We've had a couple of interesting examples of how one can force the opponent to play the shot you want him/her/they to play. Can people suggest any other examples?
:lol: doubles! off the short server immediately move up, and play a tight low hairpin to the net, and force the opponent to lift to your partner awaiting in the back, to hammer it down their throats. one of my personal favorites for my partners.
In a doubles game, depending on which hand your opponent uses, shoot the birdie to the corner of the baseline OPPOSITE to the hand he uses... for example, if he/she is righthanded, you aim for the far left hand baseline corner, and vice versa. In this way you'll force the opponent into using a backhander, which is almost always a good way to ensure a bad return, or at least a weak return, if any. In anticipation, you can hit the shuttle to your advantage. In reverse, you can DROP the shuttle in the front corner opposite to the side of the opponent's active hand, again almost always a guarantee to a weak return, which you could smash into their court. There must be special names to such strikes, but whatever you call em, they should work all the same.
Another good tactic: If you make a shot that yr opponent has to return and leave you in control, repeat the same shot again and again until he misses or you get a weak enough return to put the shuttle away. Repeated shots to his backhand are good; also smashes followed up with another smash, if he is not an expert smash returner like Ha Tae Kwan or Yap Kim Hock or ....; I saw the man in a mixed doubles pair drop 4 or 5 times against a much stronger player, who was forced to get the shot and return to his base each time to defend against a drive, clear, or smash (the dropper was in position to hit any of these). When he finally stopped dropping and hit a drive to the backhand corner, the stronger player made an error. I'm certain that would not have happened if the dropper had tried the drive on his first shot. I just remembered that at the WC in Seville Zhang Jun did jump drops against Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyun Min for almost an entire game, and then caught Kim with a jump smash.
In doubles: One of my favourite is to catch a smash early before it goes too deep and drive it right back to the smasher's backhand not too far from him/her so he can take it immediately. Most of the time he/she is forced to hit it as quickly as he/she can without proper control and resulting in a drive that is too high. And since the opponent did a drive that's too high, if you can quickly drive/smash the shuttle down towards him/her again, he/she would be caught off guard and most of the time end up in a winning shot.
in singles: Lure your opponent into playing the net with you and when you get him to do that, lure your opponent into one corner of the net, preferably his/her backhand side and move as if you're going to play a straight netshot. Pray that your opponent gets tricked to move towards the net before you play the shot and when he does, flick your wrist to send the shuttle crosscourt but not too high. Just high and fast enough for him/her not to catch it half way and smash/drive it right back at you. This usually off balance my opponent and make him do a weak clear that I can smash right back or make him do a dropshot that I can play into a netshot to make him run for it again, which is a good way to drain his/her breath away If you find that its too risky to send the shuttle crosscourt then just lift it straight to the back, but not too high until he/she have enough time to play a good clear. Basically your tactic here is to off balance your opponent so he/she can't play a good shot without draining their breath away. This works well for me... i guess it depends on what level your opponent is at...
I would usually smash/drive/half these type of flicks. If I can't make an aggresive shot, I will play a very high clear with a sidearm stroke. The aim is to get the shuttle to drop vertically. The hold and flick tactic is good against some players but not all. Anymore examples? I am trying to find out more ways to incorporate into game plans BTW Iwan, where do you play?
well... if your opponent is fast enough to strike down the flick, then strengthen your flick and to make it the shuttle travel faster to the point that your opponent cant strike it down. But because you're flicking it harder, you must make the shuttle travel higher to the back and crosscourt, your opponent might be able to take the shot, but it should drain his/her breath. My coach always tell me that people who are out of breath can't play their normal shots well and most of them have a bad habit of playing a shot that they like best when theyre in a bad situation. So study that shot and use it to your advantage. Also back in the 15 point system, I like using this trick and waste 4 or 5 points just to wear my opponent out. That way they are less consistent. Cant do it with the 7 point system though Anyway right now Im playing in Indonesia during sch holidays and in Perth when not during sch holidays. I used to play in singapore too, last time I played there was 4 or 5 years ago when I was still attending pri sch there.
