Featured Image: Pierre-Yves Beaudouin
Rear Court Attacking Shots
The badminton smash is the most common shot you will see in badminton doubles. Often we will be graced with players leaping high in the year and yelling with power as they rain down smash after smash. The shot choice from the rear court in attacking doubles is fairly straight forward. For now, we will ignore variations of each shot, e.g. slices etc. as it’s important to understand the fundamentals.
Badminton Smash
The fastest shot in badminton is the smash. It is the best tactical shot from the rear court. A lot of players feel like smashing continuously is a caveman-like approach but this tactic is not wrong. If your smash is effective you should continue to use it.
The smash in badminton should not be thought of as a winning shot. This is only the case if the shuttle is short of the back tramlines. It should be considered almost as a set-piece. The idea of the badminton smash is not to win the rally, but to set up a weak return for yourself or your partner. Rallies are rarely won from the rear court alone at higher levels. It’s the smash which sets up a winning opportunity. Please click here for an article to understand the smash in more detail.
This should be your default shot when you have the opportunity to attack. See this link for a free E-book on smashing and to subscribe to Swift Badminton School on YouTube. A great source for badminton knowledge.
Placement of The Smash In Badminton
Now let’s discuss where you should be aiming on the court to help the front court player and maintain the attack. In a previous article, we mentioned playing straight and down the middle of the badminton court. Now let’s dive into this a little deeper. This is not an exhaustive list, just a few common options.
- The Tramlines. By smashing into the tramlines, you force your opponent to reach for the shuttle. This, in turn, moves them from a relatively secure defensive base to playing the return slightly off balance. This may force a weak reply. Often tram line smashes are outright winners as opponents’ positions are more biased towards the centre of the court. The issue with smashing here is that it is more likely that you will make an unforced error by hitting the shuttle wide of the court. Therefore, it should really be used when you have more time on the shuttle to really place it.
- Right Hip Of The Opponent (assuming right-handed player). This is a very difficult shot for players to retrieve. It’s awkward to move the racket so such a position as it’s unnatural.
- Into The Body Of The Opponent. Smashes into the body are a great variation. The angle is a little higher than what the opponent maybe expect and often catches them off guard.
- Between The Two Players. This carries the same advantages of hitting down the middle and is most beneficial to the front court player.
See the master Fu Haifeng below demonstrating the advantages of using the smash to force his opponents into error.
Steepness of the Smash In Badminton
In general, most of your smashes should be angled more steeply. This brings the shuttle down faster but also means opponents will be taking the shuttle from below the net. As a result, it is more difficult for them to play flat counter-attacking shots with pace. This helps to keep you on the attack.
Flat smashes are a good variation but should not be used consistently. Good defensive players will be able to feed off the pace of the smash and drive the shuttle into open areas of the court.
Generally, there is a trade-off between angle and power. The less power you give a smash the more angle you will be able to apply.
Other Attacking Shots
The smash the best tactical shot you can play to set up a winning opportunity. This is why more of the article is focused on it. However, another reason is that the below shots become so much more effective when you prioritise smashing as your primary attacking shot.
Drop Shot
The drop shot in badminton is a slower shot designed to disrupt the rhythm of the defence of the opponents. It does this by bringing them forward to destabilise their defensive position. They are usually played as a softer shot, landing before the opposition’s service line or with a little more pace so they land just in front of their defensive position. Both are effective as a change of pace when the rally has been dominated by smashes.
The reason it is so effective is that players under continuous attack tend to become “rooted” to their spot in defence, expecting the attacker to continue playing smashes. It often catches them off guard and they are forced to scramble to the shuttle, hopefully providing a weak return for you or your partner to kill off.
In addition, if you can play this shot with deception, it will often win the point outright as it will be very hard for the opponent to see the shot until the very last moment.
If played too often it can become predictable. Drops lack the pace of the smash. It can be countered quickly or even killed at the net if anticipated. It should be used after the opponent has been pressurised with strong smashes.
Attacking clears
Clears are often thought of as a defensive shot. However, it can also be used in an attacking capacity. It is best utilised when opponents are under pressure from stronger attacking play. The clear is a little shallower than a defensive clear and travels with more pace to the rear court. This shot may catch your opponent out immediately, or force them to play a weak clear, setting you up for an opportunity to kill the shuttle or giving you a better opportunity to set your partner up.
Varying your attack
Varying your attack is extremely important. For many people, this means a change of pace. While this is true it also includes other factors such as playing your attack at different angles and hitting different areas of the court.
Amateur players often make the mistake of putting too much power into every smash. This not only tires them out a lot faster but also limits their judgement of what other possibilities are available. It is better to hit the shuttle consistently downwards with 70% power and better angles than to only rely on power smashes.
It’s best to keep your opponents guessing. If you are predictable with your attack, your opponents will get into a defensive rhythm, easily returning your shots.
The attacking clear and drops are both excellent ways to interrupt this rhythm through a change of pace. While hitting towards the body once in a while rather than playing a steep smash will catch out opponents who have committed themselves to receive a steeper smash.
Playing with patience
Most importantly, be patient with your attacking play. Against strong opponents, you are not going to be able to power smash your way through their defence so easily. Even at the professional level, players can lose patience and will attempt to hit higher error percentage shots. For example trying to hit the outside lines of the court. In other situations, players throw all their power into a single smash in the hope it will win the point, only to be caught out by the return.
Instead, think about what your aim is. You need to set up your partner. Therefore, you need to play shots beneficial to them. Employing variations of the shots as mentioned above will help to achieve this. Just because the shuttle keeps coming back doesn’t mean your tactic is wrong. You might just have to work a little harder to earn your points.
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