Hi guys , I just wanted to ask what is the best way to return a good/average short serves (which is not too tight to the net) in men doubles ? How do you play those shot ? how could you return those serves and get the upper-hand in the rally ? Thanks in advance
If the serve is not too tight to the net, do a push shot down the line to the middle of the alley (between the net and back player). This place is easiest to cause confusion, and because it's a push shot, the back (the person most likely to get the shot) will lift or at most try to drop it back. The next shot you can do is drop it at the net in the front corner that's furthest away from the server. So if the server is on the left side serving to you on the right, net drop it to the right corner. Last shot probably could be a drive to the back player's backhand. (depends on how well their backhand shots are and the drive should be near the side line), typically the return won't be as threatening as the same drive to a forehand side.
Trying to gain the advantage on service return is difficult against strong players....90% of the time I personally like the drop tight to the net so that their return is usually up and we are then on offense...where to drop depends on where they serve...
Keep it low and down. Get on the bird as soon as you can so that you can get better downward angle. Drop to front corners. Push to the mid court sides. Push directly back at the server. Drive to the rear backhand.
My priorities are as follows. 1. If the serve is loose, Net Kill... 2. If the serve is tight & if you are able to meet at the net, Tumble drop. 3. Drive & push 4. If you are late & and bird has fallen below net tape, try to drop deceptively at the net (corners)-it is a low percentage high risk shot-but worth trying once or twice. 5. Lift to the rear and be ready to receive the smash\drop. All the best
What you can do all depends where you stand and how fast you are. The further back you are, the less options you have and less chance to attack. Try and stand quite close to the front line, I currently stand few inches from it. Have a panhandle grip ready to attack on my forehand and use quick swtich to thumb grip on my backhand side. In general there are 4 good shots. 1. the half court push between front and back players out wide, causes confusion. 2. If service is tight, hitting it down is hard but getting there fast and playing a tight net shot it best. If stuck clear to backhand side but only if stuck 3. drive it flat to back of court out wide. I use this one quite often. 4. drive it flat at the net player. He is very close and it will probably hit him or his partner behind depending on how close up his partner stands. Its all about practice practice practice. This is one of the areas Im working on a lot now as this is a very important shot in the game Good luck
Deception is more useful for singles serve returns. In doubles, the emphasis should be on reaching the serve early and playing as accurate a return as possible. For net returns of serve, deception is very risky, as you'll be taking the shuttle relatively late. It's even worse for push returns to the midcourt; a delay here makes it much easier for the server to cut them out. Probably the best opportunity to use deception here is with drives, as you mentioned. However, consider whether your deception is costing you time, and whether you could use this time to play a better shot -- such as a push to the midcourt tramlines, or a tight net return. I'm not saying, "don't use deception". It can be useful, and you may find that some opponents are more susceptible than others. But as a general rule, it will be better to focus on reaching the shuttle as early as possible.
Only problem with doing that too often is that it becomes predictable. And deception shots require just a little bit more time, so the bird will be disadvantageously lower when it's taken. However, it works well when the server partner's view of the receiver is obstructed by the server, who often step into the middle after serving.
Gollum, Regarding deception, I use a tactic once in a while. If it is a tight low serve, wait a little & getting ready to flick the shuttle. After starting the movement, turn the racket face and slide the shuttle to send it to the corner. (Bit difficult to explain). But the problem here is, if my oponent is not deceived, he will net kill.
Yes, and that's why you will rarely see these kinds of returns in professional doubles (those players are too difficult to fool). You will frequently see them as singles serve returns, however.
Is that abit risky , with deception ..often it will just end of at the net , I was thinking more about playing the percentage game but still gain an advantage against the server.
Bro, How could you prepare yourself into what serve you going to receive ? If I stand too forward , I would be very vulnerable to the flick serve and if I react too early , they will call it a fault. How do you guys train for it ? Phil, you said you use the flat drive alot , what is the advantage of this return and which side do you drive it to and how far back ? This is because I was thinking using this return in MD since it is less risky and encourage fast attacking play.
Service return is just like anything else, you have to train for it specifically. Reaction time and speed determines how closely you can stand to the front service line. When I was competing 10 years ago I was fast enough that I could stand right at the line leaning forward to get as close to the net as I could but was also fast enough that I could smash 3/4 of the flick serves. Now that I'm a bit older and slower I stand about 8" - 12" back from the front line. You can't just be quick in terms of speed though, you need to make a split second decision on how high the shuttle will be when you make contact and which return would work best and yet still be a high percentage shot. Practice against someone who just serves at you. As with most training... it does need to be training not social play.
I can serve a good low short serve, its a little my speciality. the worst returns are 1. The guy who is a really fast mover and gets to the shuttle as it goes over the net and whacks it hard down the middle, or anywhere for that matter, his hit is only one stop short of being a net kill. 2.A long shot into my partners back hand corner. This leaves my partner with two alternatives; a backhand straight down the tramlines, since its unlikely that my partner has enough backhand power to get all the way to the baseline, the shuttle will probably go mid court and get smashed. Or he can make a cross shot to drop the shuttle over the net in the opposite corner, in which case the reciever will smash it half way there while its passing by the middle of the court. The weakness of going for the backhand corner is that if it only makes half court, my partner will smash it. I hope that helps.
Actually I tend to be quite wary of how attacking I am of the short serve at the start of a game, because some players tend to flick serve more or less than others and being too enthusiastic about moving to take the return quickly can land you in a real bit of bother if your opponent flick serves. If however you know that your opponent either doesn't have a good flick serve or is afraid of losing the attack too early on then confidence in attacking the low serve does little harm at all. As mentioned early on your safest shot is the push/drive down the centre of the court past the server and at his/her partner straight on. The vast majority of the time that partner will have struggled to see the shuttle past flying past the server (or at least reacted slower) and will play a lift, and when you imagine this scenario in your head if you return the shuttle directly at the body of that player then he/she will be forced to play a backhand lift from their body, which goes nowhere unless they have bulging biceps or something. Deception takes a lot of practice to get right, a good deceptive return will give you an automatic advantage early on, but a messed up deceptive shot will swap the advantage around. It really isn't as easy as it sounds, because you have to judge your shot in the second you have to return and do something extra with it. But that problem only applies to deception with your racket movement. I find that the best deceptive return is your body movement, this basically means that you send your body going one way pretending to play a shot down the line for example, but you move your arm to play the cross-court return away from your body. This is a safe way to play a deceptive return without and complications and of course it works for straight returns too.
All of these returns are great when done correctly... If not done correctly then you end up on defense... My feeling is that the highest percentage return to gain advantage (offense) is the simple little tumble drop at the center of the net...causing a lift return which puts you on offense...giving you at least a 60/40 advantage of winning the point...
I find tumble drop not as simple as you made it sound. Maybe my net weakness. But indeed, when my tumble is successful, the opponent struggles to even reach it or returns really high or the angle for sending a high clear is so steep that the bird just hits the net.
The problem with a tumble drop is that if it's your main return and you always hit to the center of the net then the server will start to be ready for it and even a tumble drop, if not tight, can be killed at the net. A push to either side is faster and since there are 2 sides, it's more of a guessing game.
