Are you always flustered during badminton knockout tournaments? Your forehand serve either gets easily predicted and smacked by your opponent, or you accidentally hit it out of bounds and lose points — the more nervous you get, the more mistakes you make? Actually, the backhand serve is a secret scoring trick specially made for beginners: it has a small range of motion, easy to control落点, and can completely confuse your opponents. Even if you just started learning badminton recently, you can master it quickly.
1. Why is the backhand serve more likely to score in knockout tournaments?¶
Compared with the commonly used forehand serve, the advantages of the backhand serve just hit the pain points of knockout tournaments:
1. Hidden movement, hard to predict: The starting motion of a backhand serve is completely different from a forehand serve. And whether you want to serve a net short ball or a flat fast ball, the initial swing movement is almost identical, so the opponent has no time to react in advance.
2. Extremely low error rate: You don’t need a large swing, just fine-tune with your wrist and fingers to control the落点. Even when you’re nervous, it’s not easy to hit the ball out of bounds, which is perfect for stabilizing your morale in knockout tournaments.
3. More targeted: You can accurately serve to the opponent’s weak area, such as their unfamiliar backhand court. Even if the opponent receives the ball, their return quality will be very poor, and you can step forward directly for a smash to score.
2. 3-step practice for beginners to master backhand serve¶
You don’t need to find a professional coach, you can practice against a wall at home. Follow these three steps, and you can master the basic movements in a week:
1. Grip and Stance
The backhand grip is very simple: place your thumb on the wide inner side of the racket handle, and naturally close the other four fingers to hold the handle. The grip position is slightly forward than that of a forehand serve. Stand about 10 centimeters behind the “nearest court横线 to the net (i.e., the front service line)” on your side. Separate your feet front and back, with your front foot close to the court center line, your body sideways facing the net, and your center of gravity on your back leg. This will make your swing more stable.
2. Ball Toss and Starting Motion
Use your non-racket hand to gently pinch the shuttlecock’s cork, hold it at waist height, then loosen your hand and let the ball fall vertically 10-15 centimeters — don’t toss it too high, otherwise you won’t be able to control the落点 and will expose your serving intention early. Keep your racket hand naturally raised in front of you, with the racket head slightly facing down, don’t lift it too high to avoid making the movement too obvious.
3. Striking the Ball and Controlling the落点
This is the core of hidden scoring! Whether you want to serve a short ball or a flat fast ball, the first half of the swing movement must be exactly the same: relax your wrist, and gently swing forward with your forearm driving your wrist.
- To serve a net short ball: Finally, gently flick the bottom of the cork with your fingers, so that the shuttlecock flies close to the net and lands right near the opponent’s front service line. Even if the opponent tiptoes up, it will be hard for them to return the ball comfortably.
- To serve a flat fast ball: Speed up your swing a little, and gently slice the side of the shuttlecock with the racket face, so that the ball flies quickly to the opponent’s midcourt or backhand area. The opponent will have no time to step back to receive the ball.
3. Practical tactics for knockout tournaments: turn backhand serve into a scoring weapon¶
Knowing how to serve is not enough; you need to combine tactics to score points. These tips are suitable for beginners to use in knockout tournaments:
1. Disrupt the opponent’s rhythm at the start: At the beginning of the game, when the opponent is still adjusting their state, you can first serve 2-3 consecutive net short balls, making the opponent keep bending over and standing near the net waiting to receive short serves. Then suddenly serve a flat fast ball to the opponent’s backhand baseline. Since the opponent has been keeping a bent posture, they won’t have time to step back, and will most likely make a return error.
2. Score by targeting the weak side: If the opponent is right-handed, their left side (i.e., the right side of our court) is their backhand weak area, where their reaction speed is much slower than their forehand. You can serve more flat fast balls here. Even if he receives the ball, his return will either drift far or go out of bounds directly, and you can step forward for a smash to win the point.
3. Stabilize morale in close matches: When the score is tight, the backhand serve has an extremely low error rate, which can help you score steadily without making mistakes due to nervousness like a forehand serve, helping you stabilize the pace of the game.
4. Beginner pitfalls: avoid these 4 common mistakes¶
Many beginners stumble when practicing backhand serves. Avoid these problems and you can make rapid progress:
1. Don’t toss the ball too high: If you toss the ball more than 20 centimeters high, it will not only be hard to control the落点, but also allow the opponent to see your serving movement in advance.
2. Don’t grip the racket too tightly: If your grip is too stiff, your wrist won’t be able to rotate flexibly, and the serving落点 will deviate greatly.
3. Don’t make the movement too obvious: Be sure to keep the initial movements of serving short balls and flat fast balls completely consistent, don’t flip your wrist early, otherwise the opponent will see through your intention at a glance.
4. Don’t only use one type of serve: If you keep serving short balls or flat fast balls all the time, the opponent will quickly figure out your routine. Be sure to alternate between the two, so that the opponent can’t guess your serving direction.
As long as you spend 10 minutes every day practicing movement consistency and落点 control, soon you will be able to use the backhand serve to get many key points in knockout tournaments, and you won’t have to worry about serving mistakes anymore.
