Someone tried to call my serve a foul

[Cheung]

Played a social game.

Used a drive serve.

Opponent got caught out with a clear winner.

Opponent said to me my serve might be illegal.

I asked him why. He said it was flat.

I said he would need to show me which part of the rule book would say it was illegal.

He couldn’t give specific detail.

 

[UkPlayer]

Well if he can't give you a specific detail there's not much to discuss is there. How silly. Sounds like a poor loser.

 

[kwun]

Did you pull out a copy of the rulebook from your badminton bag for him to reference?

 

[MarketWizard]

I had someone call a service fault when I did the Chirag Shetty serve because I was moving my arms left to right confusing the receiver. Some people like to make the rules up as they go along, lol.

 

[SnowWhite]

Sorry if this is a little off topic, but I feel it's in the same spirit.

Today about halfway through a 2-hour singles session I was getting pretty tired, so I started playing high serves since it doesn't put as much pressure on my ability to move as a low serve. An opponent I hadn't played before made a bunch of mistakes trying to 'punish' my 'inferior' choice of shot; smashing it out the sidelines, smashing it in the net, and mistiming his jump smash. After I won the game 21-9, the guy told me with quite a bit of venom in his voice: "you might get away with this here, but at a higher level you can't keep playing these beginner serves".

I didn't really get into it. He was probably more angry with himself than with me. There are certainly players where I would be more reluctant to play high serves against, and usually it's pretty clear when I need to just suck it up and play short serves. But this guy was not dangerous from back and even if he would have gotten some smashes on the floor off my serve, I would probably keep playing high serves because he was making so many mistakes.

 

[UkPlayer]

Sorry if this is a little off topic, but I feel it's in the same spirit.

Today about halfway through a 2-hour singles session I was getting pretty tired, so I started playing high serves since it doesn't put as much pressure on my ability to move as a low serve. An opponent I hadn't played before made a bunch of mistakes trying to 'punish' my 'inferior' choice of shot; smashing it out the sidelines, smashing it in the net, and mistiming his jump smash. After I won the game 21-9, the guy told me with quite a bit of venom in his voice: "you might get away with this here, but at a higher level you can't keep playing these beginner serves".

I didn't really get into it. He was probably more angry with himself than with me. There are certainly players where I would be more reluctant to play high serves against, and usually it's pretty clear when I need to just suck it up and play short serves. But this guy was not dangerous from back and even if he would have gotten some smashes on the floor off my serve, I would probably keep playing high serves because he was making so many mistakes.

Well, you can get away with high serving until you're around pro level really, better in a lot of instances. Certainly not a beginner level move.

 

[Cheung]

Did you pull out a copy of the rulebook from your badminton bag for him to reference?

You're still in the dark ages.…


It's on the mobile phone or tablet now

 

[kwun]

Sorry if this is a little off topic, but I feel it's in the same spirit.

Today about halfway through a 2-hour singles session I was getting pretty tired, so I started playing high serves since it doesn't put as much pressure on my ability to move as a low serve. An opponent I hadn't played before made a bunch of mistakes trying to 'punish' my 'inferior' choice of shot; smashing it out the sidelines, smashing it in the net, and mistiming his jump smash. After I won the game 21-9, the guy told me with quite a bit of venom in his voice: "you might get away with this here, but at a higher level you can't keep playing these beginner serves".

I didn't really get into it. He was probably more angry with himself than with me. There are certainly players where I would be more reluctant to play high serves against, and usually it's pretty clear when I need to just suck it up and play short serves. But this guy was not dangerous from back and even if he would have gotten some smashes on the floor off my serve, I would probably keep playing high serves because he was making so many mistakes.

strange to have the loser lecturing the winner.

 

[s_mair]

Sorry if this is a little off topic, but I feel it's in the same spirit.

Today about halfway through a 2-hour singles session I was getting pretty tired, so I started playing high serves since it doesn't put as much pressure on my ability to move as a low serve. An opponent I hadn't played before made a bunch of mistakes trying to 'punish' my 'inferior' choice of shot; smashing it out the sidelines, smashing it in the net, and mistiming his jump smash. After I won the game 21-9, the guy told me with quite a bit of venom in his voice: "you might get away with this here, but at a higher level you can't keep playing these beginner serves".

