serve u should only play short seves if ur fast enuff to get the return in a good position. the long serve should be very high, to make it harder to do a controlled hardsmah. the move for ur different serves should be the same, so that ur opponent cant see what ure goin to do. dont play too agressive and wait for a real good position to make the point. train to play defensive clears with ur backhand, so that u do not get in a bad position after playing it forehand. train to play with fast balls so that u dont need so much power to hit the ball hard.
I've been watching Taufik Hidayat's games. I've noticed that he hasn't used a lot of tactics like hitting to the same corner or long diagonals. He uses more of deception, especially in the olympics 2004. Lin Dan ,in the olympics 2008, on the other hand used tactics I could clearly see and understand which i saw very effective (smah and tap, smashing the shuttle very early). What I am trying to ask is, what tactics does Taufik use against his opponents? The tactics he uses against his opponents aren't as clear as other players.
Why does it matter what Taufik does? You aren't Taufik and his tactics might not help you. The question you should have asked is My playing style is <insert playing style>. I play singles, what tactics can I use to help to improve my game? EDIT: rhasan, this thread is ancient.
Someone wise told me before in singles "Remember the 4 corners of Singles". As long as your return is as far away as possible from your opponent, that is the place your bird will want to be. Although in some cases, you will play trick shots against their direction of travel and these shots may actually land the bird closer to them than the 4 corners. But generally, the 4 corners of singles work fine.
This tactic has been used ON me before but not so much as by me, altho im sure most ppl subconciously end up doing this, however doing it conciously gives u control, as oppose to realizing it in the middle of the set and already down a set... basicly start off the game with alot of variety but dont go for the winning shot right away, some ppl like to call this defensive play.. but its more like control play, and u do this to find out what shots ur opponents likes and dislikes, which one he reacts to faster and which one he is slow to, try to form as many situations as possible but without hindering ur chances of winning too much, which is the main difference b/w doing it subconciously because u are focusing on playing the game and may not notice some of these things and waste time and points, the sooner u notice the better. Anyways it usually takes half a set to really gauge ur opponent enough so it is actually useful for you, of course u cant learn everything but now u can just play normally but keep what u have learned in mind and u will also end up learning more as u play on. Also it throws off ur opponent a little bit as u are not attacking as much or playing very aggressive so they may take it a bit lighter or may try to rush the match etc which will expose their weakness and strengths a bit quicker, but once half set comes u change ur style a bit and u sometimes end up getting the points u lost while trying to do this back quickly, and really if u control most of the points well enough u wouldnt lose too many points anyways. Im not sure if this is a good tactic to really use but it worked on me.
Singles tactics- -Attack all four corners. -Only smash when you think you will win the point or make the opponent produce a weak return. -When smashing shots if your right handed(opposite for lefts), try to smash on the right of them , so that the most likely shot they play if returning will be on your forehand. -Play flat clears , to reduce the time your opponent has to react and play a shot. -Play fast drops to also reduce the opponents reaction time.
