Hello, I've been dealing with this situation a lot these last few weeks : -The red triangle serves. -I'm the black square. I don't move, I just use my racket and play "softly" towards the mid-court sidelines to try to confuse both my opponents. -Usually, the black triangle will get the shuttle and lob me. Point for them… Should I change my position after my return ? In my mind, I think my partner, should be behind me and ready to cover the backcourt when I return but it's not clear whether it's my duty or not. I find it difficult to cover the half-court myself if I stay where I am after my return, they lob me easily. If I move back after my return, I'm sure they will notice it and try to aim for the net while I'm moving back. Maybe I should move towards the net right after my return in order to tell my partner to cover the back ? Thanks.
When receiving the short serve, you should not stand still, but look to move in to take it earlier. Your partner should be more behind you rather than next to you when you are receiving, exactly because the receiver should look to force a lift from the opponent (which you do with your shot), and your partner would be better positioned to cover it. Note however that the entire front court is now yours to cover, even the potential cross court to your forehand (assuming you're right handed). If your partner is already behind you, it's much more clear who should take the lobs. If you look at the pros, both pairs serve and receive in an attacking formation, because they both aim to win the attack. Only when the attack has been clearly lost is one pair forced to take a defensive formation to properly cover the court. In general, the back player has to adapt to the front player, even if the front player makes some bad positional decisions, because the back player can see what the front player is doing and cover the rest. If your partner takes the net, you will have to cover the back. If your partner comes back to cover a shot you thought was yours, you will have to rotate out of the way and cover whatever gaps he left behind. So even if your partner believes you are making a mistake by taking the net, it's still his job to cover you. But you have to clearly be taking the net. If you are almost right next to each other as the picture suggest, then it makes more sense for you to cover that backhand(again assuming you're right handed).
Normally its your partner jobs to cover the back but depend on the lv of games you play, its not as simple as that. From your serve return show you want to put presure immediently to get the attacking but how about your partner skill? Its not wrong but when your partner skill kinda low & cant keep up the pace, its pointless to put presure right away. Sometimes its better to play boring rally games so your partner can keep up with it. Also do you play with random partner or fixed one? Playing with random player require you to adapt with their style & habit. Ofcourse its both player task to adapt to each other but dont just demand thing you yourself cant do, so just did your best to adapt.
It was with a random player. Well, usually, when I play with someone and he serves or receives I'm behind him at the middle of the court, ready to take the backcourt. But in this case, I was not sure if I had done something wrong with my position. I like this kind of serve returns because it usually is a win or force a lift against most players I play against. But these last couple of weeks, I've found myself stupid whent they lifted because I was still at the serve line and my partner didn't move and looking at me as if it was my responsibility.
nothing wrong or right, just you need to adapt with each partner condition. Its quite common on club lv where the skill gap can be vary alot. Some had good hitting basic but terrible footwork, some others had tendency to smash (like the old me), some others had good footworks but didnt know rotation. So try to observe your partner & try adjust to his/her habit. If he/she are a good listener, try to communicate it but never ever blame him/her on games as it just makes it worst from what already bad. Simple example when im partnered with beginner. I could do quick fast drive battle with the opponent but when my opponent suddenly change target, my partner seems turn into sleep mode & get surprised. Or i can play agressive & smashing alot but if my partner just let go all bad return coz his reflex are bad then i will tired myself more for taking all those return & put myself in bad situation. So play slow long rally would help your nob partner to keep up.
This type of partner may not be used to this type of covering for the back court after return of serve. Why? When this person plays with other people, those people don’t follow their return to cover the net but run backwards to a side-side position and takes any high lifts. You’ll tend to see this quite commonly at social levels of play, even with people who seem to strike the shuttle quite well. The important thing is to communicate with your partner this is what you do and and they run behind to cover the back court in that situation. If they find it difficult to understand, fake an excuse. Something like - “I get quite a lot backache running backwards, so can you cover the back area for me when I run to the net.”!
I play at a club where the level range is quite broad. Sometimes the games can be quite lopsided. If I am playing with someone who isn't very dangerous from the back, or prone to error, it's strategically correct for me to cover the back, even in situations where it otherwise wouldn't have been. In the same vein, if I am at the net and my partner behind me is error prone, I would prefer to play pressuring shots like drives, in the hope that they will be unable to get the next one past me. When I'm playing with my doubles partner, I would play netshots instead to force a lift because my partner has a monster smash. These 'incorrect' decisions actually makes the games closer, more competitive, and more fun for everyone (because the more pressure I put on the opponent, the less they can 'bully' my less skilled partner). The only problem is that players with less understanding see me (and others) play like this and think that's what 'correct' play looks like. But when they come back to cover a shot at the back, I have to rotate around to the net, and if the opponent continues to play high lifts, they will eventually get the point. Or when they try to play pressure shots at the net, only to get counter attacked, when an easy netshot would have forced a lift for me to smash. There is a good teaching culture at my club and players are open about giving and receiving advice, but some players are just unable at consistently implementing advice, even if they are willing. The habits are too deep. The worst is when they apologize for their unforced errors, when their shot selection got them in trouble in the first place. I'm just screaming internally "you would be a much better player if you played to minimize your weaknesses instead of playing into them!" There is no ill will at the club, but it's just so tragic because they could play so much better with so little training. Like, I understand not everyone has efficient footwork or some of the more technical shots, because it takes time and effort to develop, and you don't develop it just by playing games. But shot selection is simply a choosing to play a different shot, and they can do it, but they don't.
