How do you guys deal with pressure as a front court player? I noticed that most of the game I won recently because I play as rear court player, and my partner [ he is pretty good and a lot better than me all around ] Therefore, some match I will be playing as a front court and under pressure I tend not to kill, but push and drive with the shot that I could kill. Recently, we went to a competition. I recorded most of the matches we played. Most points come from when I played at rear and he finished the net kill or mid court kill in one or two shot, but whenever Im in front. We lost the point because instead of killing my hand got freeze up and then I changed my mind to push or even lift. [Im not a hard smasher , and I wanna be a better front court player] At the end, we lost the tournament, and nobody believes that we would lose because skillswise our pair is one of the best individually. I feel a bit shaky in tournament, and even more when I played in front. I couldnt kill a shot at all. I just pushed pushed pushed, and when I pushed and we lost a point. I started sinking down and my confident was totally gone. PS. My friend says actually the front court is harder to play, but still I wanna be able to handle it.
Mostly when you are at the front, the opponent is sides, a very light touch, a light block, (often no need to kill), is very effective, forcing the opponents to lift. .There can be cases to push, but it's not clear why you are? Maybe there are cases where you could kill it but perhaps you haven't practised it so you knew you couldn't and didn't want to. So you could practise kills and develop a justified confidence in your ability to do them which could translate into your game. But a lot of the time you can't kill it and can just do a light touch and that is extremely effective. Also if you made a video then you can compare what your partner does at the net with what you are, and then you'd see a lot more than anybody else would that hasn't seen the video. Not sure why you are lifting at the front, there might be a lot wrong with your position and/or footwork. You've looked a bit into why you aren't killing it e.g. you try but you had second thoughts. Perhaps you should look into why you are lifting it.. e.g. were you late?.. why? Are you doing rotation too? Really good county level players can, but other players that try to do that are often very poor at the front partly 'cos they are always thinking about going back.
I do rotation too, and there was nothing wrong with my position since I was already there with my racket up higher than the net [ and my partner always said its not the position , it is my shot selection] , but when Im under pressure like you said, I didnt have enough confidence to kill it, so I just push it to the mid court then the other would mostly play cross court to my partner in the back [ which in this case I should be able to intercept, but I couldnt] , but when I lift I lift to the empty space in the back and rotate out. I come to think that its my mentality and I should practice more in net kill to get that killing vibe.
I found that at the front court, the ability to intercept shots is more important than how perfect you hit those intercepting shots. My suggestion is to think less about “killing” a net shot, but focus more on maintaining the advantage. Start with soft blocking, after you become better at timing, you can block with precision. Then you can exert more force into your shots.
1st no body excel at all thing. Then from your day 1 up to now, all the experience you had build you toward back player. Im a back court player to but for last few month im trying to improve my reflex on fast flat shot. With my friend we are stroke exchange in flat shot half court. Start slow, then we speed up & then we move closer to the net still play flat ball. The rule, we are allowed to move it left or right & fasten up or slowing down but no lift, just flat as flat as you can. I guest you could try it for improving your fast respond in the front court. But then again, front court player & back court player have different kind of racket (to its personal choice). Back court tend to use heavy thunderous strike type while front court tend to use lightning fast racket. Being back court, maybe its coz your racket is not mean to be front, so its harder to execute any shot in fast front play.
Yes, but this is not usually the main thing that a player at the front does... Some really good advice I heard for a player at the front is this "The job of the player at the front, is to make the player at the back look good" <-- That, is why soft blocks are so important.. I strongly suggest doing a drill to practise this.. It's a classic drill.. I did this once when I had a lesson with a coach and brought a friend along.. And i've seen this done elsewhere too.. I was at the front, (where you would be). My friend was behind me. The coach is on the other side. And the drill is really to show the person at the front what they should be doing. The coach lifts it to the guy at the back. The guy at the back, in this drill, has to smash it. The coach, in this drill has to block it to the net. You at the front, have to block it softly back to the net. And then you see what the person at the front should be doing and the advantage of it.. The person at the front taps it to the net. So the two attacking players(you and your partner), maintain their attack. The pressure is on the opponent to defend. The opponent isn't happy to be having to lift it. He *had* to lift it because you at the front gave a nice tight shot to the net. The pressure is on the opponent. That's the bread and butter of playing at the front. At the moment, you have a mentality that there is pressure at the front, but that mentality can change, because it's really not such pressure! You can almost make it look easy.. Most people don't play that well at the front maybe because they don't understand that their job is to make the person at the back look good. In my experience it's almost like a picnic. You don't have to move long distances, and if the opponents are scared of you then they often won't even try to hit it past you 'cos they've given up trying to get it past you, they'll be lifting it over you and even higher making it even easier for your partner at the back. I find it hard at the back partly because usually most people I play with don't know what they are doing at the front, But at the front you're not that dependent on anybody. Your partner should try to set you up with some drops. And if the opponents do a net shot then you can kill it. (or infact push it... a push there/then can be good..) (I haven't heard the following mentioned except by one guy at a club, but it works very well for me..).. In that situation where the opponent does a net shot eg partner did a drop they did a net shot, it's not bad to push it 'cos they're at the front and if you push it just past them(but not as far as their partner), it's an easy winner. They're not ready for that at all. But if you can kill it then perhaps even better, but a push then is pretty terrifying for them. So I would push(not a soft block),in that scenario, but note that they're not sides in that scenario.. Like if I do a net or my partner at the back does a drop, and they reply with a net, so they've rushed towards the net then i'd push it(not soft, though perhaps not that hard either). but past them at the front to where there's nobody there. Most of your shots though at the front wouldn't normally be kills unless your opponents are really bad. The bread and butter at the front, and something you should work on is soft blocks, which is why myself and Budi and Hbmao have all mentioned them.. I suggest you work on that. And as a secondary thing, your net kills too(so you can build up that justified confidence with them)..
