This is a good principle. If you fake away from him and hit towards him, then he will probably recover despite being deceived (and if he's not deceived, you're really in trouble ). However, you must take into account that your opponent may change his position because of your fake; it depends how much time you have available to mislead him. In particular, if your opponent is late recovering, you should consider the position that he is moving towards, not just the position from where he last played a shot. And here's another principle: Fake the most threatening shot, then play something else. Your opponent will be compelled to cover the most dangerous shot (say, a straight spinning net shot), and then you can play something else (a lift). Both principles are useful. Actually, it might be interesting to write about the relationship between them...
another article for your evergrowing badminton bible? a lil off topic, im sure you have probally been asked this many times by now i took a fast look at the homepage for your guide and the grip one at the bottom of the page the guy in the picture and throughout that section it is that you?
yes, he may change his position, and the fake may work. But consider the four corners, he is coming from B, you fake to A...Then why necessarily pick B again if his chances of recovering are so good? what's wrong with C and D? (now, off course, I've read your article, and pinning someone in a corner is useful surely, but with a successful work of deceiving him, another corner is likely to be more effective) very much agreeing on this one, a good principle.
You answered your own question. The hardest change of direction is moving back to the same corner. I agree that in most cases, you'd be better choosing a different corner; but in some cases, hitting to the same corner can be more effective. I'm thinking in particular of cross-court flicks from the net: your opponent is recovering by travelling a long diagonal towards the net, and then you flick (lift) the shuttle back to where he just came from. Yet this tactic can also be risky: you must be correct about deceiving him, or you'll suffer. His chances of recovering depend on the situation: how late is he? How early are you? What was the trajectory of his drop shot? How quickly is he moving forwards? Yes.
wait, in that particular case...was the drop straight, or cross? on a crossdrop, I'd prefer a straight flick to his other rearcorner.. Because you can allow your lift to have a flatter trajectory (without risking hitting it straight into his racket). lifting it back cross over him risks intercepting, of him suddenly stopping and having all the time in the world ) on a straight drop, if you reach it fast enough, I'd say it's very dependent on the situation what's best (straight or cross)..But I guess that's just echoing what you said
Cross. Again, I agree that this is the better choice most of the time. The risk that you describe is very real and should not be taken lightly. But when your position is very good (probably after your opponent's drop was late and too slow), then the cross-court angles become effective because your opponent is rushing forwards and sideways; his footwork is disrupted and his ability to change direction is reduced. Playing a straight lift also requires him to change direction, but not sideways too. In this case, a cross-court flick may be better than a straight flick, because it takes maximum advantage of your opponent's movement problem. This should be played quite flat. This is not really a building shot, but more an attempted winner. I explain this subtlety about cross-court angles for winning shots on my page about winning the rally with movement pressure. But it's a very committal shot -- if you misjudge the situation, then you've just given your opponent an easy winner. I guess what I'm saying is this: your rule is a very good one, but there are exceptions. There are always exceptions.
Would this be a viable form of deception; angling your body so that it looks like you'll do a crosscourt smash, but reverse slicing it so that it goes straight instead?
Yes, absolutely. The reverse slice will take a lot of the pace off the smash, so this deceptive straight smash will be slower. But that's not always a bad thing; the deception and the change in pace (like a very, very fast drop shot) can upset your opponent's defensive rhythm.
