Opponent hits the shuttle to the center between us, which of us should take it? My current intuition that not everyone agrees on: - In attack situation, the priority is to the left player since he has the forehand and can attack (e.g. smash) more easily. - In defense situation, the priority is to the right player since we tend to bias to the backhand when defending. That's even clearer if the opponent attacks from his right side since the right partner when defending needs to "close ranks" and get a bit closer to the left side and cover the center (and the left partner is biasing a bit to the left as well). Meaning, if the opponent is smashing from his right side, then both of us are biasing to the left in front of him, and then the right defender is obviously responsible for the center. In a mirrored situation where the opponent attacks from his left side, then the defenders are biasing to the right, and then the left partner is responsible for the center.
See how Cai Yun describes it: For attacking situation, it can be tricky and depends on your players strengths. Some pairs have a preferred front/back combination (like Kevin/Marcus). Usually when I play, the person in better position will go for the attack if we get a lift from sides formation. For defensive situation, whoever the shuttle is traveling towards takes it (cross player receives cross smash, straight player receives straight smash). It's obvious to tell this when the shuttle is coming from the side, and not being smashed straight down the middle. From what I can read, your understanding seems to follow this idea.
The attack situation is very situational - especially if a partnership does not have a front/back bias. If an equal partnership, it largely depends on the previous stroke e.g. if you had your partner smash 5x then play a drop shot, he may want to rotate to have a break from smashing. Otherwise, it could be forehand etc. Just depends on the agreement. In defence, as mentioned, it's whoever the shuttle is directed towards. This is half the reason why lifting into the centre of a doubles court is so dangerous - it creates the highest amount of indecision in defence. The other half is that it happens to be the shortest distance to smash a shuttle whilst being at the longest reach for the defenders. Your latter observation is correct - the straight defender covers the tramline as that is one of the straight smash options (straight=dangerous as they are faster due to shorter distance), and the crosscourt defender takes the middle as that is the other straight smash option. Crosscourt defender also takes the crosscourt smash as that will travel slower to him (and he also has the best response since the front attack is generally covering the straight smash return).
I agree with the others. Generally I would advise: When defending, the player cross court from the attacker should cover the middle (but they should be stood in the middle anyway). If you lifted down the middle, then you have made a problem for yourself, because there is no clear cross court defender. In this situation, you can only hope that one of you manages to get it - there is no right answer, only a bad lift (in doubles, lifts should go to one side or the other, not the middle). When attacking, I think we need to be a little clearer. If you are front and back already, then no need to worry - its obvious. If side by side and opponent lifts to the middle, I would advise that the player with forehand in the middle takes it as a simple rule, or the player that you would rather have at the back takes it as a complex rule (not necessarily the best back court player, but if you want one at the front and one at the back, then let the back player take this shot). In reality, this may not hold true in every situation but will not be far off. Good luck!
Yeah it should be the cross player picking up the middle. Unfortunately a lot of players like to over extend and try to cover things they don't need to, and create confusion.
Okay, all make sense, except one situation: We lifted to the center, and the opponent is smashing straight. Who defends the shot? If I got you correctly, we made a mistake, there's no convention for that, and we are basically screwed. I think this is the main situation where most people clash rackets or just avoid playing the shot to avoid that chance of clashing. If indeed I got it right, then as Cai Yun said in the video above: One is usually ready to defend in backhand pose because we can rotate the arm and cover more angles than forehand, and the game is too fast to switch to one and leave it undetermined. Therefore, how about what I said that when there are indecisive situations (straight smash to the center), the backhand player (right side) has the priority to defend the middle?
Haha, I have a female leftie partner and this comes up. Our smarter opponents take advantage of this dilemma.
I don't play with left-handed people or gingers, they are bad luck Since most of the population is right-handed (ratio 10:1), then I think it would be easier if the majority (right-handed players) continues to play as usual, and the left-handed should accommodate: If a right-handed player is on the right, then he defends straight smashes to the center.
IMO this forehand first than backhand is a total bad arrangement which a lot of players do and clash. Especially with lefties it won't work. If somebody can smash between us, the flight curve and shuttle point to somebody of us. Even very slightly is an good indicator. It is taught in the german national team and good doubles players also do so. If your opponents smash it without any tendency which points slightly to somebody between a pair, you must have very bad luck. The case that you lift center line and receive a smash which follow the centerline and land on the center line is very seldom and if you get this case you played a bad tactical shot out of stack of different options. Solution for a bad tactical shot is to not to do it. BTW I remember that FHF and CY also explained that they do it this way in a video a few years back. If the shuttles points to you, you take it and is not meant for your partner.
