Hey, I was invited to an event to play a mixed double and a single games and it pointed out a problem I've had since I started competitions. I Don't know how to adapt. I usually win the first set easily even though after the 11 point break my opponents start to catch me up. Second set is usually really tight, sometimes I lose, sometimes I win, way harder than 1st set. Last set, I usually lose…. I know mental aspect is important but it's not stress, nor physic, I noticed all of my opponents have a player to coach them when I Don't and I'm pretty sure it's all about strategy and adaptation. This event was special : never played with the girl and she was kind of a beginner. On my single, I know I could have won. In my opinion, the main difference is coaching. In both games, the opponents had an army of players behind them and I think this is the Reason they won as we didn't have any help. Litterally, the guy had 5 players to coach him during my single game… I was all alone wondering what I could change… In both games (mixed and singles), it's like what I described above. We lead the 1st game, they come back after the break but we win the 1st set. Then, break after break, they eat us… I lost both games in 3 sets but deep Inside I feel both games could have been won in 2 sets…. I never have a coach or a player to help me during tournaments so I never know what's wrong in my game or my opponent's game. I'm not experienced enough to analyse everything while playing. So what could I do ? People usually tell me "if it works keep doing it". Ok, so when we were leading at the first set, I tell my Partner "we just have to keep doing the same thing", but I guess it was not a good idea as they came back point after point. Thus, should I change my game after each break or not ? and what could I do ?? In singles, is it good to switch from aggressive to defensive suddenly ? I Don't know, I try all sorts of shots, defensive/attacking clears/lifts, cross/straight… Once a guy told me I aim too much at the back and not enough at the net so I'm working on this. But without external help, I Don't know what's wrong in my game or my opponent's. In mixed, I actually Don't know what to change… I usually have a good variation in my shots, I'm much better in doubles than singles but still, even if I try some variation, it's like the opponents seem to know Something about our game that allow them to beat us in the end. Don't get me wrong, I recognize my opponents were bette, they won, but Truth be told, I think technically I was slightly better and they won with strategy and adaptation. off-topic : why do I have automatic capital letters on some words when I type on the forum ?
There are many different opinions on this subject but I'll give you mine. It's far more important to focus on your own strength and use tactics to maximize your strengths. Once you start to play reactionary to what your opponent is playing you start to play their game. Regarding "if it works keep doing it", you have to throw in variation to make the thing working keep working, see my reply to your smash thread. Getting more confidence in your own game comes with experience but can also be trained, I recommend "the inner game of tennis" by Timothy Gallwey as a starting book and more advanced is With Winning in Mind by Lenny Bassham. You can also look up the quote: "A punch is just a punch" and give it some thought.
Thanks. Haven't thought about that In the end, I would play some game I'm not used to and the result might be worse.
I'm actually the exact opposite. When I start a game I play really poorly and then gain on them as the game continues because I can see how my opponents play and begin to guess their shots better. I'm also more "head in the game" after the first few points. I don't seem to have the focus in the beginning of my first game so I tend to really mess up the beginning of my games, but then after I calm down and focus I improve. Maybe you are easy to read? Maybe you think you are varying your shots but you aren't. Or maybe you have very obvious footwork and hand position that alerts your opponents to what you are going to do?
