Featured Image: Pierre Yves Beaudouin
Rotation is a very important skill that any doubles partnership should possess. We previously mentioned the roles of the rear court player and frontcourt player. However, the game of badminton isn’t so static that each player is constrained to one role or the other.
Consider the following situation:
- X is attacking from the rear court on the right-hand side and Y is covering the net area.
- X, having forced a weak reply moves into the midcourt to continue the attack.
- At the point of X’s attack, Y is standing at the front of the court. If X’s attack is effective, then X will move forward to continue the attack. This leaves the rear court open.
- Y knows the attack is coming down the right-hand side of court, therefore they move left to allow X to come forward. Y then moves into the rear court to cover the space left by X.
- By doing so Y becomes the rear court player and X becomes the frontcourt player.
This is an example of badminton rotation. The idea is to cover the open spaces left by your partner. In the above example, because the opponent is under a lot of pressure from X, they will want to lift the shuttle to relieve some of this pressure and get the shuttle away from X. But if X moves forward, and Y rotates to the rear court, then Y can continue the attack.
Attacking Rotation
The above example is a good illustration of attacking rotation. Therefore in order to define what it is, you could say: “Attacking rotation is the movement of the rear court player to the forecourt and the forecourt player into the rear court, whilst maintaining the attack.”
The video below is a great analysis of former world number ones Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong.
How Attacking Rotation Occurs
Attacking rotation is initiated by the rear court player and is dependent on the opponent’s defensive shot. The frontcourt player is guided by the relative position of the rear court player and the attacking direction of their shot.
Strong chemistry in the partnership is very important for attacking rotation to be effective. Each player should have a tactical understanding of when they should rotate.
I have tried to identify some determinants of attacking rotation below.
- Opponents Defensive Shot
- Being in the right position
- Moving Forward at the right time
Opponents Defensive Shot
The ability of the rear court player to rotate in will depend on the opponent’s reaction to the attack.
Defensive blocks to the net and cross-court drives, in theory, should be intercepted by the net player. Therefore, it might be more beneficial to not rotate in this situation as the net player is already in the best strategic position. Very good blocks by the opponent will require the frontcourt player to stay in control of the net by returning the shot in such a way that forces the opponent to lift the shuttle.
If the opponent plays a cross-court lift, however, the frontcourt player could move into the backcourt, while the rear court player follows their shot forward. The opponent’s shot provides enough time to allow this to happen. Whether or not this happens will depend on the chemistry of the partnership and relative strengths and weaknesses.
Another scenario is if the opponent plays a straight push past the frontcourt player down the trams. The rear-court player can take this coming forward and play a drop to the net and follow their shot in. The intention behind this shot is to get a lift from the opponent. Again this creates time, allowing the attacking pair to rotate.
Being In The Right Position
This largely depends on the above but also on understanding the likely replies from the opponent to the rear court player’s attack. This will allow the rear court player to situate themselves in a position which will allow them to rotate in should the opportunity come.
In addition, it must be considered where on the court the rear court player is attacking from. If they are attacking straight down the middle from the middle of the court, it’s very difficult to rotate. It is not clear to the front court player in which direction to move because there is no guidance from the shot and actually, it’s strategically more advantageous for them to continue to cover the net in this situation.
If attacking from either side of the centre line, there’s more understanding in which direction to rotate. Attacking from the left-hand side of the court will allow rotation to occur clockwise and anti-clockwise for the right-hand side of the court. It’s clearer to both partners in which direction each should be moving.
Shot Direction
Rotation of the front court and rear court player is also facilitated by the direction of the rear court player’s shot. As always, the default attacking direction is straight or to the middle of the court. The reasons why are highlighted in my previous article on the role of the rear court player. In summary, it gives less time to the opponents and reduces the angle of their reply. Therefore it becomes easier to anticipate opponents’ replies and the rear court player can take advantage of this to move forward.
Cross Court
Contrary to the above, attacking cross-court can actually be beneficial in creating an opportunity to rotate. Remember, a cross-court is generally not a shot you want to be playing as a habit. However, it does not mean the cross-court can never be a tactically advantageous shot given the right situation.
When looking to rotate the cross-court should be played:
1. When in a strong attacking position. – If you are smashing from midcourt, this puts opponents under pressure. They are more likely to lift the shuttle to relieve themselves of said pressure.
Smashing across the body of the opponent, their likely reply is to play straight, given the difficulty of manoeuvring the racket to play cross court and the speed of the smash from this position.
If looking to rotate this means the frontcourt player has time to move back to take the straight lift and the rear court player moves into the net area, ready to cover the opponent’s next defensive shot to the net.
2. When the frontcourt player is wanting to rotate out. If the frontcourt player wants to move into the rear court they are reliant on the rear court player to design that situation. The net player may make their intentions known by backing off slowly from the net or simply by communicating with their partner they want to move out. The rear court player must be in a strong attacking position (point 1) to facilitate this.
3. Strong chemistry within the partnership. Playing cross-court is a risky shot. If there isn’t strong chemistry between you and your partner, the straight reply from the opponent might not be covered by either of you. This is because the expectations between the two players are different.
There needs to be this understanding before you can consider this shot. Otherwise, it’s much safer to maintain your current attacking position until you can rotate more naturally.
Rotating At The Right Time
You do not have to rotate every time you’re on the attack. It’s only when it is necessary to do so. If either player moves faster than the other, they risk exposing areas of the court for the opponent to exploit.
A typical example is the rear court player rushing to the net, rather than building a situation which allows them to. They may play a fast drive and follow their shot at speed. The opponent simply needs to lift the shuttle over this player to put them in trouble.
On the other hand, if the net player starts to back away from the net expecting the rear court player to move in, this opens up the frontcourt to the opponent.
Y moves backwards too quickly – forecourt is exposed.(Purple).
In order to rotate you have to create time to allow this movement to occur or pressurise the opponents into weak or favourable replies. As a partnership, the rotation should be a key part of your attacking game. It will give you any more opportunities to end the rally either by killing the shuttle or forcing your opponents into error. There’s often a lot of discussion about when the right time to rotate is. Building good chemistry with your partner will help you to develop a much better understating of rotation in your partnership.
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