trouble against fastfootwork/defensive player

Sorry, but someone who has better footwork will always have the upper hand. Now imagine that he improves and his shots are getting better...

The whole idea in singles is to make shots as fast as possible so that your opponent has less time to retrieve it so that he returns a weak shot. So play on your strength...

 

You and I are quite similiar. I am tall and like to attack but I have problems with people with very good court coverage. I also feel some of their shots are sub par but they still beat me as eventually I make mistakes when they keep getting shots back.

To answer your question, what I would work on is increased deception. If an opponent moves well and they clearly know where your shot is going, they are going to get it every time. However, if you can get them leaning/moving in the wrong direction and then fire it to the other side, even fast footed people will have problems. Make your drop shot stroke look just the same as your attacking clear in terms of swing speed etc(till the last minute). Fake like you are going to make a net shot and then change it to a drive to the backcourt. It does work.

That being said, foot work and speed IS an integral part of badminton. You may have more natural "badminton" skills(strokes) but movement is just as important. For the time being they probably ARE better players than you simply because they move better than you. You can't take someones movement skills out of the measure. I would work on the deception but I would also work on YOUR speed.

The final thing I have noticed with these players that cause me trouble is that I try to win in one shot. I make these brilliant shots(insert sarcasm here) and watch as my shot wins me the rally.....oh wait they got it back. Meanwhile Im in the far side of the court watching my brilliance. You have to keep with the rally unti lthe bird has hit the ground. Not when you think it should have hit the ground. Take the advantage of your good shot and then fire it down on the next one.

Just what I have noticed but I'm only a C player too. Working on trying to get to B.

Hunk of Junk.

 

since his baseline clear is weak, you can hit a deep into the base line then stand at center wait for his return, his clear is weak and defensive player, so unlikely he will smash. Even if he smash it will be to your advantage, u just need to return a netshot and he will need to run to the front to return. He will either play a net shot or a weak baseline clear , you can smash him easily if he does a weak baseline clear or do a netshot so he must run to the front to return or if you see hit running back to center hit another baseline clear(fore/back hand corners to make him run again), I wont go into what to do if he returns your smash or netshot, since it will branch into 4 kinds of outcome

if he does a net shot from the baseline, u can stand closer to the net and wait, if your netshot is good, i believe he wont have the speed to run back to the front and return, even if he has the speed, his stamina will run out eventually and he will start to make errors and his speed will decrease


I think the general tactic is hit deep into his baseline whenever possible and wait for his returns. How is his backhand and forehand strength? For baseline clear try making him run more also by alternating between backhand and forehand corners

other ways are improving your own stamina or footwork, but i think you can win him without doing both

 

Against players that are faster than you should keep the shuttle low. Play to the four corners, work him the two longest corners the backhand and low forehand. Two slowest corners on the court. If he lifts from the low forehand, then smash down the straight down the line. Punch clear and drive. Keep the shuttle away from him.

 

In your earlier post, seems your opponent has bad clears, which can't even reach your baseline. Therefore, take advantage on this, by pushing him to his own baseline, and make him run. When he's running for his life, attack (smash with some drops) effectively. No, don't try to nail him with 1 powerful smah, when he's till in perfect stance and have tons of gas of running. Nail him or drop him when he's out of position, or clearly showing lackness of confidence in his running direction (not sure you will clear to the back, or drop to his front).

Overall, play against a speedy opponents need a lot of patient. If they want to run, make sure let them run out of gas, which is also good if you playing a lengthy match. Don't use too much power in smashes, effective clears, drops, or even lifts (as he's back court game is not great) can be even more deadly.

 

1. If they have great amount of stamina, no matter how much you make them run, im pretty sure you will get tired first.
2. #1 Key thing in singles next to effective clears is cross court!! The cross court drops, smashes are one of the most effective shots in singles.
3. A basic strategy in singles is to try and keep your opponent on the same side so their footwork gets use to it. So aim drops on one side and clears to one side for a bit and then pop a crosscourt drop/smash. If he lifts it, do it again. If he returns it again, smash long on the opposite side you dropped at. By doing this you change his momentum of his footwork.
4. Not sure how good his backhand is but if that is his weakness, play shots on his forehand side and if he loses balance for a shot, smash long on his backhand aiming at the abck corner.
5. Did i mention crosscourts? Ohh yeah, an effective shot, one of my personal favorites ( this requires some mediocre backhand skills) is where you should drop to the net on your backhand side, then kind of drive it to his backhand right at the back corner, try not to lift it too high because his reaction time will be too fast. At this point he will rush to get it and u said his clears are at baseline..so once he clears it, smash back to that corner because he will be rushing to get back to position and most likely go flat footed.

Hope this helps. I prefer to play singles more as that is my specialty but im forced to play more doubles due to lack of room on the courts.

 

i think the best way is to mix the strategies. firstly, try not to smash when he's in a ready stance. so that means usually don't smash against high clears or lifts, because he will be back at base (if you do smash, be prepared for the next shot). instead, try attack his lower, flatter clears and lifts. try smashing fairly hard, cross court as well. this means harder work for you, because you need to get into a good position against a low lift. but the up side is most people won't have enough time to get back to base after doing a shallow lift, so you can test him out.

another strategy is play net shots. try to dominate the net. you are trying to get, a) a short lift which you can gain an aggressive attacking position from. b) a weak net reply which you can blast away. c) he becomes too worried about the net, and you flick it over his head.

most importantly, mix your smashes up. it's no use going full blast everytime. i've got a similar guy in my city. and i've only bet him once, and that was when i was really into it that day. how i made him tire out was use both full smashes, and sharp, steep half smashes/slices. he become pretty much confused and unsure of what i was gonna hit, and was always getting to it late.

one last note. be VERY careful of hitting cross courts. the problem with cross courts is that usually it means you cover a longer distance as well. and since he is a fast player with good footwork, if he gets to it, and plays a straight shot, you're in the deep end. you have to run a lot further. so it is even more important to realize that a cross court isn't going to be an instant winner.

 

The best way to play against someone like this (i find) is to clear them to back as much as possible. If they are defensive they are most likely to drop it.

When people like this i just keep lifting until they eventually play a poor drop shot then you can just play a spinning net shot.

 

Personally I feel that focussing on improving the areas that you are weak in to be more beneficial for you in the long run.

Since we've never seen you play we can only guess as to how good your court movement, court coverage or shot quality is.

You have already stated that you're working on your footwork/speed. Well we all know footwork is one of key skills of badminton, having good speed around the court is all to do with good footwork.

If your own footwork is sub standard, then chances are you'll reach the shuttle late, which in turn will limit you in the type of shot you can play as well as the quality of the shot. If your shot quality is weak then it will be easy for your opponent to reach.

Its always important to reach the shuttle early cause it gives you more options and since you're not late to the shuttle you can play a better shot overall because your body is in a better position to take the shuttle.

Hope that helps.