If you’re a new badminton doubles player, chances are you’ve suffered from receiving serves: when your opponent’s shot just clears the net, you either react too late and lift a high ball that gets smashed, or swing and miss the shot to give away a point, getting pressed the entire rally. Most of these passive situations stem from either poor positioning or not mastering the net front flat punch and block skills after receiving the serve. Today we’ll break down these two core steps to help you quickly shake off the receiving serve disadvantage.
1. Doubles Receiving Serve Positioning: Find the Right Spot First to Avoid Being Disadvantaged Before the Serve Even Lands¶
Many new players either crowd right up to the net or retreat all the way to the back court to receive serves, both of which will immediately put you in a passive position. Remember these 3 simple rules to quickly find the correct position:
1. Nail the optimal front-back distance
Stand at a position 10~20 cm behind your side’s front service line — roughly 3~4 meters away from the net. If you stand too close, your opponent can easily drop a soft net shot and you won’t have time to retreat. If you stand too far back, you’ll only be able to lift a high ball when facing a fast flat serve, directly giving your opponent a chance to smash.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, shift your weight to the balls of your feet, and lean your upper body slightly forward. This way you can immediately push off with small steps the moment the ball comes over, no more slow, sluggish starts.
2. Don’t stand in the dead corner for left-right positioning
Never stand right along the sideline of your half court! Your opponent can easily hit a flat shot to the sideline and you won’t have time to reach it. The correct positioning is: stand near the center line, about 50 cm away from the sideline. This way you can cover the central gap as well as defend your own side’s sideline, leaving your opponent with no easy openings.
3. Don’t crowd together with your partner
Many new player pairs huddle up together when receiving serves, leading to racket collisions or missed shots. The correct coordination is: the primary receiver stands in the front position, while the partner retreats about 30 cm backward, standing diagonally behind the primary receiver to cover the central area and the opponent’s wide open spaces.
For a simple example: if you are right-handed and standing in the right court to receive serve, your partner should stand slightly back in the left court. Keep a distance of about 1.5 meters between you two, so you won’t collide rackets and can cover for each other.
2. Flat Punch and Block Basics: Quickly Regain the Initiative After Receiving the Serve¶
Many new players only know how to lift high balls when receiving serves, which is actually the most passive choice — your opponent can directly smash the high ball for a point. Flat punch and block is a technique for fast back-and-forth shots at the mid-front court, letting you take control of the rally pace. New players can get started quickly by practicing the simplified movements.
1. Flat punch and block movements friendly to beginners
You don’t need to learn the complicated movements of professional players, just remember these 3 key points:
- Relax your grip: Don’t clench the racket tightly, hold it lightly like you would a fountain pen. Keep your wrist flexible to enable fast power generation;
- Find the correct contact point: The contact point should be at the height between your waist and chest, directly in front of your body. You don’t need to bend over or raise your arm high, this is the most comfortable position for generating power;
- Distinguish between punch and block:
- Punch: Use your forearm to drive your wrist to swing the racket quickly like cracking a whip, tilt the racket face slightly forward, and hit the ball fast towards your opponent’s open space, such as behind the opposing partner;
- Block: When your opponent hits a flat punch at you, don’t swing hard. Simply use the racket face to gently tap the ball, directing it back to your opponent’s front net area, just control the落点 so it doesn’t go out of bounds.
2. Most common flat punch and block mistakes for beginners
- Raising the racket too high: Many new players lift their racket above their head when hitting flat shots. This is not only slow, but also leaves you open to your opponent’s smashes;
- Only using your arms, not your feet: Relying only on swinging your arms to reach the ball, without using push steps or small shuffles to move, you’ll never keep up with the ball’s position;
- Swinging too hard: Beginners always want to hit the ball as far as possible, which either results in the ball going long or landing in the net. Master controlling the落点 first before working on speed.
3. 10-minute quick practice drill
You don’t need a professional partner, you can practice at home: Stand 3~4 meters away from a wall, hit the shuttlecock towards the mid-front area of the wall, catch the rebound and hit it again. Practice for 10 minutes each day, and you’ll quickly get the feel for flat punches and blocks.
3. Beginner Receiving Serve Avoidance Checklist¶
- Don’t jump to receive serves easily: Beginners have trouble controlling their balance after landing, which will easily lead to mistakes;
- Say hello to your partner before receiving the serve: For example, call out “I’ll receive”, so your partner knows to cover the court and avoid racket collisions or missed shots;
- Beginners can practice net drops first: If you really don’t have time to execute a flat punch or block, simply gently drop the shuttlecock close to the net, making it hard for your opponent to smash, buying yourself time to adjust;
- Don’t chase points too early: When you first start out, don’t aim to score points right away. Just being able to have a few flat punch and block rallies with your opponent counts as progress.
The core of doubles receiving serve isn’t scoring points right away, but first avoiding having to lift passive high balls and bringing the rally to the mid-front court. Master your positioning first, then gradually refine your flat punch and block movements, and before long you’ll be able to say goodbye to being pressed during receiving serves.
