Hey guys I'm a beginner player(see the introduction forum) and new here. Hi everybody. today I played and I got burned on crosscourt clears a lot. In tennis (you guess I'm a former player) you learn to hit cc all the time but in badminton I got attacked down the line a lot. Is it better to hit the clear down the line?
Like what deity said it depends on where your opponent is and make them run be smart where you place the birdie on the court.
do you want to say there are no guidelines on strategy? might be true because I found almost nothing about that. in tennis they discuss a lot about that stuff. keep in mind that I'm a beginner so "it depends on the situation" doesn't really help me because I can't see situations. maybe I just need to play more and don't worry about where to play but just play the shots well.
it's not clear from your post but were you doing the crosscourt or was your opponent hitting crosscourt clears to you? usually if you're a beginning, it's not a good idea to clear crosscourt because you can't clear as deep and your recovery may not be as fast. if you're getting burned from your opponent hitting crosscourt clears, then was he clearing to your backhand? In tennis players hit a lot of crosscourt b/c that's where the net is the lowest, and if you lob crosscourt you have greater margin for error (b/c the distance is longer), but in badminton, the shuttle travels upward (unlike tennis which is more "penetrating" shot), so if you clear crosscourt, you have to "pass" your opponent: so if the clear is not high enough, he has greater chance to jump and intercept, and if the clear is deep and high, he has greater time to move and hit the shuttle back. that's why ppl are saying depending on the position of the player, it may not be a good idea to clear crosscourt (especially if you're not strong enough to clear all the way to the backcourt). straight (down the line) clears are good if you're using it as a attacking clear (flatter and more penetrating clears), because it gives your opponent less time to react, but then again, it's easier for the player to intercept and hit it back.
Hi, for beginners, I would assume that you would not be able to clear from baseline to baseline effectively. Hence, if you try to do a cc, you could be playing to a good position for the opponent to do a smash (assuming that both you of guys are right handed) into an open area. Personally, I would do a clear down the line as the opponent would generally not be able to do a good backhand clear. Hence, it really depends on how well you know about your opponent (right/left handed, stamina as well as level of play) to decide how you would want to play your shots.
As a rule of thumb for beginners, I would suggest to play roughly 80% longline clears, 20% cc. Longline is much easier, cc is intercepted very easy if the lift is not good.
that makes sense. The CC distance is longer so my cc clears probably land short. ´maybe I should go with straight clears for now and add the CC when I'm strong enough to hit it to the back line? Also how high should I hit a clear? just over the opponent or really steep upwards? which will fly the farthest?
Hi, the more difficult shot to master will be just over the net which does not gives the opponent much chance. However, for a start go with the return that will land near the baseline so that you have more time to recover and position yourself.
it depends on what you want the shot to accomplish. lower/flatter clears are typically faster, so it's a more aggressive shot. so if your opponent is leaning forward or tends to charge forward, a really fast/flat clear to the baseline will catch him wrong footed and rob him of time. On the other hand, if you're behind on the point and is scrambling for the next shot, it might be a good idea to give yourself extra time by clearing a high/deep clear to the backcourt so you can reset yourself.
I recon you don't use CC if you dont have enough strength or experience with the shot you are doing. Lets say in singles, you do a lob as a beginer, you would require strength to return a straight lob with a CC lob. thats just basic. if we push the game up a little bit more, your opponent could be using a punch instead of a lob. punch is even harder to return compared to a lob. and for your info, a lob gives ur opponent tons of time to recover and return the shot.
Works occasionally as a punch CC clear if your arm is strong enough. TTY has this as her trademark shot if she's caught late to her forehand rear corner. But after a few times, her opponent easily predicts this shot and intercepts it with a kill.
As a beginner, CC clear is not recommended because 99% of the time it is not high enough nor deep enough due to lack of strength. Even many intermediates can do mostly CC punch clears which need less strength. Proper CC clear should be measured by hitting a cross-court clear when u are standing (on impact or performing the shot) close to doubles back service line and it should be only be allowed to be retrieved by yr opponent also close to his/her doubles service line (his/her feet's location on performing the return shot). If allowed to fall onto the floor of yr opponent it shoud fall in between doubles rear service line and rear line of the court. Now that is a good CC clear.
if you're a beginner/intermediate the essence of badminton boils down to the most OP strat in da world. "Clearing to the backhand" lol. As simple and primitive as it sounds, its true. Constant barrage of clears to the backhand, with maybe 1/5 or 1/6 shots being a drop.. is exceptionally affective at this level. So yes cross court clears are good if there going to the backhand... forehand.. not so much simply because less room for error.
Intermediate maybe. Beginner, I'm not sure. The stated scenario is to play a cross-court clear to your opponent's backhand side. Assuming both players are right-handed, this would mean we're asking a beginning to get to the clear to his backhand to play a forehand clear cross-court to opponent's backhand. If he has the skill to do so, I guess he probably isn't a beginner. Also, w.r.t. attacking opponent's B.H., I recall a story. When my kid first competing few years back, I told her in one tournament to attack her opponent's backhand. She noded in agreement. I was delighted, only to be horrified once the match began. She hit all her shots to opponent's backhand, every single one of them!!
Another thing - don't write off cross-court clearing to your opponent's forehand. Firstly, this should be a legitimate shot choice. You don't want your opponent to write-off one corner. Secondly, you may find players over-practice (or over-protect) their backhand, and set themselves up vulnerable for forehand side read-court attack.
