[VIDEO] Singles Help

Vid 1: You need a better opponent, he is too weak. E.g. you do a serve directly at the service line, a better opponent will punish you for this really hard. A service at the service line works in double, but will not really work in singles. When playing vs a too weak opponent, the game style and technique often collapse on both sides. You need an opponent who challenge you enough, so that you are motivated enough to show what you are capable to do and hard enough to force errors in your game play. You don't really need a good footwork technique if all the clears your opponent do only reach the mid-court.

Vid 2: I think that you have a really good awareness, reaction and split step for playing less than a year !
I would invest in improving your footwork. Eg at 0:57 you move to the middle/backhand corner to get shuttle, but the movement is not quite right (eg need more body rotation). For footwork tutorial videos I like the one of Jimmy Lin, for example this one, which covers the movement to the backhand back-court corner. Try to practise this movement pattern (take a look at the tutrorial videos for the others corners too) and do some 6 corner shadow footstep workouts.

 

Agree with @Ballschubser regarding your opponents - they aren't strong enough to challenge you. Your 2nd opponent shows a couple points where you become unbalanced and play a high risk stroke e.g. slow drop and get away with it.

I feel for both opponents you have played against/with them a significant amount - there are a good number of times that you have moved before they have even hit the shuttle, and you get it right most of the time! Perhaps you are a natural at reading games, because they take the shuttle late with predictable swings, so you may be picking up on that instead.

One of the things both of your opponents haven't done particularly is challenge you in your rearcourt. As @Ballschubser pointed out, backhand serve toeing the line will have you trying to hit the shuttle at knee height (if you're lucky) in your BH or FH rear corners against anyone able to play a push/drive into the back corners.

Your first opponent hits his clears too high or just short (midcourt). The clears (and lifts too to be fair) are too slow to actually make you move your feet quickly, and his defence is predictable enough that you can rush forward and not worry about the back. Your second opponent plays a few sneaky lifts to the back and gets you unbalanced backwards. Unfortunately he takes them a little too low/late which affects the consistency (proper length) which allows you to intercept them, and he also doesn't follow up.

Movement wise, I've hinted that your rearcourt movement will likely be limiting. I can't say for sure of course, but I think against a player who can reliably return your smashes and lift to the back into the back tramlines will put you in trouble as 1) you commit forwards a lot 2) you don't demonstrate the explosive movement backwards for a flatter lift and prefer to intercept with a jumping drop shot. If your opponent is able to take the shuttle earlier and/or has a less predictable technique such that you can't move before they've hit it, I think you may struggle to move backwards fast enough.

The footwork patterns themselves are quite good, but it could be more explosive as it currently looks relatively 'lazy'.

Perhaps we have misjudged the level - let us know! I find that the ideal sort of level to review your weaknesses is against people who beat you around the 21-10 to 21-14 range, as normally such games will highlight 1 or 2 glaring weaknesses - perfect to work on in the next few weeks. Also useful is someone close to your level (W/L ~50% or stronger). Someone close will reveal more weaknesses overall as you are tested in a variety of scenarios, but they're less obvious to see. You will rarely learn from games against people who you regularly win against (>75% W/L).