Receiving Serve Ready Position

You are vulnerable to flick serves, IMO because if you receive a high/flick serve from this stance, you will have to pivot and then step/hop back. this is more work and not as fast as have the non-racket foot forward because you don't have to turn your entire body.

 

You should always play flick or drive serve returns with a forehand hitting action.

Every professional receives serve with his non-racket foot forwards (because it helps you return the flick serve).

 

Agree with Gollum....

Any flicks or drives down your backhand side you should aim to play 'round the head'. Although it may feel a bit uncomfortable initially, given your current approach, persevere and you will reap the rewards

Remember that the area into which your opponent can serve in doubles is relatively small so you can cover it very easily.

I would suggest finding some videos (youtube perhaps?) of advanced players receiving serves and see if you can pick up any tips. Also ask someone at your club to feed you those types of serve so that you can practice and get used to the technique outside of an actual game.

Personally I love it when opponents flick down my backhand side, - round the head smashes are very satisfying shots to play

 

foot.

Looks at the pros and its adviceable to follow them. There's always a reason and a general rule of thumb. It makes your life easier. Cheers.

 

Think abt it this way...ur starting position, with ur racquet foot foward...ur opponent can serve in 2 ways (generally speaking): 1) low (backhand) serve or 2) flick serve to the back. Now if ur opponent does 1), you have to shuffle or lunge for the shuttle if ur racquet foot was foward. however, if ur non-racquet foot was foward, this allows u to push off ur racquet foot, giving u more momentum and faster return of serve. As for 2), the same principle applies. You even said it urself, u have to shuffle to get to the shuttle to hit it overhead, which is slower than just starting with ur raquet foot foward, moving back and stretching for an round the head.

On the other hand, after a serve, you can stand pretty much the way you want, although i guess it depends on the shot u play. If u play a netshot, back away with ur racquet foot clearly still foward (otherwise if u immeadiately move back with ur racquet foot, ur opponent can get u with a netshot of their own and since ur standing with non racquet foot foward, its a bit hard to get to the shuttle). if u clear to the back, generally u prepare for the worse ( a smash) and u adopt a similar stance to moving away from a netshot except ur racquet foot is only slighlty infront.

hehe hope i didnt say more than i sposed to say

 

im a lefty, so bare with me here for a second while i think.......ok phrased that part wrong (stupid me). Of course ur going to have to shuffle back if the shuttle is hit over u to ur backhand (that is unless ur yao ming XD). Ur idea of turning around for the forehand is pretty much correct, the round the head is only used in desperate situations i guess, but the way ur moving into it is a bit off (no offence).

Correct me if im wrong, but u want to use that jump pivot for ur return of serve right? well looking at the video, the left foot is only a pivot, not to push off backwards from. If u start with ur left foot back, ur going to have a hard to moving ur right foot back. As the left foot is in front, wen u turn for ur pivot, ur building up momentum for ur right leg to swing around. I guess another way u could look at ur starting position is in theory, u want a position that allows u to play most if not all shots effectively off a serve. By having ur right leg foward, while ur in i guess a favourable position too move to ur forehand for a flick, but at the same time, ur limiting ur action at the front.

hai...im not very good at explaining things...

 

i don't see how anyone can get back fast enough to perform a good shot off a flick serve with that footwork, let alone attack it.
while the footwork you have described and illustrated in the video is definitely good for getting back early enough to take rear court shots in rallies, i feel it is not as efficient as it could be for service reception. you don't have the luxary of time when you're taking the service.

basically because you have to turn your body twice, once before you even start moving... while if you had your non-racquet leg forward, you would only need to pivot/turn your body once, which is at the point where you actually perform your shot.

 

good point lol

 

Let me make this clear:

The stance for receiving serve is an exception. It's not like your normal ready position.

When receiving serve, you have to generate speed from a static start. A good flick serve will force you to hit the shuttle when it's behind your body; if you prepare with your racket foot forwards, you just won't have time to turn your shoulders back.

 

hang on if ur recieving serve with ur racket foot forward in doubles........ur most vulerable spot will be a flick back to ur forehand rearcourt. fine i understand what u r saying about the backhand court and ur already to pivot to hit a backhand shot with ur right foot forward......but its strange that u wud WANT to hit a backhand shot neway on a return of serve?

the whole point of recieving serve is to attack from the off.....surely ur control and range of shots is better on ur forehand side?and thus u shud be concentrating on hitting everything with forehand?so trying to play all shots on ur backhand side around the head?

but anyway what happens if they serve to ur forehand rearcourt?a conventional stance, with nonracket foot forward, all you would need to do is chaissie back one step and u then have the choive of doing an arch step if u have time to rotate your body and waist through to do a full recovery swing, or do a block step wer u end up with your waist facing the side of the court. but u only need to do 1 movement with your feet to get into that position?

if u had racket foot forward you would have to pivot before u chaissie which is sooooo slow especialy on serve and everything......HUGE waste of time lol?u get?seriously, unless u had a huge smash wen u wer off balance, otherwise i wud just flick serve to ur forehand side all day?:O

 

It really quite easy. If you want to stand close to the service line to pressure the serve then you need to stand with the non racquet leg forward. If you stand further back, then you can stand anyway you want.

Wayne Young

 

I'm sorry, I totally disagree with that.

When receiving serve always stand with your non-racquet foot forward. (no matter how far back you're standing!)

@KazeCloud - you may feel more comfortable standing with your racquet foot forward when receiving serve but I urge you to practice with your non-racquet foot forward, I'm not sure what level your playing at but against good players they will spot your unorthodox stance as a weakness and exploit it. Trust me, the orthodox stance is much stronger and with time you will see the benefits.

 

Why's that? If you're standing in the middle of the court, it really doesn't matter which leg is in front. You'll have plenty of time to take the flick. You could stand on one leg (if it wasn't a fault). Makes no difference.

Of course, if we're talking about 'proper' technically correct aggressive badders, then yes, it's obvious you should stand with the non racquet leg forward.

Wayne Young

 

You should note that singles players also stand with the non-racket foot forward, despite not standing especially close to the front service line.

It does make a difference, even when you're standing farther back. Only in an extreme case, when you're practically on the back service line, will the correct stance be of no import. But that's a silly scenario, in which the flick serve is completely irrelevant anyway: the opponent should use a low serve.

 

I agree with Gollum in the long run..haha..but..I know if you're a righty and you stand with your racket foot forward you will be slower in returning the flick serve. But how many flick serves do players do in a doubles game?

I am not saying left foot forward is wrong. But if I am receiving serve, I feel that if I stand with my racket foot forward I can rush faster as oppose to taking another step, since it's a rush.

I also noticed that professional players stand with their non-racket foot forward while receiving serves. But for serving, they are standing with their racket foot forward because to give clearance for the racket and better balance while leaning a little forward for the serve.

 

Yes, but is that because it's just the way it's done in singles or is it because it confers an advantage?

Personally, I always stand non-racquet leg forward, which is also what I teach. However, if I'm not toeing the line I know I could, if I wanted, stand anyway I like, singles or doubles and it wouldn't make any difference.

The whole point of what I'm saying is that it's not the technique that's important, but the reason behind it. If you understand that (and I'm not saying you don't, because I'm sure you do), then you'll know what's important or not.

Wayne Young

 

Receiving service positions always have the non-racquet foot in front, simply because you are covering only one half of the court. The position after service has the racquet foot in front because you are centrally placed and you need to cover twice the area of the receiving service position.
When receiving a serve to half the court your forehand can cover almost all types of serves.