left to help other students. I never really thought of trying that but it sounded nice so I tried it during a not serious match with a friend. However, when I tried it on a player that was at my level, I had trouble "reading" his shots and my reaction did almost all the work (it sorta worked, but not too well). Does anyone have tips on how to "read" a shot or anticipate where it's going?
There's no way of knowing exactly what shot a player is going to make at any given time. What you need to do is recognize his shot options and tendancys on how he responds to your shots. This allows for you to take control of the rally.
reading shots means simply that you recognise specific patterns in opponents game.e.g he prefers playing a cross court drop when he is pressurised in any rear corner or tries to repeatedly attack your backhand rear corner. by 'reading' his gameplay you can judge better and can gain a comprehensive attack
Yeah, it's more about reading your opponent's game, knowing what his possible and probable replies to your shot are, and being ready to cover each reply. If you try to anticipate what his exact shot will be, that is when you could get caught out if he uses any sort of deception to move you in the wrong direction. Also, good players make the preparations for different shots in similar positions (such as forehand clear, smash, and drop) look the same so that it is nearly impossible to know exactly what they will do before they hit the bird.
Oh I see, so I look at how my opponent plays and learn how he hits the birdie in different scenarios right? I get it now, thanks for the help .
The 2 circumstances where I personally will do my best to read my opponent's shots are when: 1. my opponent is under tremendous amount of pressure(eg. really late getting to the shuttle), and have really limited shot option(s). 2. I am under tremendous pressure after a bad shot (eg. half court clear, lose net shot, and etc) where I am in a position of either guess it right and have a chance to save it, or lose the point anyways. I believe that a player can anticipate more(by slightly cheating/ leaning toward one side or forward a bit more than usual) in doubles when successfully maneuver the shuttle to opponents' weakness(eg. backhand), but probably not a good idea to try to anticipate too much in a singles match, as even Sir Isaac Newton once said something along the line of human behavior is very unpredictable... unless anyone thinks he/she is smarter than Sir Isaac Newton, otherwise his words do have some weight in them.
Some people can read each others game aswell, sometimes players do specific gestures which reveals their shot , or movement. But as people have said reading their game is the best way.
Each person has a different way of playing so you have to see during warm up or the first few shots in the rally making them run around. They'll have to play all their best shots from bad angles giving out their secret. All you have to do is analyze without giving up the rally. Harder than it sounds. Believe me!
