How to crosscourt smash

V

vittorio790

Regular Member
I am an intermediate player...

When playing doubles, i tend to smash straight down the line or into the center. After a while, opponents seem to pick up on that and are able to return the smashes. I want to surprise them and do a cross court smash sometimes, but i dont seem to be able to get enough angle or power into the smash?

Is it because of my position, ie i need to face cross court before i smash

or is it in the shoulders or wrist? perhaps a special way to hit the shuttle, slice across the shuttle instead of hitting it straight on?
 
position yourself just like the straight smash, but this time facing your desired target. This is not deceptive, but its a way to start.
 
First off... x-court smashes usually tend to be less effective than straight smashes or smashes to the centre (often, my preferred smash). On the other hand, a x-court smash can be effectively used against some players. It can also be employed for the sake of variety (as you appear to be suggesting).

Another alternative: instead of smashing down the line, try smashing at the player in front of you -- especially at the racket side of their body.

If you are a right-hander smashing from the right side of your court: Turn and line up as if you are going to smash straight ahead. At the last instant, quickly rotate your torso a bit more as you are swinging to hit the x-court shot instead.

If you are a righty smashing from the left side of the court: You can position yourself as yy_ling suggests above. From this position, you can still employ an extra upper rotation to hit straight head instead.

Another alternative is the ('round-the-head) x-court half smash:

youtube.com/watch?v=59S9LCTYSQY
 
Another alternative: instead of smashing down the line, try smashing at the player in front of you -- especially at the racket side of their body.
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To be specific, it should be somewhere around the opponent's armpit. In my own opinion, I think it's a little bit harder to return a smash targetted at the armpit, because if the person is not prepaired to return it with a backhand, then they're in trouble. >_>
 
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jhirata said:
To be specific, it should be somewhere around the opponent's armpit. In my own opinion, I think it's a little bit harder to return a smash targeted at the armpit, because if the person is not prepared to return it with a backhand, then they're in trouble. >_>
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You are correct -- the armpit (of the racket arm) is very difficult to defend.
 
vittorio790 said:
or is it in the shoulders or wrist? perhaps a special way to hit the shuttle, slice across the shuttle instead of hitting it straight on?
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i strongly wouldn't recommend a sliced crosscourt smash, unless it's a half-smash/fast drop. i think you should instead turn your body and hit the shuttle square, aimed cross-court. anyway cross court smashes are necessary and is very useful for surprise and for targeting a weaker opponent
 
cross-court smashes are very good because it's unexpected, and it travels across the opponent, and it is often very hard to play a shot coming across you body. if the opponent is not looking for the cross-court smash, it'll often be a winner. however, good cross court smashes should land closer to the net than a straight smash. this is because cross-court smashes, you are aiming mostly for placement. straight smashes should be slightly flatter, as it forces you opponent to twist before playing.

however, if your opponent catches onto the cross-courts, it's almost suicide.
 
Yes, agree, cross-court smash doesn't essentially need to be powerful. Just need to be quick and sharp/steep. For doubles, doing cross court smash is only effective when your opponents are lining up in the attacking position, or, the player diagonal to you is significant weaker. Also, you people are absolutely right, aimming for body and the centre is also very effective as well.
 
sorry for reawakening the dead, but this is the only relevent place to post my querry, so that nobody tells me to use a search(thats how i got here).how exactly do you execute a cross-court smash from forehand corner cuz i slice the shuttle when i try, slowing it down, giving better opponents the chance to return it and put pressure on me, how do u get rid of the slice, the round the head x-court smash of mine is fast, unsliced and very accurate cuz i giv it the full face of the racket but it isnt possible with the forehand side. how do u pronate AND force it cross court?
 
you have to change your grip to more of a thumb grip, as i think gollum calls it. nice thread necro though :)
 
saifiii said:
man using a thumb grip restricts my wrist, hurts the thumb, it doesnt work, for me atleast
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This means your smash is too wrist based. A wristy smash is good for steep angle, but when you want power, you wrist should be more stiff. Try to get well behind the shuttle, the cross court smash would be easier.
 
just be careful ;) crosscourt smashes need to be perfect. a simple straight drive return from your opponent will see you lose the point unless your partner at the front reads it and can move in time to cover it.

if you want lots of power you need to turn your entire body just like a straight smash and aim where your going to hit it. Big torsoe rotation ended with a big wrist snap.
 
bradmyster said:
just be careful ;) crosscourt smashes need to be perfect. a simple straight drive return from your opponent will see you lose the point unless your partner at the front reads it and can move in time to cover it.
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Depends on your level of play :-) I can tell you that down at C grade, a lot of people are slow at moving forwards, and aren't that good at playing drives. If you can get your cross-court smashes to land closer to the net than your straight smashes, then against some opponents you can count on them lifting the return every time (unless they're just too slow to get to it at all).

But it does depend on who you're playing against. You shouldn't get into the habit of relying on this shot too much.
 
I think that the video that SystemicAnomaly posted was teaching the wrong way to do it. Cause the guy said that you have to swing short, but if you watch closely the smash of Lin Dan at 1:25 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKC1Depuf6Q), he does a full swing. Even there, if you jump or whatever, you always do the full swing, it doesn't always seems that they do the full swing, but they actually do it, it's only the end of the swing that is short but they crank up their arm (actually, what they do is likely putting up the racquet at the last moment and rotating their hips and the motion will flow) to swing the racquet. They just do it naturally.

It also depends on how high is the shuttle, if it's low, you end up doing the short end motion, you do the full swing, and you "block" your arm, letting the wrist snap the shuttle as it's over your head, and if you got the time to get behind the shuttle and it's still high, your arm will continue it's trajectory as you are hitting the shuttle in front of you. I really don't know how to explain this. All I explained here is subject to be approved.

It's also important to have correctly move in a propoer way to get to your shuttle. If you are not correctly placed, you will hit the shuttle on the wrong time and it won't be strong/well placed.
 
When you focus enough energy into learning a good smash that can be placed in a good position, I found that I could do it automatically after learning and applying it properly in game. It just that I never thought about it.
So try this - don't literally focus on smashing cross-court, instead focus on normal smashing and your placement in your situation. Then after being able to place it accurately in spots of the left or right side of your opponent, then try directing it further out onto the edges of the court.
The best part (I think) would be the fact that it feels natural and you don't have to intentionally change your own basis of the smashing technique to get it.
 
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