sometimes if I play with a taller partner, when he's serving from the left court and i stand behind him, i can't see the return at the point of contact. it's usually not a problem, but a few guys are really good and they can return either left or right down the ally. so by the time i see the birdie it's already too late. how should i position myself? i don't want to stand too right b/c then i'll compromise on my backhand side.
you can do a number of things. I have found the most effective ways to counter it is either; #1 move to the left or right slightly of your partner to gain a bit more view. If you dont want to move then #2 Get your partner to serve somewhere to open up your sight. So from the left hand side your partner would serve wide to the outer edge of the service box. Giving you a slight more view. Apart from that theres not too much you can do. Or you could do what Fu Hai Feng does when he serves. As soon as he serves he crouches/ducks below the net. Up to you on how you attack the situation.
But hes serving from the left side of the court so moving to the left isn't a good idea. So moving to the right would not give him a good backhand shot
yea that's the problem, lol i have seen some double players actually serving with one knee on the floor. at first i didn't understand. now i guess maybe it's to give their partners a clearer view. i've tried it too but i think it hinders the movement and the speed, and also the lower serving position compromises the quality of the serve.
I was speaking in terms of general serving from either side. How far do you think you have to move lol????? Only half a step to the right and you should have full view and not be out of position. How far back are you standing from your teamate aswell??? You shouldnt be too far to the back of the court. You only need to be 2-3 small steps back from your partner to give yourself a strong midcourt attacking formation.
what i do is when ever my partner serves i stand on the oppisite box and just 1/2 feet away from him so i would be able to see the front lines of where hes serving then i would move back alittle when he serves
i think u have 2 options here. 1 - if ur partner serving from the left, get him to stand slightly on the left perhaps 20 30cm just enough room to give u clear sight. that way u will still be in offensive positions where he still can cover the front. 2- get him to stand more to the outer side but u have to be ready to cover the front of our partner's opposite site for a drop return while covering the back too. but your partner may need to cover his back side too depending how fast u guys can cover the court. this way most likely ull start your game in defending position.
A taller partner is not too bad when compare to a "wider"(sounds better than out of shape) partner. Sometimes it is just not possible to avoid playing with them in a recreational club environment. Although it is an excellent idea for the server to stay on his/her toes and be ready to move right after the serve(assuming it is a decent low serve), but for those "wider" players is a different story. As soon as these players move after the serve, it is extremely difficult for me(I am sure for some others, too) to see anything at all.:crying: You just have to move yourself to a better position according to the situation, or sometimes a bit further back may give you a bit more time to react, but then you are subject to mid-court shots and a bit more angles to cover as well. Best solution that I am applying now is to play singles... then nobody can block your sight.
Am tall, am 6"2 and I play wit teenagers who are very gud and are about 5"5 ish possibly less sumtimes. If they cant c where I serve, what I do is I serve and immediately duck down so they can c where the shuttle is goin. The best player in my club, hes a grade above every1 else was playin wit me, he is prob about 5"10 told me to duck down afta i serve to give him better view. Hope this helps
Hmm this helps a lot. This happens to me sometimes , I always just take a small step to one of the sides. As bradymyster ( sorr if incorrectly spelt) I just move slightly to the left/right it wont compromise your position that much?
i guess i'll try stepping slightly to the right. but to see the return, i'll have to stand slightly over the centre line on the right side... so if the guy pushes to the left corner side line, usually i'll be out of position and can only make a backhand clear, which is not that good, lol. i can do a very good backhand crosscourt drop, but that only works well against opponents that doesn't know my shot, like a surprise attack. if they see the backhand drop coming, it's easy for them to attack as well.
If that is happening , couldn't you position your footwork slightly towards your backhand corner. Sureley a tiny step too one side won't result in you using your backhand?
Split step when opponents hit. Work on your footwork to backhand. You can hit round-the-head most back court returns with 1 step pivot and 1 jump backward; if the return is deep to corner box, you'll need BH. Your position for BH corner is better than advanced MS players that serve low from right court. If they can avoid using BH, it's certainly doable for you as well. Watch TH or LCW's video on their footwork when low service is returned to their BH corner.
judging from your description you pretty much will still be standing in the right position for doubles lol...i dont really see the problem. Half a step doesnt make all that much difference when moving to your backhand corner. Unless you take 5 seconds to react to the shot, which by the time you realise whats going on, would mean its already too late lol Just practice your footwork bro.
I thought this thread is double related. In single, you don't have a partner to block your view. I said this because mettayogi gave me the feeling that he's thinking about men single game. Anyway, Honestly, I might see where you coming from, a big guy (your partner just served a low net serve) and he position of himself right in the middle of the T, which block your view, then I suppose just stand to the right alittle or the left alittle, that depend on your partner serving side. Or just make your partner to make a perfect low net serve, so your opponent can't push it down, when push straight, you'll able to have more time to react to the push =)
yes yes yes theres a thousand different outcomes. To sum it up the best advice you can take is to move slightly to your partners right when he is serving from the left. Even if you are just over the centre line thats no where near out of position. /closethread lol
wow u guys are really emotional about this duck down doesn't mean you have to bend your knee and get on the ground watever. Just bend down lower yourself under the tape, and if you can't get from the center of the net to the corner, and you're talkin about wat? how tall the guy? i'm 5'4" and i can get to the corner with no problem. I think get down alittle is not a bad idea. because a net shots are not a fast speed like push shots, and if you have problem getting to the corner then you really should practice your foot work. However, for push shots if the serve is not that great, the speed of the bird that being pushed will travel pretty damn quick, now this situation you able to use the excuse that it was too fast i can't take a step to catch it up. Because even world class sometime i can't get to the pushed shots from the serve returns.
probably the best solution is to ask your partner to duck a little bit after the serve, or for you to move a little bit so that you can see. i dont' think you should ask your partner to change his serve location, or where is he serving from. most intermediate players are comfortable with where they are serving from, and if you make them change it, it would decrease the service quality dramatically. for me personally, if my partner was a consistent one who i always play tournaments with, I would work something out between both of us. however, if it is just recreational, I would just try to fix the problem myself by moving. it's not fair to ask someone to change their style just for you, when it is in a recreational setting.
