I occasionally get into trouble that require that me to play a late backhand. Before someone comes by to suggest to avoid getting into such situation, lets just say that even the pros like Taufik and LinDan cannot totally avoid these situations altogether. Now I understand that the grip to adopt should be the bevel grip with a late backhand adjustment (see Gollum's excellent grip guide). The grip, however, does not allow the usual pronation of the wrist to get a good enough shot to the base. There are 2 questions here: How to extract more power from a late backhand? Is it better to move closer into the shot and just do an underhand drive?
Well, the grip does still allow some arm rotation -- it's just more limited, partly because you are stretching behind you and have limited scope for movement anyway. Once the shuttle has travelled well behind you, such that your arm rotation is restricted, your options become limited. A full-length, high backhand clear is not realistic in this situation, although you might be able to manage a shallow (attacking) clear. The shortest distance is straight, so this is probably your best bet if you want to try the clear. The problem with an attacking clear is that, in this situation, you don't want to be attacking. You are way out of position and would be better recovering before you try to attack. But it may work if your opponent has moved in too far forwards. Most of the time, however, your best shot here is a drive-drop shot: a fast drop shot aimed to land beyond the short service line (see singles tactics: drop shots). Although your opponent may anticipate the shot, he will have difficulty playing a tight net shot (because of the speed of your shot). You would normally play this straight or to the middle. If he over-anticipates the shot, and commits completely to that front corner, then you can try a cross-court drop, or an attacking cross-court clear: the clear will be short, but if you get it behind him it might even be a winning shot. Having said that, if the situation is really bad, then the cross-court angles are difficult to hit. And of course, rather than trying to learn a miraculous "backhand clear from an impossible situation", you should think about what you did on the previous shot that allowed your opponent to put you in this situation.
Thanks Gollum, Let me understand this better. The point of impact.. I believe the point of impact should be slightly towards the outside of the body (racket side) instead of straight in front. The shot should be taken as high as possible although there will be little choice since I'll already be late. Striking action.. I expect this to be very different from the arm/wrist rotation used in the normal backhand because the shuttle is taken sideways. I experimented quite a bit today and the best I can do is by reversing the action of a forehand netkill -- using a pulling action instead of a pushing action. This means very loose grip to start and my pinky is still hurting from overuse. The best distance is covered by a mini-backhand action (wrist only) but it always sends the shuttle in the wrong direction (further outwards). Shot placement.. I tend to go for fast drops even for normal backhands due to the tactical advantage. Still, I need the option to pull a full backhand so that the option to blow it past an over-eager opponent exists. My backhand shots never quite reach the full cross court but that's not usually a problem like you have mentioned. I see the concerns governing the late backhand should be similar to a normal backhand except I am even further off position. How did I end up in that sad state? Plenty of reasons. Usually, it's caused by over-anticipation. Moving forward too early. A few of them started with very tight drop shots that my reply was late too. The opponent simply pushes the shot behind before I can recover. In doubles, it's usually due to bad coordination with partner. The thing is, it doesn't always happen but I do not want to give up the rally whenever it happens.
This is true for all overhead backhands -- late or early! If your impact point is actually overhead, then you should be playing a forehand. It's also easier to get backhand power when the shuttle is somewhat out to the side. Indeed, "overhead backhand" is a slightly misleading name. There's no such thing. It's really more an "overhand backhand"; but we're stuck with that terminology. For the clear, you really do need as much arm rotation as you can muster. For the drop shot, you should use a "pulling" or "hooking" action, where the hitting action helps you to recover (turning your body back into court). This is true for all rearcourt drops, not just the late ones. Yes, that's the trouble of being in this situation. It's all too easy to hit the shuttle out at the sides, in your effort to generate some power. That's not so bad. You just need to moderate your urge to rush forwards. ...and in doubles, you definitely do not want to try the clear from this position. Drop shots are your only hope.
1) Late backhand is a high level skill shot. Rushing backwards and at full stretch, you can try changing to what is called the 'panhandle' grip - this may give you some extra power for your return. Other issues to consider is your overall footwork and stroke coordination - how you move and coordinate yourself to execute the shot. 2) In singles you may (or may not) get away with a underhand drive. In doubles it may not be a good choice - no matter how fast your shuttle travels, experienced doubles players will have the net covered. A good coach will point this out to you, in tactical doubles play.
Gollum, Thanks once again for the clarification. I'll have to take these suggestions and try them out in my next game. Unfortunately, I'm playing a lot less than I want these days. About the backhand fast drop, I tend to use a tapping action rather than a hook when I have enough time for a proper backhand. The entire stroke starts almost identical to the backhand clear leaving me the option for both.
The start should definitely look the same, but the continuation of the hitting action should be different. A lot of players prefer the "tap" action for backhand drop shots, but it's generally better to use a smoother hitting action that helps you to recover back into court, and play a more controlled shot.
