Since March 2018, implemented at the All England 2018, the new badminton service rule has been in place. This stipulates that “the whole of the shuttle shall be below 1.15 metres from the surface of the court at the instant of being hit by the server’s racket.” (https://bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2017/11/29/experimental-service-law-from-march-2018).
Why The Change In The Rules?
BWF have argued the change is to “improve how service laws are applied.” The old service rule in badminton of serving below the lowest rib was an arbitrary rule applied at the discretion of the service judge. It was judged on a case by case basis by different service judges. This resulted in inconsistencies in the application of the rule. A new testing phase was planned to ensure an objective measure of the height of the serve for which a badminton player can be faulted on their low serve or flick serve.
What Was The Issue?
Among those who initially vocalised their concerns have been current World Champion Viktor Axelsen and Danish compatriot Mads Pieler Kolding. Malaysia’s superstar Lee Chong Wei also voiced concern prior to his retirement. The badminton serve has been closely scrutinized in doubles as faults were far more common in this category.
Taller players argued simply that the height restriction is too low. They are more likely to be faulted in a given service situation. It had also resulted in some comedic attempts to overcome this issue.
The new rule is seen as somewhat beneficial to shorter players. They may not have to adopt a change in their serving process compared to the taller players. Comparing Mads Pieler Kolding (2.05M) to Yamaguchi (1.55M) perhaps highlights the inequality of the new rule. But these are the two extremes of the spectrum.
The average height across all the players must imply that the 1.15M was a suitable choice of height. There would have been significant research into the change (one would hope)! Under the old rules, taller athletes had the advantage as their lowest rib was much higher. Shorter players sometimes tiptoed to serve closer to net height.
Professional players seem to have adapted to the new rule since it’s implementation. We haven’t really heard of any plans to change it. Initially, I think we were under the impression that the new service rule was going through a testing period. However, it seems like it’s here to stay. I have certainly noticed a decrease in service faults (even on flick serves) since the rule has been in place.
Badminton Service Rule In Local Leagues
Within local leagues and county leagues, I imagine the change in rule will not have much of an impact. Players still seem to follow below the old rules and this is something that will probably not change. We do not have the luxury of officials at our games to dictate the height of the badminton serve.
Ultimately is important to ensure an objective measure is in place so points, games and matches are awarded on a fairer basis. This only affects backhand serves in badminton, while underarm serves are not affected as it’s very unlikely it would break any of the new badminton service rule.
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[…] The whole of the shuttle shall be below 1.15 metres from the surface of the court at the instant of being hit by the server’s racket. Which basically means you can’t serve above 1.15 meters. Obviously this is hard to measure objectively, so many players not playing tournaments stick to the old rule of serving below the waist (defined as below the lowest rib). […]