How to win at singles against out-of-practice doubles players?

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by Berny Ah, Jul 22, 2020.

  1. Berny Ah

    Berny Ah Regular Member

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    Somewhat surprisingly my grassroots badminton club will be starting up again next week. We take players of all standards (generally pretty low like me), and we always play doubles. However following Badminton England's advice we will be playing singles only at first.

    Obviously I will need all the help I can get. So let me have your tips for beating and preferably humiliating my singles opponents, who haven't played for months and who normally play doubles.
     
  2. Budi

    Budi Regular Member

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    what is your aim for playing badminton?
    Humiliating your opponent? If yes then you have 2 option. Stop playing or change your attitude.

    Why? With those attitude, you will never grow anywhere. Win or lose, respect your opponent. They are your opponent, target to catch, teacher that give you experience, & someone who one day would surpass you if you become to lazy.
    & i know friend that love to humiliate his opponent. Laugh & act like he is some Prince looking at beggar on every point. But the dark truth that he never realize, we all (including me) start together but his skill getting left behind than any other of my friend. Eventually he avoid playing with us & mark us as god among men yet he just play & bully our club member lower level. Not stop there, i even see few beginner that usually play with him start to grow, surpass him, & eventually beat him. Like a Phoenix that burned to ash, from it he rise, getting stronger & stronger for every beating he get. The loser learn from his bullier & keep growing until he surpass the bullier.

    Back to the topic.
    In single you need to have a good footwork to cover 6 corner.
    You have to be more strategic to play a shot & cant risk an agresive brutal atk as you are alone to take the shuttle back when your smash getting returned.
    Also you need to adjust your memory shot as in single you had little less width of the court. I had this issue when suddely i play single. My shot memory are pointed close to outer side line for double play which is an out in single.
    Thats from me, but im double player. Pretty sure the other can add more to it.
    Happy playing again.
     
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  3. Berny Ah

    Berny Ah Regular Member

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    I think you misunderstood my attempt at humour.
     
  4. Budi

    Budi Regular Member

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    :Di guest i dont need to worry about it:p
     
  5. Ballschubser

    Ballschubser Regular Member

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    When I play singles vs primary doubles players, then there are a few obvious misstakes they can make which you can utilize and which you should try to avoid yourself.

    • Sticking to the front court after playing a netshot. They often forget to move back closer to the center, a simple long lift adds a lot of pressure in this situation, don't try to counter with a netshot if you are not able to get it really low over the net.
    • Smashing hard from the backcourt while moving backward. If you manage to short block, they are again under high pressure, often they are unable to cover the distance at all.
    • Stamina/endurance: singles are a lot more demanding
    • If you serve low, expect a return to the mid-sidelines, if your low serve gets too high, expect a hard push to the backcourt corners.
    • Don't try to play a flat cross-court lift, they will most likely immediatly intercept them.
     
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  6. ucantseeme

    ucantseeme Regular Member

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    I think your question miss the first steps. Winning is a result which also involves less mistakes and more accuracy. I personally think if you have a good and high serve, can play to all 4 corners savely and in (which is for most doubles player a challenge to use a slimmer court) you have a good base to win. Smash less and block cross if possible. Be sure you shift your base position slightly to the the shots which have a shorter flight and are more likely replies. If anything on your side is on point you can think about tactics to play your opponent or to prevent to make his tactic work.

    IMO you shouldn't aim for the result. Appreciate that you can play and have fun. An alternative beside singles is to practice drills which is IMO more beneficial after a long break to find back to the shape of 3/2020.
     
  7. ralphz

    ralphz Regular Member

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    Looks like that was some older guidance

    Current guidance allows doubles

    https://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/media/8903/rtp-clubs-2.pdf

    "I am particularly pleased to let you know that when badminton restarts on Saturday 25th July, you will be able to play full-court singles and doubles......We have been very aware that the inability to play doubles meant that, for many clubs, restarting activity was simply not viable and that many players would wait to return to play. As a result of extensive discussions with Government, we have been able to demonstrate that doubles badminton can return in accordance with the appropriate measures.........We are not able to see a full return to badminton just yet, with our traditional competitions still impacted by government regulation on gathering sizes"

    So that is from the official.. page..
    ----------

    And the above correlates with info from a club..

    This from an email of a club "Basically as of the 25th of July 2020 the agreement between the Government and Badminton England has changed to allow doubles not of the same household to play, this in turn means we have basically entered most of Phase 3 of the BE plan which in turn means we are now able to play..........social distancing, no contact or sharing or equipment other than the shuttlecocks."

    BTW, a lot of doubles players in regular clubs (and even some in somewhat competitive clubs), won't have the cardio for singles.
     
  8. FeatherDance

    FeatherDance Regular Member

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    I feel personally attacked by this! :eek:
     
  9. dnewguy

    dnewguy Regular Member

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    Hello

    Most doubles player (recreational) are usually either more comfortable in the front court or at the back.
    They have their strengths accordingly.
    Try to force them out of their comfort area.
    But then again someone who can play safely to all 4 corners and reach them has a good upper hand.

    Deception works very well in singles and adds flavor to the game.

    Cheers.
     
  10. Berny Ah

    Berny Ah Regular Member

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    Danke schön Ballschubser, I didn't see this reply until now, useful and interesting.
     
  11. Berny Ah

    Berny Ah Regular Member

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    [QUOTE="ucantseeme, post: 2787904, member: 59291"

    IMO you shouldn't aim for the result. Appreciate that you can play and have fun.[/QUOTE]

    Thank you: I know what you mean, but my approach is to treat the very low-level games I play as though they were extremely important.
     
  12. Berny Ah

    Berny Ah Regular Member

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    Thank you. I'm a front court doubles player, I find I do best when I pretend to be Kevin Sukamuljo.
     
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  13. DarkHiatus

    DarkHiatus Regular Member

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    Playing long diagonals tends to work quite well, and also adding extra height to clears/lifts, and then playing loopier (but tighter) net/drop shots.

    Doubles players aren't often used to have extra time and running extra distances. The only problem is that to win, you'll probably have more stamina than them if they do the same thing back!
     
  14. dnewguy

    dnewguy Regular Member

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    I remember to make a lot of unforced errors like
    Same here.
    Whenever someone asks me to play singles out of the blue... i realize that I give away half the points to the sidelines.
    Smashes, crosscourt drops, near the net, my judgment for opponent shots... it all works against me.

    So i start playing defensively.. keeping most of my shots near the centerline, smashes to his body etc.
     

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