Point of impact. If you watch Taufik playing backhand you'll notice he lets the shuttle drop quite low before hitting. I would say less than 50cm above net height. Of course, Taufik has an amazing backhand and from that late position he can still send the shuttle to all 4 corners. The idea of taking the shuttle as high as possible is very common, everyone probably tries to do so, including me. But for backhand I get much more consistent result if I let the shuttle drop a little bit. I admit I'm inspired by Taufik's style. Striking action: Here I think you are making mistake. The timing of backhand is very very neat. If you tighten the grip at a slightly wrong moment you'll most likely have a bad quality shot (forehand stroke OTOH has more tolerance to grip). Until you develop a very good timing I think it's best to tighten the grip quite early, so you can control the timing better. For me I tighten my grip almost fully when I start to swing. Shot placement Fast drop is my preference too, but variation is key. Straight drops mixed with sliced cross court drop and ocassionally cross court clear (if you can make it ) and the opponent would hesitate to rush the net when you're preparing your backhand
That's true. That should be easy enough to try out by shadowing. Remains to be seen if I can do it with a shuttle. Err.. brother, that's Taufik leh. I doubt Lin Dan's backhand is anywhere near as good. I tried that too but I can at most muster a long underhand drive which is not high enough. Of course, I can aspire but I'll never be like him . One of his most famous shot is a backhand underhand cross court from just 2 feet above the ground . Hey, I'm only human... I can time my normal backhand well enough to pull the shuttle a straight full court but not cross court. I'm even dangerous enough to do a high defensive clear if I get there early enough. With a late backhand, the movement is already very restricted so tightening the grip simply makes it worse -- at least from what I've tried. That's exactly the point. I cannot muster a high enough clear so my opponent will be waiting for me near the net. That means I shouldn't even bother to chase down these shots => BAD! I need the variation to make the work worth its while.
also, i think it's important that all your actions look the same. while a "tap" will generally give you better control and a better drop, all that means nothing if your opponent sees it and is waiting at the net.
I would add a qualifier: it's important that your actions look the same, at least up to the point of impact. After that moment, it's not always important to maintain a similar action.
Ok, after game update. For late backhand "clears"... still bad. I get at most 3/4 court but still too low that the opponent could have intercepted at any point (yeah, its that low). Backhand drop shots (late or early) using the hook action was disastrous. The shuttle seems to fly everywhere. If I incorporate a bit of slice to it, the shot is more manageable but still inconsistent. Definitely need a lot more practice.
I find it better to take the backhand when it's not very high...preferably just above shoulder level because then I dont' have to reach up and it's easier to generate power in the opposite direction. @Weeyet, I think LD's backhand is very good because he can pump out high clears from the worst positions, but he generally prefers around the heads, and when he has to use a backhand, he's in a worse position than when Taufik normally is. In general, all backhand strokes look practically the same anyways, because you're facing backwards and your racquet is prepared in front of you; your opponent should even see it.
Which means you will go for my 2nd option then. It's true that I get better range that way as well especially if the shuttle is further so the hand can be fully extended. I can get almost a full court with that cannot gain enough height. The problem with that approach is that due to the weakness in my shot, I am also giving the opponent a split second more to prepare to cut me off in front :crying:. Taking the shot earlier (higher) allows the shot to be less accurate since it can travel downwards especially if the shuttle is moved faster. The downside is again is that my clear from there is even weaker than option 2 -- barely past half-court in the best situation. I also end up with less time to recover from the shot. Now that I think more about it, a mix of both might work. If I want to continue what's left of the pressure, I'll do a fast drop from a higher position. If I'm in deep deep trouble or want to push the shot back especially if the opponent has over-committed, I can wait a bit more and pump the shuttle back. This means I should focus on getting more height + distance in my underhand clear. I definitely think LD's backhand has to be good. All national level players likely can do the full range of strokes. At their level, it's not so much whether they can do any stroke, but how they choose to use it. I just have not seen LD with the flair in backhand attacks as TH. Nor have I seen anyone who uses their backhand to such devastating effect as TH. Of course, one can argue that LD rarely needs to since he moves so much faster than TH or anyone else on the planet.
Status update after almost 1/2 a year of trying (on and off)... well, I finally managed to drive the full court late backhand . The actions are pretty much the same as what was described earlier in the thread except: approach the shot so that the shuttle is further out to the side of the body. This means to lunge backwards instead of towards the shuttle. This allows for a better swing (both direction and power) as well as let you get behind the shuttle; grip the racket at the far base for maximum leverage; and finally lean into the shot. I still need to work on the consistency of the approach (keep lunging towards the shuttle). I managed nearly 2 full courts almost reaching an offensive clear height in the last game. Hopefully I do not get too lazy because of it.
