Backhand serve

Discussion in 'Rules / Tournament Regulation / Officiating' started by bigredlemon, Oct 28, 2002.

  1. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    According to playbadminton, "everyone" uses it. Why? The only reason I can think of is to give the opponent slightly less time to react. Seems like a small advantage for the loss of power.
     
  2. TOmike

    TOmike Regular Member

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    because if done properly, it should land right on the line, and therefore be a point.. it is confusing because the opponent does not know whether it will be in or out, and if u keep it low you can fake em out..

    keep this in mind
    "hit it high and u've lost an eye."
     
  3. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    In my experience, people tend to go for serves even if there's a small chance of it being in. But i guess that's an advantage because I always end up going for shots that are short. :( Doesn't matter to me though because I usually play net shots anyway.

    For me, if i'm on the left side, I usually forehand serve to the right-front corner. If on the right, I serve to backhand to the right-front edge of the service court. Force them to a weak backhand return (then play the net if low, smash if high.) :D

    Lets hear some more serving strategies!!
     
  4. gerry

    gerry Regular Member

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    The loss of WHAT power ??
     
  5. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    what has that gotta do with backhand or forehand??????

    i can do exactly the same high quality service, whether it is backhand or forehand. i think backhand or forehand is completely irrelevant in terms of service quality.
     
  6. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    I find my low serve quality is more consistent with a b/hand.
    When used in doubles, it's easier for me to dominate the net after b/hand serve.

    I'd like to know what 'power' as well.

    In present day International doubles, the only time I recall seeing forehand serve is some of the Dutch ladies players.
    Never for Men's doubles nowadays.
     
  7. LazyBuddy

    LazyBuddy Regular Member

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    I use right hand, therefore, my backhand serve is much more useful (when against a right hand) when I serve from the right half.

    I can serve the bird right in the middle of opponent's court, deep and fast, so, he/she has to use back hand to return. Since most ppl has weaker backhand return, then, I or my partner have better chance to finish them off.
     
  8. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    Re: Re: Backhand serve

    If they are crowding the front of the service line and you want to serve deep, it's hard to do so without either a) taking a longer stroke, or b) not hitting high enough over his head, because the backhand serve uses a shorter stroke.

    I've played against very few people who can backhand-serve so high that I can't jump + smash.

    6 ft height + 4 ft arm&racquet + 2 feet jump means he'd have to serve 12 feet above the ground, and at an angle. It's easy to serve 14 feet with forehand. Most backhand deep serves seem to be barely at 10 feet and I dont even need to jump.

    If they only serve to the service line then that's not much variety is it!

    And more power because the wrist abducts in a forehand serve (uses the big forearm muscles), but adducts in a backhand serve, using the smaller muscles on the outside arm.

    Yes, you get better precision with the backhand since there's more nerves per muscle density but there's already enough precision in the forearm already.
     
  9. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    Right on :D
     
  10. Winex West Can

    Winex West Can Regular Member

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    Re: Re: Re: Backhand serve

    It's not a matter of power but rather speed and surprise. As you had indicated earlier, you tend to rush net serves and if your opponents can flick serve to the back, you will definitely hestitate in rushing net serves.

    Without using too much power, you can (with your a flick of your wrist) get the shuttle to the base line (singles or doubles).
     
  11. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    to add to the opponent's confusion. try to learn and master both backhand and forehand service.

    in the past year. i have slowed learned how to serve backhand. and i think i have reach a pretty consistent level. since my forehand service was already pretty good, now i can do both at a very high level of consistency and variation. i can do deep court flicks, fast drive service and tight short service both both service court and to all corners of each court from both forehand and backhand, while being quite deceptive at it.

    i played a tournament this weekend, during all the games. i was randomly switching between forehand and backhand service, and randomly switching between flicks and short, and then left and right side of the service courts. from the amount of straight winners i got from the match, i think i had my opponents rather confused and surprised by switching around. at least it keep them off their minds and concentration by changing to yet another service.

    to learn the "other" service is a high price to pay. everybody prefers to do what they are comfortable with and stick to what they do best. i had to work for more than a year to reach a good level of backhand service. but the price i think is well worth it.
     
  12. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    Re: Re: Re: Re: Backhand serve

    Getting to the baseline isn't the problem, its having it not smacked back that's the problem. I find that it's usually pretty easy to smack it back at them. But i know what you mean, though. I just haven't been playing against people who try to deceptive when they serve.

