Serves

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Neil

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I usually play this guy in singles, and his serves are really annoying. He does 2 types of serve that I can never get.

SOmetimes he drives it into my body, and so the next time I bend down a bit so that I can drive it to the rearcourt. However, then he does a flick serve over my head.

SOmetimes he does a drive down the line, so I stand closer to the line, but then he does a soft serve near to the tramllines.

What should I do?

Thanks for help
 
hi,

the first that comes to my mind is this line that i read somewhere.." the weight is on the front foot but think backwards"

the best thing is to watch his hand till the last moment.

i think if ur receiving position is right u should be able to reach every serve.i guess that is the aim of footwork(obviously one can be tricked despite that).

when u are near the line covering the down-the-line serve,i think
two steps are sufficient to reach the soft serve provided one observes the wrist/contact/racket of the opponent.

iam not sure if this helps.
 
Another thing, how far back from the short service line are you standing? Maybe you should move back a bit and you might have less trouble returning his drive into yr body. Also you will have more time to get the serves down the center line.
 
Legal serve?

My experience is that most (if not all) drive serves are illegal... carefully read the rules on serving along with the accompanying diagrams. the position of the racket head with respect to the HAND holding the racket is the crucial part to look at here. It seems to me that it is virtually impossible to hit a drive serve w/o violating the serving rules. i see people commiting this violation quite a bit in doubles... even advanced players.

The flick serve is another matter. This one CAN easily be delivered legally by a skilled server.
 
Re: Legal serve?

I have to disagree: being almost 2 metres tall, I can do perfectly legal drive serves... but it's true that most people make illegal drive serves... Mind you, drive serves CAN be effective against very slow or inexperienced players, but is not advisable against more experienced opponents. In other words: drive serves are a newbie thing, just like sliced serves. If you want to vary your serving, Neil, forget about drive serves and concentrate on achieving a well-disguised flick serve.
 
Re: Legal serve?

Perhaps a drive serve can be delivered legally, but I've NEVER seen one, even those attempted by tall experineced players. If the shaft of the racket is close enough to horizontal at the service impact to such an extent that it is difficult to determine if the racket head is completely and DISCERNABLY below the racet hand, then I would consider it as a fault as per the diagram and written rules concerning the serve. Sometimes these serves are called in tournaments, some times not. If the strict letter of the law (and diagram) are adhered to then more of these serves would likey be called.

Check out the diagram at the following link. All drive serves that I've seen look like either a type 1 or a type 2 fault as indicated by the diagram. Advanced players that claim that they have delivered a legal drive serve are usually guilty of the type 2 fault. I've not seen anyone that can deliver a drive serve with the racket positioned as shown in the last panel of this diagram...

http://www.intbadfed.org/images/serve.gif


For the wording of this rule check out:

http://www.intbadfed.org/laws.html#11. SERVICE

Rule 9.1.6 reads:

...the shaft of the server's racket at the instant of hitting the shuttle shall be pointing in a downward direction to such an extent that the whole of the head of the racket is DISCERNABLY below the whole of the server's hand holding the racket as in Diagram D.
 
victim, not the perp...

Neil is more concerned here about drive serves (legal or not) that are inflicted upon him rather than developing a drive serve himself. I suspect that Neil is perhaps a bit on the tall side himself. Drive serves often seem to be much more effective against tallish players than short players. Taller players often resort to crouching a bit more to defend against such servers.

This seems to help me somewhat since I'm a little on the tall side. I'm quick enough in most circumstances but failing eyesight (along with my height) has made me rather vulnerable to illegal drive serves.
 
Guys
this is all very useful information, but isn't the question really - how do I deal with such variable serves rather than how do I make sure they are delivering a legal serve.

It seems to me that if the person receiving serve was to concentrate on whether it was a legal serve or not when trying to be "ready" for receiving the serve, they are more likely to miss the return of the shuttle!!

In my limited experience, I have found that you need to find your "place" when receiving serve... This is the place where you know you have limited exposure or risk when returning the serve... I tend to stand about 2-3 feet back from the service line, my body weight centrally balanced, off the heels of my feet (on my toes), raquet and non raquet arms upwards and "threateningly" poised & apart for good balance - so as to hope to intimidate the server. FACE the server - your bady angle directly inline with his... Feet apart, but NOT one behind the other as the latter will ruin / minimise your foot movement. Be ready to "pounce"

Practice "springing" from this stance - to the tramlines for a low net serve; to the back of the court to your forehand; to the back.middle of the court for a "round the head" return; moving the racquet and body for receipt of body shot, power serves. It takes some time to get it right - and hey, I've not seen anyone who gets it right all the time..

Feet, stance, and racquet position are key...

hope this helps - it certainly helped me.

Then practice the delivery of serves as the others have so carefully explained - look at the diagrams... Eventually you will gain the confidence and ability to do all of this as second nature... Be patient with yourself - and don't let others phase you (as they so often try to do).. The art of badminton evolves - it doesn't just happen (unfortunately!!) :-)

all the best - and good luck
 
How do you manage to stand so close when receiving a singles serve?

How many steps would it take for you to run back to the back tramlines?
When receiving a high serve in the back tramlines, are you able (from this position) to run back, stop and then jump smash?

3 feet??..you must be Peter Gade!
 
Serve receive

from your description i assume that you are referring to serve receive for doubles.

excellent feedback except for 1 part fo your description. finding the optimum "location" to stand is crucial for maximizing success in receiving serve. this ideal location is very much dependent on the strengths & weaknesses of the receiver as well as the ability & tendencies fo the server. adopting a tall, threatening (but balanced) stance is also important as you suggest. Altho' you should adopt a tall aggressive stance, the knees should be bent somewhat.
(see @!#$ Ng's short video on serve receive at www.sportsid.com)

Part of your description on stance is a bit misleading tho'. One minor point first... you should be on the balls of the feet rather than the toes. the advice to FACE the server does sound quite right. the receiver should be side-on to the server for the most part, only slightly open, much as you would be for a forehand overhead shot. the feet are pretty much one behind the other in this stance; they are only slightly offset for a good balanced yet aggressive stance. again, see the video mentioned above for this stance.

as for ILLLEGAL serves... you are correct in saying that it is diificult to concentrate on receiving serve if you are trying to concentrate on the legality of the serve. if you are playing doubles, ask your partner to be aware of the legality of serves to you (as you should do for him/her). for the most part, i would think that if you are having difficulty determining if the server is delivering a legal serve, then the serve, most likely, is NOT legal (refer to the 2nd panel of the Diagram of my previous post).
 
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