If you take the shuttle towards the bottom of the net and it has fallen down the side of the net (rolled off tape) clearly it is impossible to lift to the back line, for anyone. If you can only lift the shuttle about 1 degree off vertical it would require an impossible amount of shuttle speed to reach the baseline.
Like defending half-court lifts/clears, returning tight net shots is a case of prevention being significantly more effective than cure. Firstly, start with the shot that you just played. How tight was it to the net was it? Did it force your opponent to move significantly? Is your opponent able to hit downwards? Secondly, did you recover quickly to the correct base? If you've played to the oppositions fore-court, then your base should be closer to the net than if you've played high to their rear-court. You may be too far from the net. Thirdly, can you take their net-shot attempt earlier? A pan-handle (forehand) or thumb (backhand) grip allows you to net-kill the shuttle when it's out in front of you. Lunging is risky, but possibly less-so that trying to return a tight net-shot. Finally, once you're satisfied you can't improve on the first 3 points, then turn your attention to the situation. As several others have said, respect that your opponent has played a good shot. First option is to go high and deep. However, if the shuttle position and/or ceiling height mean that you can't expect to reach the back tramlines, your remaining option is to play a tight & tumbling net shot. If you can pull the racket head back towards you, you may be able to tumble the shuttle forewards. This may catch the tape and drag itself over. As for whether to play straight or cross, consider which side you and your opponent are weaker. However, try to maintain a decent mix (i.e. no more than 2 to 1 in favour of one shot or the other). Good luck.
Lift is the best option A tumbling net shot is intimidating-but it may not be as deadly as it looks. The reason is, most of us are not as good as Lin Dan or LCW & and our tumbling net shots are not as good as theirs. I think we have a fair chance to stay in the rally if you wait till the bird stabilizes to some extent and lift it as high and deep. Even if one manages to lift only to the mid court, it is not easy to time and kill a vertically falling shuttle. I do not trust any other reply. A person skilled enough to play a very tight tumbling shot should be good enough to kill your net reply. Prince
It's a very difficult shot to return "effectively". Sure you can return it in one way or another, but the reply will probably be a very short smash from your opponent. Even without the shuttle tumbling, if it's traveling near vertical with about 5cm worth of clearance between the net and the shuttle then your options are VERY limited. I just try to clear as best as I can and hope to defend. A re-drop is out of the questions since most of the time for that kind of drop the opponent is already standing very close to the net so he can cover crosses or kill re-drops. Even if it came from back court they would know how good of a drop it was and will be moving up for a kill. Only time I try a re-drop is if they are standing TOO close to the net or are moving in very fast at a straight angle, then I try for a cross-drop since changing momentum would not be easy. You could try low cross-court drop and hope he hits the net with the racket (if they are not that good). I have ended quite a few rally's with a hair pin drop and there really isn't much you can do if done correctly. At most you put it away in the next shot.
The answer to your question is very simple... first answer this question, How did your opponent get the chance to perform such an almost non-returnable net shot? probably your partner played a slow tight drop shot from the rear court. The tighter and slower the drop shot the easier it is for your opponent to return the shuttle tight to the net with a tumble. This is because 1) they have more time to get there and 2) The shuttle is already tight and slow to come over the net and therefore requires only the shuttle to bounce of the strings of the racket to be returned tightly. To prevent this shot that is giving you trouble, you and your partner should both play a faster drop shot. This would be my advise
