Out of curiosity, why pro players (singles) today are serving low using backhand while years ago were mostly forehand serving high and long? Is there any advantage doing so? If yes, why such move seldom use in old days? Do you think a regular player can also use such backhand serve in singles? Thanks
i remember i asked my coach this question during a tournament. he has always taught me that singles serving is always high and deep. i was suprised that most of my opponents in the tournament served short. he told me that they serve short to increase the speed of the game. short serve = faster rally start as opposed to a high and deep serve. im not so sure about this but i believe that the short serve can be considered an offensive serve. IMO, it puts the receiver off balance more than a deep serve due to less preparation time. as to if there is any advantage, I believe it would matter on the situation. do you want to increase the speed of the game? if so then i would believe that there would be an advantage. if you would want a slower paced game then i would not advise this serve. regular players can use this serve (well technically anyone could use any serve as long as its legal ) if they can get into position properly. serving short would mean that you have less time to get into position as opposed to the long serve. out of position would = death against a skilled opponent. i should know as i was pushed many times due to bad postioning. hope these can answer your questions.
I think your coach is slightly wrong here. Serving short has nothing to do with increasing the speed of the game. The main reason that pro use more short serve nowadays is that it force your opponent to do a defensive shot. A good short serve forces your opponent to lift it or do a net shot giving you teh chance to attack. Regular players tend to prefer high and deep serve because their foot work is too slow to recover from an offensive lift while a pro has a very great chance to kill that lift. If you watch top 10 MS players, 80% of the time the receiver will do a tight net shot while receiving a short serve because it force the server to lift it. As you can see from their shot selection, most of the players prefers to be the attacker than to be attacked. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying a high deep serve is not good, it has its own advantage
Yeh, agreed... I think it's to restrict the amount of offense the reciever has. There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages though. If you're unable to move fast, a backhand serve might bite you in the ass.
...yeah...personally...i like to use backhand serves most of the time too mainly because i can send it far or make it short without too big of a difference...i also find that it's also easier to place with the backhand and less obvious...i'll use a few long and short forehand serves once in a while to mix it up...but i usually use a long forehand serve when i'm tired and trying to stall for time...
I believe they stopped using high serves to avoid the jumpsmashes. The players have gotten so good jumpsmashes, so almost every time they serve high, the server loses!
when i play singles i tend to use backhand long serves for about 80% of the time with the odd short one thrown in to keep my opponent on his toes. I prefer using the backhand serve as there is hardly any difference in the racquet movement etc between a short and long serve, besides, ive got a really REALLY poor forehand serve
see also short serve in singles Backhand serve in singles Why do u think women don't serve this way? Serve: forehand vs backhand and others
Thanks a lot everybody. I learned a lot from u guys. But still don't quite understand why serve short with backhand instead of serving short with forehand? Is it because of backhand serve will help initiate movement (after served) quicker? Or is just a trend and more stylish? Thanks
now that's a whole different search several reasons, e.g. start position of shuttle can be closer to the net, so you should get better consistency and accuracy. Also means shorter flight time to receiver, so receiver has less time to react. backhand serve starts with shuttle in front of the body (rather than at the side with forehand) so it is easier to see shuttle and opponent at the same time personal preference. If you've always done a forehand serve, and you can do it consistently and accurately, there is no real need to change (unless you are a high-class doubles player maybe, forehand/backhand makes more difference in doubles than singles)
alternate the serve. As for me, during a game i like to serve forehand. It helps you to prepare and get into position for whatever move your opppnent is going to make. I altenate my serve depending on the situation and position of my opponent. Even so, i never use back hand if i want to serve short. Just use your forehand but make the serve so that it nicely goes over the net, not too high nor too low. It will help throw your opponet off balance giving you more advantage to the game.
I find the backhand serve more efficient when it comes to conserving your energy. The forehand's like a waterfall; while the backhand's more like hiccup. I also find the backhand more deceptive on serves.
I'm not quite pro but with me I tend to go witht he short serve the majority of the times even in singles. This is because I'm generally a doubles player and my short serves seem to be more accurate and less killed than my long serves. So basically, even if i serve forehand (to me this seems more deceptive), I tend to do short serves because I'm better at it and more used to it.
I too find my short serve a lot better than my long serve in terms of accuracy. from what I've learned, forehand would give you more time to prepare but put you on defense, while you could go on attack if you do a short serve because it forces your opponent to lift. Not many people would choose to return drop on a short serve heh whereas in a long serve they could potentially hit anywhere on the court.
I think i disagree as I find drop/cross court drops seem to be most effective on short serves. Is there a reason why you shouldn't do such a thing? Afterall, unless your drops are exceptionally high, they'll be forced to drop again or lift it. Please correct me if my tactics coule be improved.
nicely put. i think i heard my coach wrong rather than my coach being at fault (was paying more attention to the on-going games rather than my coach...o_o...but im only a kid for so long right? ). what i meant about the speed of the game was not the overall length of the rallies but the total time the shuttle reaches the other player.
what about high and deep serves? smashing from the back is unadvised due to the easy and devastating net shot that your opponent may play.
