Tactical help

you might not need better tactics, but just faster "getting off the block". bend your knees a little more than you already do, then as soon as you see that drop shot coming, you shoot forward as quick as you can. the only way to counter is to be faster, do exercises that train your muscles to react faster.

or

just don't serve that serve if you know you're not as quick and your opponent wins everytime.

also videotape yourself playing and see if there's anything you need to fine tune in regards to the mechanics of your moment. overall i think you're just not getting there fast enough?

 

maybe your high serve is a bit short. this make it very difficult to cover drops.
maybe your split step is not timed, or you "moved" your center of gravity back on your split step . yes, your center of gravity can move out of your body without moving off the spot.

 

Also, practice serving closer to the center line (with enough margin), instead of serving to side corner. You would cut down on the angle of return your opponent can throw to you, allowing you an easier coverage. A serve that is (much) higher would drop more vertically, thus can discourage your opponent from playing good angled fast downward shots.

Take a closer look (possibly with help of video-recording) at his clears and drops. Which one is more threatening to you. Are his clears flat? Do you need to adjust your forward/backward position to compensate for the clears or the drops?

Finally, you may want to practice more receive of your high serve returns, allowing your training partner to play any shots, with similar properties as your opponent (e.g. if your opponent has good attacking clear, your partner should try to play at a similar speed/height), and just focus on the first 3 shots.

 

Serve higher and go lower. It'll make a big difference.

 

In today's game the high service is to be avoided. You literally put yourself on the defense and allow your opponent many ways to return a shot that will put you at the disadvantage. However fast you can be on your feet to react, it would be better to conserve that burst of energy in a rally and turn it into a winning chance rather than to retrieve a shot that you could have avoided!

If you must serve high, a quick flick service to the rear with good height can be use but it again put you on the defence.

 

Please have a look at these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPGzgskPZE8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H8klYZaOJE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_desVtEF4cg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3T3gKDdHKA

I know they're all WS, but are we referring to the same/higher level of play?

 

I remember Peter Gade lost the first game to some guy doing mostly high serves. And Gade hardly smashed back on those serves.

 

Hi,

I didn't mean to suggest that you serve so tight/close to the center line. Rather serve closer to it than to the sideline. Intent is not to confuse your opponent, but rather to cut down his reply angle so as to ease your coverage.

 

Your problem is that you cannot correctly cover your back forehand corner. This positioning (slightly same side as you played the shuttle) is correct. Most players have poor footwork to their rear forehand corner (including myself ). In order to improve this footwork, focus on the initial step with a quick rotation of the hips to set your direction, then perform your normal footwork.

Obviously others have given good advice regarding the tactics of serving high etc, but I wanted to point out this fact. If you struggle to cover the forehand rear corner from correct positioning, then that is your problem (rather than trying to cover the front backhand corner).

Good luck!

 

I reckon the easiest and quickest fix would be to improve your high serves:

• Get them really high -- they should look and feel very different from a flick serve.
• Get them really deep -- preferably in the back half of the back tramlines.
• Aim them towards the middle line, but leave a good margin for error here.

I have some basic tips on the high serve in my serving guide.

It is far easier to cope with your opponent's return if your high serve was good. Unless the high serve is both deep and high, it's really just a bad flick serve!

After this I would look at what Matt mentioned: getting better at moving to the forehand rear corner. You should not expect to get fully behind the shuttle all the time; you will need to learn footwork that allows you to reach the shuttle under pressure. My footwork guide has a summary of ways to move to the forehand rearcourt.

 

that's only true for players on a very, very, very high level.
beginners, advanced players and even good lower to middle league-players a generally speaking worse of with short serves!
you have less time to react and need to be very fast after a short serve.

for everyone else, a good, high and long enough serve will usually be the better option!

 

This is an excellent observation that may not be obvious to a lot of players.

I would even go one further - getting into an ideal hitting position against a skillful opponent is rare, especially as you play against better players. A former top international told me that they believed it was possible to get into a good position to a shot less than 20 percent of the time in singles. Most shots are awkward (slightly sub optimal - not quite high enough, not quite in front etc), and some are late (in trouble).

I also agree with the post from _Footwork_ regarding short serves at a lower skill level. Any skilful opponent who can hold and flick the shuttle straight and cross is going to get a lot of shuttles past their opponent QUICKLY. Most players struggle to hit from deep in their rear corners. Furthermore, learning to hold and flick and hit the back boxes is much easier to learn than a whole array of accurate and crisp overhead attacking shots (most people never achieve this).

Good luck everyone!

 

This matches what I see in professional singles play. It also matches my own experience as a player, although that could easily be attributed to crap footwork.

Actually, I can't think of any level of play where it is feasible for singles players to get fully behind the shuttle most of the time. Given this, it is surprising how much coaching emphasis is often placed on getting behind the shuttle at all costs.

 

Exactly. When I am practicing with my coach, she has a go at me whenever I complain about not being in position. I want to practice my footwork so I get in position. She wants me to suck it up and hit the shot anyway. Its a lesson that I have trouble with