Well, I started to think like you. Maybe I think I'm doing the right thing but clearly my opponents can read my game. Problem is I Don't know anyone who can help during my tournaments or film me. I think I usually make a new shot as variation but I realize one is not enough. Like I try to aim differently to return a serve. Or during the rally, I try one cross court clear to change. But now I start to realize what I call variation is just playing a shot I Don't play often… Sometimes I try to play fixation but I do this maybe once or twice in a set. Also I think I want to finish the rally too early. I'm a complete noob at reading opponents. Except spotting when they are very bad with their backhand, I feel like I'm running everywhere and Don't have enough time to analyse the game. Well, with beginners or casual players, I have a better view of the game because it's slower and I can aim where I want. When my opponent is about my level, I feel like running late everywhere… I do the split step and know where I should position myself, but I think it's all related to shot selection. I met two guys who were like you. They used to start slowly but in the end, they usually won. I remember this guy who would lose his first match and win the tournament. Some people are really good at reading but I have no clue how to do that with a serious opponent. Even in doubles, I see the obvious things like if I have the attack and my opponents are front-back, I aim for the sides, or if they're both on the same side, I target the empty half-court... but serious player never do that. So usually I play with no specific strategy… Well, in doubles I try to Apply what some guy told me "avoid lifting and play downwards at all costs" xD In singles, I have to admit I aim the corners with no specific plan. Once some guy explained how I could reduce the angles and play more to the middle. I asked a national single player once, he told me "you just have to vary the corners you aim each time". I try to do that but I think it's not enough or I'm doing Something wrong
While tennis is more like a game of speed at the back, badminton is a lot more technical and complex with depth and high. Your game is only as good as your weaknesses. Usually, similar skill levels reflect also similar levels of strategic/tactical knowledge (or in simple terms, experience) as well. That's when coaching on court makes its mark with game plans to counter opponent's game. Then it's up to player to be able to execute it or not. Most of the time, it would involve exposing opponent's weaknesses or habit so return shots can be read and followed easily. Usually, experience players start the game testing the opponents to find out their skill/tactic strengths and weaknesses so you may feel like they start slow. Unless you play them before, you need to give them various situations to assess: smash, net, drive, defense, serve, court coverage, readiness, preferences, etc. If you want to quickly learn yourself without coaching on court, after every point, you need to ask yourself what works and more importantly what doesn't. Try to assess what leads to the losing point. Is this forced or unforced error? Did you play a wrong shot? Was it a tactical or technical mistake? Were you in control of the rally or under pressure? What would you do differently? At first, it would probably mess up with your game because of all the things going in your head but later you should be able to instantly see why and then move on. With all the questions you are asking lately, I think you will benefit greatly from watching more videos of amateur or women games so it's easier to follow and understand. Focus more on the losing side and see what they do wrong. A lot of people keeps practicing what they like and what they good at but the truth is, if you want to improve your over all game, you need to tackle your weaknesses, go out of your comfort zone and spend more time on it.
Most player who have had a singles coach will have been told at one point or another to vary their shots. From any specific corner you usually have a few options to choose from. If in a specific situation you mostly choose the same option, you opponent will start to expect it and consciously or subconsciously move his base and mentally prepare for the shot. By choosing between different options more randomly, your opponent can't adapt to how you play, because there is no pattern to follow. This is variation within rallies. Another way of varying play is to change your strategy in the middle of your games. There is probably nothing wrong with how you play in the beginning. But you can't expect to play the same way from start to finish without the opponent trying to look for solutions to the problems you pose him. If you have been scoring most point with your smash for example, the opponent will look for ways to take that away from you. Maybe he will try to keep lifts lower so you don't have time to get under the shuttle. Maybe he will try to play his lifts extra high and get them deep in court. If you still try to win your points with your smash, you might start making mistakes, because the opponent is not giving you the opportunities you had at the start of the game. In singles, I like to play the net, it's where I get many of my points, outright, with a kill, or by forcing a short lift. However, there is this one player who is just better at the net than I am. The first time I played him, he got a quick lead, because I tried to win my points the way I usually do, but he was just outplaying me, it was very oppressive. I don't like to admit that I'm inferior at the net, because I pride it as one of my strengths, but as soon as I was able to admit to myself that I wasn't going to win this way, I started playing everything away from the net. I only played net shots on his drop shots, and if he played a net shot, I would play a lift. I came back quite significantly, but it was not enough in the end. I lost because I didn't want to admit to myself that he was better at the net, and when I finally did, it was too late. Since that game I've played him a handful of times, and won them all by keeping play away from the net. As soon as you realize you are not getting your points the way you got them before, you need to try and find other ways of scoring points. In the earlier example, maybe an attacking clear to the opponents backhand