Hello I’m a low/intermediate level player. When i play with my training partner, he often plays powerfull attacking clears to my backhand rear corner, and i can only do a backhand shot close to the net, since i can’t do a backhand clear, and he knows this so he moves forward to the net and wins the point. What should i do to handle this pressure? It already starts when he returns my serve, as i usually do a high serve. All tips are welcome.
If your training partner has more skills, you have to level up with him before being able to handle this sort of pressure (i.e. there are no shortcuts and for instance, learning how to clear with a backhand stroke from back to back will be necessary and surprise him and destabilize his original gameplan). Although you could always compensate by placing yourself a tad more towards your non-racket hand side of the court as to compensate your lack of backhand skills and be able to perform a forehead stroke instead, but you will dangerously expose yourself on your racket side of the court, which your opponent will surely exploit at some point and you will exhaust yourself much faster, be late on the shuttle and expose yourself to further injuries. My advice: keep using a backhand stroke during those matches (does not matter if you loose the points, aim for long term results), and try to focus on this stroke during each session. You will slowly gain some meters and end up progressing and being able to catch up with your training partner.
Thank you for this advice. I think you are right, at some point he will exploit if i move to far towards my non-racket side. Even though it can be frustrating at times, i will focus on the long term results, and start working on my backhand skills immensely, both the backhand clear and crosscourt slice, and hopefully surprise him one day. Thank you
If it starts from the return of your high serve, I would say you should improve your footwork to be able to take those shots with an overhead stroke as the high serve gives you time to react.
Yes, however i feel like this is really hard to do, as he hits very powerfull shots, and therefore have very little time to reach the shuttle with my forehand, although i have caught him a couple of times if i move prematurely, but if i do this serveral times he can adjust and hit the other side. I think i need to work both on my backhand and footwork in order to fix this issue
Are you playing single or double. If single, you had no other option but to improve yourself. No matter what you do, there will always a way for skilled opponent to drag you to your racket side & then to your non racket side & force you to do backhand. On double its still doable this for example.
I play both, but the problem is when i play singles. Yes i guess there is no way around it, i need to work on my backhand.
If you work on your backhand you will still get exploited as backhand should be last resort for not reaching an overhead, most juniors will develop overhead and backhand drop to get out of trouble before backhand clear. If you have a decent overhead work on backhand, if your overhead movement and stroke is poor, it might be better to work on this first as you might get lazy just training backhand.
Completly agree with this. That's why the footwork is so important as well as your reaction time. I have friends that got ok footwork but their reaction time is slow causing them to be late. Focusing on your backhand won't serve in the long term as you will become lazy. Improve your overhead movement first and then your backhand clear
Your backhand should be the last resort as UkPlayer said. The difference between a forehand clear versus backhand is literally two steps to the left (assuming you're right handed). It's much easier said than done sometimes if you don't have time or energy to get there, but for a high serve, there should be absolutely no reason why you can't take two steps to the left.
So, basically both variantes are okay, getting behind or at least under the shuttle and play it with your forhand or play a good backhand shot. Watch most recent matches of Momota vs Heo, as you can observe, Momota gets almost always behind the shuttle to play a forehand shot, whereas Heo uses a lot of backhand shots. So even at highest level both variantes seems to be okay. Here are the pros/cons of both variantes: Backhand shots (always deep inside your backhand corner): Pro: - easier to reach in a stable position - consumes less energy - after shot recovery you are more towards the center Contra: - some shots are hard to execute: long clear - some shots are really hard to execute: cross clear, sliced shots, smash - your opponent is not in your field of view while executing the shot - you need to twist your body to face your opponent again Forehand shots (always deep inside your backhand corner): Pro: - you see your opponent, gives you more tactical options to where you want to play your shot - able to run after the shuttle when using scissor kick, important for smashes, cross drops - a lot easier to play a smash, long or even cross smash or a sliced shot Contra: - you need good and fast footwork - consumes a lot more energy due to footwork involvement So, basically both are legit. The disadvantage of the forehand shot is, that you need to improve your footwork a lot, but the reward is, that this improved footwork will level up your whole badminton play, whereas a good backhand will only improve your play in one single corner. From my observation many old guys, who are used to play these endless 15-pts games two decades ago, use backhand shots mostly due to their energy efficiency. These are the same guys who mostly play back-to-back clear battles most of the times, much like a tennis match. Modern badminton is a lot faster and shorter, therefor it is okay to spend more energy to finish the rally. Even thought I'm old enough to play the old style (approaching 50yo), I learned the new style (back when I joined a club 3 years ago). My backhand is a catastroph, but I don't need it most of the time. I'm able to get behind the shuttle opening up so many options, e.g. to quickly get behind it to smash it long with a scissor jump. For me, the investment to improve my footwork was the best badminton decision I ever did. It improved my game so much, investing this energy in a good backhand would have not the same impact on my game at all.
Just to make sure there's no misunderstanding... You have to get behind the shuttle for a backhand (clear) as well! You don't need to get es far to the outside and you can take the shuttle later, that's what gives you more time. To get power, you still want to use the kinetic chain. Therefore you want to hit next to or even in front of your body. That's why you have to be behind the shuttle before you hit, just like a forehand shot. For a backhand clear as a last resort, watch some japanese WD. They do a good job at only using it when there's no other option (so there will be very few), while still getting the body in the stroke for power. The goal should be to take the shuttle slightly higher than they normally do, hut mostly because it makes things easier for you. And sorry for that recommendation, japanese WD is not the most fun to watch.... still a lot you can learn from it.
Yes, you are right here. I think that most players from japan prefer the forehand, but it is quite remarkable that Heo uses lot of backhand shots without a major drawback too.
One word for you: footwork. For clears, you should not need backhand unless you are really out of position but you are talking about punch clear after high serve. See video below for 2 kinds of footwork for that corner, especially the 2nd one with block jump. If your opponent's clear is not high enough, you can intercept with the block jump.
