Where should I stand in doubles when I'm NOT receiving the serve but my partner is? Should I stand along the line with one foot in front or should I just stay in the center? Thanks
You should stand (racket foot slightly forward) near to the center line, mid-court near to the box's corner, but not on your partner's side. you should also help your partner to judge the flick serves whether it is going long or wide (out). cheers
Anywhere in the middle of your court and not in the way of your partner. BUT where you stand before the serve is not as important as where you go after the serve has been returned by your partner!! Staying in that same spot gives the opponent a target that you may not reach in time. So where you move after the return of serve depends on how your partner returned his shot. If your partner smashes or drops from a high serve, you move forward. (your partner is at the back and won't recover in time to get short blocks) If they do a net drop and moves forward, you move back. If they clear, you square off and make sure you can cover your half of the court for drops/smashes/clears (especially your the sidelines).
i think depends if you'd be playing net or mid back. you should always stand just off to your court side where your base position will be. i play mid-doubles. girls always in front and guys mid court even when either of us stand near the front to receive or even serve
What I learned many years ago is that as soon as your receiving partner move, you need to move at the same time. Particularly, if your partner moves to the back taking the flick serve, at the same instance, you need to rush to the net area without any delay in order to watch for a weak block reply that you can put away. You don't wait till your receiving partner finish playing before you move. For this immediate action, you probably need to stand closer to the center line, rather than stand in the middle of the half court where you start. There're other follow-ups, but they're off topics.
Yes I also agree to standing near in the middle and I do that more often than not. However a problem with standing in the middle was what happened to me last night. My partner received a flick server and smashed a shuttle straight down the left sideline, I had already moved to the middle front, but the defending player hit a block flick back to the front right corner which I couldn't reach. Clearly my shot to get but I was too far in the middle and a bit too slow and it was pretty good block, so standing too close to the middle can have it's weaknesses. The only thing is to keep moving and try to cover as much as you can wherever your partner isn't and hope for a weak return to attack..
I probably can't visualize the exact situation you described here. But standing close to center is the start position. Afterward, if you take up the front position, you'd need to move with the shuttle, not too deep into one side, but not straddling the center line either (unless the play is in the center). The difficulties created in your case might have to do with the shot placement of your partner, coupled with ability of your opponent (is that a cross-court net block?). I use that occasionally also. But once you realize this can happen, you and your partner can adjust your position and placement. E.g. your partner can hit more body shots or hit to the middle, instead of to the sideline when your opponent could have a strong cross-court block. Straight block should be fine, I hope, as you'd have moved to the front in anticipation of that.
I think I can visualize what you're saying. @ Raymond i think it's because he didn't say which side his partner was receiving the flick serve, which I think is the left side because he did a smash "straight down the left sideline." While this happened, leongwaipak stepped off to the right side probably to get out of the way and by the time he got to the middle front, the shuttle had returned cross court to the right side of leongwaipak's court before he had time to get to the shot. Those kinds of situations are tough because you have to cover a lot of ground to get into your base position covering the net while your partner is receiving the flick serve. Particularly if your partner did not get a good smash placement and the opponent blocked it very quickly to the place you're describing, that's a tough move for your opponent to place it very well cross court for you not to get it. I don't think it's a situation you will come across often, and if you do it's a tough shot to pull off. The only thing I can say is to get in position quicker as soon as the flick serve comes to be ready for anything at the net. The rest is up to your partner's smashing ability if he can get behind it quick enough.
Yeah, I agree with other people have said and I tend to stand close to the center line, but it always depends on the partner anyways. I mean, there's no right or wrong position throughout the whole game, I don't think, it's very dependent on how the game goes and what your partner does (as in most partner sports, anyway).
But still in reply to the opening post, you gotta keep moving regardless where you initially stand and move depending on the situation and how your partner and opponent plays. It's all cat and mouse thinking where you opponent might hit and where you need to cover. But that's why I enjoy the sport.
for me, if I'm not receiving, I would be behind my partner I am a right handed player so this might be the opposite if you are a left handed player actually what is the hardest shot for many player? I'm sure many would say backhand shot (especially beginner) so I would aim to cover this weakness if your partner that receive the serve on your right hand side, then you should behind your partner and on the left side (to cover your backhand side) if your partner on the left hand side, in the middle (and still behind your partner) would be the perfect spot to stay (since you might even need to move to the front to receive opponent serve return on the front right side) this link could be an excellent guideline about doubles gameplay http://www.badmintonconnect.com/badminton-doubles
@Avenger. It seems the receiver (red figure in 2nd diagram) stands too far to the left. He's out of position. If I'm the server, I'd be tempted to serve to the T, or just flick serve down the line, and see if you can cover it.
oh, that's not a problem, if you are a right handed player, then you can reach further to your right side than your left right? you can easily take that serve the picture aim to cover most of area on the court the receiver aim to cover all area so they can easily return the serve (while their partner try to cover as much area as they can until their partner go back to their position (defending or attacking position) P.S: in the picture it might seems the receiver is out of position but it is because the figures are pretty small compared to the court, in real situation, I'm sure you are bigger than the figure?
The question is too vague. Your position should be; depending on where the birdie is at the other side.
I believe the OP's question is when they're readying for the serve, at which point the position of the birdie at the other side hasn't be decided yet.
ohh, sorry. I misread. if thats the case, i think it's better if you stand right next to the line in the center position. Don't stand over the line because sometimes the other team can serve there ( it'll confuse your partner whether to hit you or not haha).