My mistake, I thought you meant that if they were waiting for your shot, I didn't realise that in the scenario they were already running forward.
Never too late to practice your drops. Gives you more angle and options. It's better to have an all round game. A good player will be laughing at you if you continue to play like that.
I almost never smash in singles..... If I do smash it's only if I have an angle where the opponent is on one side of the court and I can smash to the other side. Otherwise, the only smash I use is to put pressure on the opponent. If you get the hang of your dropshot, go for sliced cross dropshots while jumping works every time.
Power and control isn't the answer for singles. Defense isn't the answer either. It's a game to see who can hold on the longest while being under pressure, and who can turn that pressure into a advantage. Two players for example are Lee Hyun Il and Peter Gade. Lee Hyun Il has nothing really special in power, attack or defense but look at his wonderful footwork and being able to stand any kind of pressure. Peter Gade doesn't have anything special in attack, defense or control but he also has amazingly calm footwork and he's famous for his deception moves.
I find your reply a little confusing. I agree that the ability to soak up pressure is very important. But to be able to do this without excellent defence and control of the shuttle is impossible. Unless you have a good attack, you are unlikely to be able to put enough pressure on your opponent to be able to beat them. But it all hinges around being able to defend against the opposing attack and cover the court. I agree that power is not important.
Well of course Power, Defense, Control is an essential skill but they do not have to be exceptionally good to be a good singles player. Defense isn't as important in singles (As many say) because all you need to do is block one smash or two smashes at a time. That isn't hard if you have essential defense skills......in doubles however, if you keep lifting, you will get tons of smashes in a row in your face Control(placement) is good to have in singles but having the right tactics for singles can cover that up. Just keep the opponent busy enough and give a surprise drive or lead the opponent to another side of the court and smash it to the other side. We probably won't need those "On the line" smashes we see in professional games. This is just how I view it But surely, it is best to raise Power, Defense, Control to maximum whether it is Doubles, Singles, Halfcourt practice matches or even playing badminton in your backyard
Lol. Your view of "essential" defence skills is very funny. I suppose that in doubles if you play blocked defence, you only need to defend against one smash at a time as well - no need to keep lifting. I guess thats the secret? Just play tight cross court blocks on defence in singles and in doubles and you will never have to develop good defence. Just "essential" defence. Thanks
When I wrote "All you need to do is block one smash or two smashes at a time" I meant blocking a smash as in the word block....not the technique to block a smash.(Come on my first language isn't English....I don't have a big word choice when I write ) Of course in doubles lifting smashes is a safer and wiser way than blocks.
I wasn't criticising. I was agreeing - in singles you should play blocks rather than lifts. But in doubles that is also true - I believe you should play block shots in defence in doubles NOT lifts. Because lifts just let your opponent smash, whereas blocks allow you to counter attack. The only point I was making, is that I believe in order to be able to consistently retrieve 1 or 2 smashes, you need to have very good defence anyway (from my point of view). However, where I consider this as good defence, you consider this as "essential" defence. And I found that funny - that I consider it difficult to cover the court when defending, whereas you consider it as part of "essential" defence skills. There is nothing wrong with your english! I hope you understand why I found your post funny.
Wouldn't the reason why Players lift smashes in doubles is because blocking smashes gives a higher chance to lead to a netkill? (because one player is waiting in front of the net looking for chances to netkill) It's true that if someone can block smashes tight above the net enough that the opponent's front court player can't netkill it, the only choice they would have is to lift or netshot it. If the opponent lifts it, it would be your team's attacking chance. But I don't think even top players can block smashes tightly on the net if the smasher is someone like Fu Haifeng or JungJaeSung. So the safest bet would be to lift is as high as they can. This again, is a personal view.
You are correct - getting a block wrong in doubles leads to a kill opportunity. However, a cross court block is rarely killed. At the highest level of play, the top defenders frequently use cross court and straight blocks and drives - rather than lifts. Drives are even less risky than blocks because they normally get past the front player quicker. You are correct that sometimes they lift. However, you cannot win the game by lifting, you need to counter attack with blocks and drives. The best defenders will use all types of defence. The indonesians have excellent defence, as do the Koreans. The players who keep lifting in defence normally lose though.
Lol usually if you watch YYS LYD pair, they're usually lifting and they still manage to defend all the smashes. After you blink once, they're the ones who are attacking. They're really good at defending off smashes and somehow change it into their attacking chance. It's almost like magic
I think the point is that they lift when they feel they must lift, and otherwise they are looking for counter-attacking opportunities with blocks, drives, and pushes. That second part is the "magic" that you mention: they are very quick to turn defence into attack as soon as they get a reasonable chance.
And it is this "block, drive, push" in the first 3 shots of Ahsan/Setiawan's game that makes their games slightly boring to watch to some people, but it is so darn effective...
The indonesians are like magic. Honestly. When they are on form, they are a nightmare to play against.