I didn't really get into it. He was probably more angry with himself than with me. There are certainly players where I would be more reluctant to play high serves against, and usually it's pretty clear when I need to just suck it up and play short serves. But this guy was not dangerous from back and even if he would have gotten some smashes on the floor off my serve, I would probably keep playing high serves because he was making so many mistakes.

This is a funny story on so many different levels.
Does he really think he can get you off the long serves with that nonsense? Cause obviously you’ve discovered and explored a major weakness in his game.

When did this rumour start to spread that the short servers In low- to intermediate level single is the way to go?

A good long serve gives you a so much more controlled start of the rally, seducing so many players to play weak attacking shots out of sheer impatience. Also, you can play many variations in terms of height and speed - even if you have a good smasher on the other side, a more flick-like flat and fast serve can be amazingly effective.

The short serve on the other hand pressures the server a lot since there are so many opportunities on the return of serve shot that need to be covered.

 

[DuckFeet]

If someone beats me after nearly 2 hours of low serving in singles I'm saying NOTHING other than "well played".

I got told off for wearing a yellow shirt once. I'm definitely guilty of it myself in the past. Salty comment rather than diagnosing where I could improve.

On the flip side, it was so refreshing at a match to have the opponent call their own shot out, and take the time to congratulate our players on a well played shot.

Sent from my SM-A315G using Tapatalk

 

[SnowWhite]

This is a funny story on so many different levels.
Does he really think he can get you off the long serves with that nonsense? Cause obviously you’ve discovered and explored a major weakness in his game.

When did this rumour start to spread that the short servers In low- to intermediate level single is the way to go?

A good long serve gives you a so much more controlled start of the rally, seducing so many players to play weak attacking shots out of sheer impatience. Also, you can play many variations in terms of height and speed - even if you have a good smasher on the other side, a more flick-like flat and fast serve can be amazingly effective.

The short serve on the other hand pressures the server a lot since there are so many opportunities on the return of serve shot that need to be covered.

I play at a level you can't call intermediate anymore, so the high serve is a rare sight. And when I say high serve, I mean a high, dropping vertical deep in court kind of serve. I'm not really looking to play variations, since the strength of a high serve is not in its surprise. And since I was tired I was looking to slow the game down and playing faster shots will generally come back faster.

The funny part to me was that he was right when he said that I couldn't play like that at a higher level. There are players that, if they can get behind the shuttle, it doesn't matter much if its on the backline, they can thunder it down and I will lose points. It's just that my opponent yesterday certainly wasn't one of them.

He gave his 'advice' with a tone and attitude as if he is a higher level player, after proving on court he wasn't. It's like he was saying: "if you knew how to play properly I would have won". Which is hilarious.

 

[Cheung]

I play at a level you can't call intermediate anymore, so the high serve is a rare sight. And when I say high serve, I mean a high, dropping vertical deep in court kind of serve. I'm not really looking to play variations, since the strength of a high serve is not in its surprise. And since I was tired I was looking to slow the game down and playing faster shots will generally come back faster.

The funny part to me was that he was right when he said that I couldn't play like that at a higher level. There are players that, if they can get behind the shuttle, it doesn't matter much if its on the backline, they can thunder it down and I will lose points. It's just that my opponent yesterday certainly wasn't one of them.

He gave his 'advice' with a tone and attitude as if he is a higher level player, after proving on court he wasn't. It's like he was saying: "if you knew how to play properly I would have won". Which is hilarious.

Love the tactics.

That very high serve is a lovely disruptor of an opponent’s rhythm.

 

[Phanou]

I remember taking part in an amateur tournament in Thailand and every time we played a flick serve the umpire would call a foul. We were later told to abstain from playing high serves as it may lead to a fight (no joke). Even in training sessions in my country we are conditioned to apologize to the opponent every time we won a point off a flick serve because it's seen as a scrub move.

 

[s_mair]

while we were at it...



Pretty basic stuff, but well explained and presented.

 

[Budi]

the guy told me with quite a bit of venom in his voice: "you might get away with this here, but at a higher level you can't keep playing these beginner serves".

simple easy answer.
Yeah i know but at least it works on your level, so why do the difficult thing if simple is more than enough.

 

[R20190]

Played a social game.

Used a drive serve.

Opponent got caught out with a clear winner.