is better than trying to smash. Similarly, if you keep losing points the same way over and over, think about what you can do to stop it, or avoid the situation altogether. Try to think deeper about why the point is lost. Many emotional players will shrug off lost point without thinking about them. For example, you hit a shot out, and just think to yourself: 'I shouldn't have made that mistake', but why did you make that mistake? Were you under pressure? Did you hit the shot late? Were you out of balance? Have you lost more points like this? It's not about where the shuttle landed, it's about what led up to the error. So instead of: "I should have played the shuttle inside the court", the thought process should be something along the lines of: "every time he plays that slice cross drop from his forehand to my backhand corner, I'm not ready for it and in the 5 shots that followed, I was constantly late and had to play the most obvious shots to stay in the rally, I almost got back in control with that lift, it gave me time to recover, but because I was still under pressure I hit it out". So in this example, the conclusions to take away from that hypothetical rally would be: The lift was a good choice to reset the rally and get out from under the pressure. I need to find a way to neutralise that cross drop. I can play to his forehand corner less, so he has less opportunities to play the deceptions, or I can try to anticipate the drop next time. If I can punish it he should be reluctant to keep playing it. Or I can keep the lifts lower, so he doesn't have time to play with deception. Think about the entire rally, What went well? What was a mistake? How can I stop my opponent from doing that? How can I set up my winning shots? Sometimes you win a rally you should have lost. Sometimes you lose a rally you should have won. Don't dwell on the result, but think about how you should have played the rally instead. If you make this a habit, it will become easier and easier to figure out why you lost and why you won, and what you can do different next time. This cannot be learnt in a textbook or on this forum. It will only get better with practice. Filming yourself and reviewing your games, rally by rally will help, but it is not necessary. Just make it a habit to ask yourself, after every rally, why did I lose? why did I win? what should I do next time? Over time, you will recognise situations you've experienced before, and you will remember what to change about your game to deal with it. That is the adaptability that lets other players turn games around.
There might be other reasons, for one, I lose often early on and catch up later, why ? First off, I start to performe much better when getting really warm. So, with each set I play better. In competition I'm always nerveous in the first set, high heartfrequence, needing to catch my breath etc, but in the second set I'm ready and catch up. So, maybe your opponent only underperformes in the first round, you never know for sure.
haha, totally. I feel like an old steam engine that slowly gets lubricated as the game continues and so I get warmer and faster as the game goes on. Maybe OP has the opposite problem. Maybe they spend too much energy on the first game going all out and then physically gets tired as the game goes on?
Hey thanks ! I tried this today and won all of my matches against opponents who are on the same level (usually we win 50-50). I won easily, especially at the second set. I focused especially on my serves and serve returns. I would start with a low serve and when I realized the guy was starting to do tight net returns, I started to use flick serves, and then switching back to low serve when I realized it was becoming less effective. I also tried a high forehand serve and I was surprised by my opponent’s reaction, until I noticed they would move their base backwards waiting for my serve or starting to play very tight dropshots, so I would switch back to low serves, sometimes faking a forehand high serve... Same thing for serve returns, I would usually play a straight clear. Today, I played more dropshots and was amazed how they were in difficulty, especially with straight dropshots and dropshots towards the middle. I would also play some crosscourt clear and half smashes along the sidelines. I focused on this mainly today, for the rest, I've focused on playing to a corner where my opponent was not. I’ve also noticed, playing net shots or dropshots to the middle was really effective instead of straight or complete crosscourt. I tried to never play the same shot twice in a row except trying some fixations once in a while. I prefer to do this, playing randomly, not sure how effective it will be on the long term otherwise, I tend to do the same shots again and again... I remember a video about guy talking about conditionning your opponent like playing always the same shot to a certain shot, then after the break, swtiching to another shot but I’m not sure I’m experienced enough to do that during my games. Maybe in a couple of years. I haven't had much time to think about what I did wrong between points but I tried and always noticed in most cases I would play where the player is already waiting... so I tried to change that on second sets and it worked. I'll keep working on this and see how it goes for my next games
Good job! Playing to the empty space is always good. And clear or smash or drop to the middle of both players is good. Next step when you're better is to use deception... show a shot in one direction but hit it to the opposite. Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
This is awesome to hear. Going from auto-pilot badminton to making conscious decisions about shots is half the work. Many people never bother, and therefore never get better tactically and strategically. So it's great to hear you made the effort, and succeeded! As @visor playing into the open space is usually a good idea. Also, keep at it. This 'thinking' part of badminton is not something you learn once and then have forever. As you try different things, your court vision will improve, and as you play different opponents you will notice different things work against different people. But to use this skill, it has to be applied consciously, and it takes mental effort. It is easy to slide back into auto-pilot badminton, especially when you get tired or frustrated.