Iwan, is that a Malay name? Apa Khabar? I would really like to know more about Indonesian players. Please email: wijaya_chandra@hotmail.com. Cheers
A hairpin drop shot's definition is just that of a drop shot controlled, and very tight and low to the net. A player can learn to control the shuttle so it barely passes the net, dropping straight down over the net, like a pin needle pointing downwards. "Pin point accuracy" hence the name Hairpin dropshot. I learned these when i was young. A regular drop shot would cross the net on a downward angle, but not be tight to the net. probably upwards of a foot or so away from the net. Just terminology differences, you may call it something else, but I prefer to be precise, and I learned it with the terminology "hairpin" Other variations players could practice including tape shots, but they are dangerous as some players troll around the net, awaiting anything getting near and would smash or quickly tap your shot down onto your own side. Practice dropping the shuttle overhead style, directly onto the tape. These are merely trick/luck shots, that the pros I watched can do, but they dont generally practice, as it is a cheap technique. Hope i've clarified the terminology for you.
I believe this is called a "push shot" Iwan. I like using it, and I also get caught on this one alot :lol:
Do you, or have you tried doing a tight standing, or jumping wrist smash to one sideline, so that the opponent can return it on their backhand, and usually because of the steep angle, my opponents have returned it directly right up to me, and I'm waiting, to put it fast, and hard to the opposite sideline. Most people are unable to retrieve such an agressive quick smash, and they would tend to dive for the shot, in which case that would set you up for the big smash to their backhand again. Even the great Yang Yang, or Ardy Wiranata wasn't able to retrieve those shots and get back into position on the video clip I saw of that situation.
Yup, that's a common one for me as well. I particularly like the footwork movement because one has to have good balance to land and take the next shot.
Hairpin The hairpin shot is a good example. It can be done in singles as well. Zhao Jian Hua liked to do this. When done as a return of low serve in singles, the opponent only has the option of playing net shot or lifting it vertically high. The net shot from the server has to be particularly good quality to prevent you from doing a net kill. That only leaves the option of a high lift. It is particularly important to strike the shuttle early so therefore one has to concentrate on moving fast to the net once the opponent has served I like to use it about two or three times during a game. Hairpin shots can be used in reply to other shots, e.g. smash but if you are further away from the net. The shuttle takes longer to cross the net giving more time for your opponent move into position
hmm... I don't think so, because push shot as I have read about is like a jab punch. But this is a flick of the wrist... there might be a difference, but Im not too sure because I never tried throwing a jab at the shuttle with my racquet ;P hehehe
Re: Hairpin In singles, when a person does a low serve to me, I'd always lift it vertically to the back but not high and then I would take a good position ready for anything especially smash. There's three options that I could think of for my opponent. One, is to be quick and jump at it to smash it down or drive it down the side line. In this case, I'd try my best to catch it and drive it crosscourt. Most of the time when I successfully catch the shuttle, my opponent wont be ready because he just did a jumping smash/drive and isn't back in position yet. If he does a drive or smash crosscourt, then he's asking for it because I would drive it right back to his other half of the court and right to the back. Second option, is to play safe and do a very high clear. Then the game would just return to how it should be played. Third option, is to play a dropshot. In this case, I'd play the shuttle fast and place it at the furthest place from him to *shake* him up a bit
Wrist flick is used in the push as well. I think we just learned our stuff as different terminology. I haven't done much reading in terms of learning skills, I actually only had play experience on the court, and learned the push skill as is. The degree of force used in the wrist flick in your push determines, the angle, velocity, trajectory of the shuttle... I think that sounded proper. Basically the same thing you mentioned. That is what I call a push shot, because you're pushing it past your opponent. Some guys are insanely fast though... so long as they can get a racquet on the shuttle, they can pop it back over. Players I've seen or heard of doing this, include Peter Gade. The Great Cheung, and a host of many other international single's pros. hehe... sorry Cheung, had to add you to that list, cause I'm sure you can get to the shot relatively easily.