Opponent said to me my serve might be illegal.

I asked him why. He said it was flat.

I said he would need to show me which part of the rule book would say it was illegal.

He couldn’t give specific detail.

I think in social games unless it is blatantly a foul serve you just have to accept it as there is no way to prove it one way or another.

It is quite possible that your flat serve was a foul, even if it didn't feel/seem like it but unless you served ridiculously high there is no way really to judge it properly or impartially, nor is there a need to in social games.

No point arguing about it, I would just note it positively and move on. Obviously, if it keeps happening, and it bothers you, don't play with them.

 

[BadmintonDave]

No point arguing about it, I would just note it positively and move on. Obviously, if it keeps happening, and it bothers you, don't play with them.

Yep. I played for a long time in two clubs and the team captain did a few things that did not please me.

Firstly he would try and win at warmups. Literally to the point of hitting it out the back of the court and making you go from far back all the way to infront of the net. The point of warmups is to lessen the likelihood of injurys, no? Anyway, stopped warming up against him and he's still doing it to this day.

The second thing was his attacking the serve. Before you made contact with the shuttle he would be moving forwards with atleast one foot off the ground. It's great he was able to do it at his age, but abide by the rule that says the server and receiver have to have both feet on the ground!

It got to the point where I did a print off of the service laws (pre the change to fixed height). Just so I could challenge if needs be.

 

[R20190]

If I can just explain what I meant by "noting it positively", it's me saying to myself yes what he/she is doing is not right, but I'll treat it as though I'm giving them a handicap to give myself more of a challenge so that I can improve further. It's a bit like when you're playing with a weaker player and you deliberately handicap yourself by not smashing for example and see if you can win in other ways. It helps you discover new tactics and techniques that ultimately improve you.

I'm always of the opinion that you can learn from any situation (even if it seems all bad), you just need to realise it.

 

[SnowWhite]

Yep. I played for a long time in two clubs and the team captain did a few things that did not please me.

Firstly he would try and win at warmups. Literally to the point of hitting it out the back of the court and making you go from far back all the way to infront of the net. The point of warmups is to lessen the likelihood of injurys, no? Anyway, stopped warming up against him and he's still doing it to this day.

The second thing was his attacking the serve. Before you made contact with the shuttle he would be moving forwards with atleast one foot off the ground. It's great he was able to do it at his age, but abide by the rule that says the server and receiver have to have both feet on the ground!

It got to the point where I did a print off of the service laws (pre the change to fixed height). Just so I could challenge if needs be.

The way to deal with players who like to jump the serve is to vary the time you take for serving when you are both in the ready position. Sometimes, serve right as he gets into his ready stance. Sometimes, just wait for a few seconds to see what happens. Since they are so eager, sometimes the receiver will lose balance even before you have done anything. Even if they don't, players only tend to have a few seconds of concentrated focus when anticipating the serve. As soon as they lose balance, or you see them relax a little, then you serve.

When they complain, tell them to stop jumping the serve. What they are doing is strictly against the rules. What you are doing is in a little bit of a grey area.

Also fun against people who take an aggressive stance on your serve is to play a drive serve. Risky, but more likely to work compared to when they aren't as single-mindedly focused on the short serve.

 

[BadmintonDave]

The way to deal with players who like to jump the serve is to vary the time you take for serving when you are both in the ready position. Sometimes, serve right as he gets into his ready stance. Sometimes, just wait for a few seconds to see what happens. Since they are so eager, sometimes the receiver will lose balance even before you have done anything. Even if they don't, players only tend to have a few seconds of concentrated focus when anticipating the serve. As soon as they lose balance, or you see them relax a little, then you serve.

When they complain, tell them to stop jumping the serve. What they are doing is strictly against the rules. What you are doing is in a little bit of a grey area.

Also fun against people who take an aggressive stance on your serve is to play a drive serve. Risky, but more likely to work compared to when they aren't as single-mindedly focused on the short serve.

Good points, thank you.

Someone in the past I played a match against once would open their mouth like an O when they were serving. Like they were yawning. It was very off-putting (but not illegal). Was really distracting.

My personal view about people who take their time with the serve is it's bad manners. When they stand still for 20-30 seconds a serve. But like you said it's not illegal, and in the above situation it's a good thing to try.