Need to do more drills. Net kills and intercepts are very technical shots. Also having a stiffer racket helps
These are low percentage shots and do not make the opponents move. If you can't kill, I think the shuttle must be quite close to the level of the top of the net. I agree with the others. Change your mentality and stop forcing the situation. Play some blocks or soft pushes to make the shuttle go downwards and make the opponents move and lift. This is being patient and changing the pace. The other technical point is to shorten your back swing and also your follow through when hitting pushes and drives.
You have to change your mindset what makes a great front court player. Instead of kill, think block. Every time you are forcing the opponent to lift you have done your job great. And if you feel you are under pressure at front, chances are you are trying to take shots that are better left for your back-court partner and/or you are standing too close to the net.
Just do what you are best at. Training other area is good to add some card to play when needed but still your best card is what you play the most. There is time when im losing point coz im in the front & my partner in the back. Im not quite lighning fast reflex to be able to snap any low shot because my friend bring the rapier & my friend unable to finish it coz all the heavy artilery bazooka & rocket is all on me.
Good advice. My doubles coach says to me, each partner is playing a shot to set up the other partner. If you are at the back, you are trying to set up your partner at the front and vice versa. Kill the obvious kills but half chances at the net are more likely to be better replied with a shuttle going downwards and to setup the rear partner. To clarify, short backswing means faster reactions -it's quite difficult to train initially. A short follow through means you can recover the racquet position very quickly and therefor give the impression of quick reactions
I tend to agree with others is the mindset (or mental game) problem here. I wouldn't dwell too hard on yourself about your net strokes or whether interception shots. If there is a bad habit in your technique, then it's best to cover it good habits. We all have those games that we were over-confident with our skills and yet still lose the game because something did not delivered. You partner should well know your strength and weakness and optimize it. Just like how Cai Yun and Fu HaiFeng have different strengths in their play style. They had won many tournaments because their skills compliment each other well. What is your goal here? To win the tournament versus you become a better front player. If the goal is former then you have to avoid your opponent lifting to your teammate corner such that you get forced to defend the net. A win is a win doesn't matter who play front court at the end of the day. If the goal is you becoming a better front player, then it's a matter of skill and technique training like the other posted here. Practice and become more confident. If you are trying to be a better front court player IN a tournament, you are already mentally behind in the game. You are better off to stay focus in the game and play than dwell about why the shot didn't connect.
This is old fashioned advice. Your friend is a bit behind modern game play. These days both the front and the back player should be looking for the chance to end the rally and kill the shot. It doesn't mean the front net player should always do a net kill, but it certainly also doesn't mean the front player should always set up a shot for the back player. It all depends on the rally and positioning, but these days in doubles and XD, the priority is to get the point. (And if that's not possible, then set u your partner well so they can, but that's secondary these days.) There are some new training videos put up that explain this technique well. I remember some that were filmed in Basel during the world championships, but I can't find it to send a link, sorry.
I saw the one with Zhao Yun Lei explaining how to come into the net. I don’t have the link either. It was very instructive because she explained the concept and they had, I think, a Swiss National player to demonstrate. They did the routine and it looked like the Swiss player was doing what Zhao explained. However, Zhao had to correct the player and explained the minor differences which had a big effect on the setting the rally for a kill.
It was during the coaching conference https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA7ZcagI0frAH6ExxkESwwR7Hw6JnKz59 The exact video I believe is In general I find that at non professional level we don’t look enough at what professional female players are doing. They have a style which is closer to what a normal human can achieve, by being less about raw power. There is a lot to learn from them. on this topic, this video is also interesting