So, you asked a valid question: if you lift to the middle, and your opponent manages a well executed smash right down the middle, directly between the two players... then who gets the shuttle? The answer is you will be lucky if either of you get it. You made a mistake, your opponent was smart. There IS not "backhand goes first" or "forehand goes first" rule followed by anyone. It should really be - whoever has the best defences tries to cover the middle, and it doesn't matter who that is. So in practice: stop lifting to the middle, and I would normally expect the opponent doesn't have perfect accuracy and will hit it slightly closer to one player or the other. The rule in defending is simple: the one who gets there first is the one who defends the shuttle. Its just when you lift properly to the sides, then the concept of who gets there first is easier because the shuttle will be coming towards one of the two players. If I were in the above scenario, we lifted down the middle, then I would expect either me or my partner to step a little closer to the middle and hence signal that they are covering the middle e.g. I take one step towards my partner and signify I am going to cover more than just my half (this does leave my wide tramline exposed to a good smash, but they odds of them hitting the tramline compared to 95% of the rest of the court, is slim. But ultimately... stop looking for rules about who defends the middle off a bad lift. Make the rule that nobody lifts to the middle. Simples!
This is what my coach tells me all the time, not just about defense but all game play. Because I'm the female half in mixed doubles I know my movement is a little different than men's doubles and sometimes I tend to cling to the net too much. If a shot gets by (I expected him to get it and he didn't even try) I say "Should I have gone for that? Wasn't it too far behind me? Shouldn't I have stayed at the net?" Then he says, "Whoever is in the best position to get it should get it. Who was in the best position just then?" And then I realize my mistake. (aka he could have returned it with a weaker backhand but if I had been ready and jumped back a step I could have smashed or dropped it.) I really appreciate that because we train a higher level mixed doubles (as opposed to the guys who just want a girl to stay at the net regardless) and it keeps the "bigger picture" of the game in the forefront of my mind. Not just "where should I stand" during a rally but "who is in the best position to return this shot in the best way."
It seems obvious but especially in mixed doubles people get very stuck in "as a girl what should my position be" or "as a guy what should my position be" and stick too much to that. And some players will criticize any deviation from what they expect.
That happens a lot in mixed until the player develops a defence that is solid and can turn defence into attack.
Unfortunately this can be true at a recreational level - once you start playing with the more advanced players, then people leave their ego behind a little more. Those who criticise deviation should be either explaining themselves (and "the woman should stay at the front" is not an explanation), or should be advised, in a very friendly manner, to go and experience an excellent coaching session by an excellent coach - let the coach sort them out. If they are not willing to be coached, then they don't really have much going for their argument (if it couldn't stand a coaches scrutiny, its not correct). However, criticism is never ok we're all playing because we enjoy the sport and want to improve. People should get used to that.
Yeah, my now standard line is "you are not my coach and only my coach can "teach" me." My club members are all cool now, but I play with a lot of people throughout the week, include people I never/rarely have played with so it's a constant battle.
Lol. Not sure if I would appreciate you saying that to me if I were trying to give you some advice It's useful to have lots of high quality teachers - the emphasis being on the high quality but then again its different when people talk tactics and technique, versus criticising others who are "wrong"! I do understand and share your frustrations! All we can do is take all the information we are offered and then choose how to apply it! And others should keep that in mind when they try to give advice.
But how does one manage to develop a solid defense if they never practice, eh? To my club members I tell them to shut up, so saying "your not my coach" IS my nice response, haha. The thing is "talking tactics and techniques" is so subjective sometimes depending on the persons level and their training. Often the advice is both misguided and in direct conflict with other people. I've had one partner giving advice and the next partner giving contradictory advice on several occasions, which always makes me laugh. That's why it's best for me to zone it all out and just go with your training from your chosen coach. For me, listening, and trying to follow the advice of 5-6 people over the course of the night results in a noticeable dip in my playing level and I need a stern kick in the butt by my coach to get all those "suggestions" and "lessons" from others out of my too cluttered head,