    Guess I'll have to promote myself to advanced and play better people.... :: pats self on back :: :D
     
  13. JChen99

    JChen99 Regular Member

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    Well if you have a decent backhand serve u can usually get the opponent to lift the bird right away. With my serve I try to keep it so it clips the net if possible. with a serve like that, the opponents tend to step up a bit, then you just serve a fast long one right past his head (easy point!) then he'll get bak to standing back more... and the process loops...

    However, on my serves, people tend not to play net shots for some reason.
     
  14. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    I'm don't think they need to step up a bit. Standing with your back foot left of the middle of the service court, you're only one step away from the service line, plus u can cover the back too. I'll move to the front if i'm tired, but I try to stay in the middle.

    Lately, i've been try a new position to recieve serves. Instead of bending down with the racquet pointing diagonally (toward right corner of the net) i'm now standing up with the racquet pointed at the server's head. It's pretty easy to return flick serves in this position, and you don't lose much time going back to my "default" position if he serves to the service line. After being surprised by a flick serve once or twice, it's hard to pull it off again since it takes so little movement to return a flick.
     
  15. JChen99

    JChen99 Regular Member

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    well most of the ppl i play with step right up to the front service line (or almost up ot the front service line) my serve "usually" lands somewhere on the lines, so it's quite hard to judge if it's slightly short so ppl usually go for it if it's not obviously short. Also, I do not stand right up to the service line when i serve, so the parabola of the shuttle is very stretched. The shuttle would usually be half way below net when it gets to half-way between front service line and net

    Just a thought
     
  16. gerry

    gerry Regular Member

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    Re: Re: Re: Backhand serve

    It's not about how high you can serve, it's about deception, when I serve backhand no one can tell if it's going to be a low or a flick serve therefore they can't anticipate, they have to wait until the shuttle leaves the racket before they can decide to play forward or go back for the flick, sure some good players can react faster than others but they still have to wait for that extra second before they decide where the shuttle is going.
    I would guess that it's only about 1 in 10 of my flick serves that get smashed back at me and that's usually when the flick wasn't as good as it should've been.
    The main attribute with having a good flick serve is when you catch your opponant out the first time, for the rest of the game it's in his mind that you can do it which in turn allows you to serve low more often without him taking advantage of it by anticipating.
     
  17. gerry

    gerry Regular Member

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    All I can say is that your opponants must have a poor stance or are slow to react, I can honestly say than in all of my badminton life, I've never had to reply with a backhand shot whilst receiving serve. Even when someone has tried to serve from the tramlines on the right hand court to my deep backhand side, I just adjust my stance and play an around the head smash, they usually only try it once.
    I'm 48 now and still would never have to reply with a backhand shot no matter how deep, flat or fast the serve was !!!
     
  18. dlp

    dlp Regular Member

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    The only recent top player in doubles I can recall, to employ a forehand serve was Soogard and his serve broke down often in the tightest matches, I feel he could have won more titles with a better (backhand?) serve.

    Any other top players serving forehand, is it a weakness?
     
  19. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    The advantage of the backhand is the element of surprise, is seems, but it's hardly a whole second. Closer to 0.2 seconds. When serving forehand, you (or at least i do) take a full (and slow) swing for all the shots. If I want it to the service line, then I just continue as normal. If I want it far and high to force him to clear, then I "flick" my wrist up just as I hit the bird. If I want it to buzz past his head, then I twist my forearm when I hit the bird. The reaction time they have is about the same, plus it has more versatility and precision.

    I wonder how many people are only doing backhand serves because they are emulated the pros, rather than because it's actually better to them.
     
  20. andymcg

    andymcg Regular Member

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    I always thought that the advantage of a backhand serve is that the movement is a shorter one than a forehand serve and therefore its easier to repeat again and again. There is less that can go wrong with a short movement.

    Your opponent also has less time to react, even to short serves because you can stand as far forward as possible, and then hold the shuttle out in front of you, effectively striking the shuttle in front of your short service line. So the shuttle has less distance to travel to get across the net. A forehand serve has to travel further as you would have to serve from your side instead of in front of you.

    I haven't played anyone in mens doubles for years that uses a forehand serve. We actively encourage the kids we coach to learn a backhand serve as soon as possible.

    It can be quite hard for the man to backhand flick serve in mixed doubles though!
     

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