Hi, A friend who plays at my "casual" badminton club recently played in a tournament against some better class opposition, and said that he suffered because opponents repeatedly attacked his low serve. That doesn't seem to happen so much at a lower level, but I'd like to try it this evening. Any tips about how to approach this?
Initially, try standing one foot closer than usual to the net when receiving serve. You may find your timing to hit the shuttle a little messed up for the first few attempts because of the shorter time to hitting the shuttle. You might have to adapt your stroke technique a little. There are other techniques but standing closer is the most straightforward one to try out.
Beginner players tend to lift it every time. Intermediate and advanced players attack it more. - low flat and down Any videos on returning serves will show that. Any coach showing how to return low serves. If talking about a tournament and you haven't ever seen a coach or heard a coach going through return of serve. Whether 1-1 or a group that play doubles run by a coach. Then you would have issues in any tournament!
not sure about your lv as you said casual club where lv are vary very wide from totally beginner to intermediate or even advance. But to attack low serve you need good response coz its just very short time right after the shuttle pass through the net you decide to kill or not. Depend on the low serve quality & shuttle position you need to makes decision immedietly or it will be late for the kill. & remember there is flick serve which will trouble you if the opponent see you standing to close to the net. So good footworks, good response, quick decision, are required for low serve kill.
If you are playing doubles, your game is focused on attack or gaining attack. Stay close to the front line with racket up and ahead slightly above net level. Prepare your mind, prepare yourself to jump-back n attack flick serves Grip neutral or towards thumb in even courts and neutral to slight pan handle in odd courts. Loose serve-tap it down or to body n win the rally. Good serve-try to push to body, or to side between players Very good serve-try to block/tumble down Excellent serve-you do not have many attacking options. Have your variations/deceptions. Can try to brush it across the net or lift to back corners, Tumbling serve- If it comes very accurate (less likely) wait and lift high. otherwise attack. Flick/drive or serve from outer corner-attack-attack-attack,
Sometimes just positioning aggressively on the serve can be enough to give you a mental advantage against the opponents. I've played against at least two opponents that gave me trouble. One player was called Andy Williams in a charity tournament and he was extremely skilled. I asked him a few questions after our game and he said he wasn't even looking at the shuttle, he was looking at his opponents (for how to outmanoeuvre them). The other player that more recently gave me trouble was a left hander and a little bit tall. It felt like he could touch the net with his racquet without moving when receiving a serve, he was very far up. He had played for at least 30 years and he could retrieve almost every shot you attacked near him. I scored maybe one point on a flick serve against him in the game. The pressure he put on me was very intense and it messed up my serve maybe 40% of the time. What everyone above has said is good. You just need to find out what works for YOU. You can have your left foot forward, your right foot forward, however you are comfortable to pounce on the shuttle as soon as your opponent strikes it. Once the shuttle drops lower than the net chord, that is when you can't attack it as easily, and end up doing a lift or a weaker net reply.
The non-racket leg "has" to be forward when receiving. What I find most important is how to balance my weight once in a "ready to receive" agressive position. If I play against a player with good flick serves (that is deceiving ones) I tend to place my body weight towards my racket leg. If I can easily read the player's serve, I tend to place my body weight towards my non-racket leg. All while trying not to show it, it's a subtle adjustement which allows me to be more agressive/reactive and less often late in case of deceiving flick serves.
true Many times when i play with beginner & sworn to them i wont kill their serve, just serious face & act like a pros they mess up their serve alot. Even some good player also get nervous with this intimidating face. Hahhahaha. Its not always skill fight but mental fight. If you lose your mental first hand forget your skill, you will even forgot how to serve.
