A serve is one of the most important aspects of badminton. It marks the beginning of a point and if done effectively, can be the first step towards making your opponent play a bad shot and winning the point.
There are various types of serves that one should have in the armoury to be taken out according to the opponent’s serve taking techniques. Be ready to adapt, improvise and make the opponents pay for both their quick/slow responses to a serve!
Let’s talk about the different types of serving! We can ideally divide badminton serves into two categories, backhand and forehand serves!
All players must master at least one of these serving techniques and if possible, both. Both these serving styles have their own merits and can be used to trick your opponents into wrongfooting! Personally, the author uses backhand serves while playing doubles and forehand serves while playing singles matches.
There are four different types of serves that are possible with both forehand and backhand serving i.e., low serves, high serves, flicks, and drives.
High serve to the edges of the backcourt
Short serve to the edges of the box
The flick serve is mainly useful as a variation on your low serve. The purpose of this variation is to prevent your opponent from gaining an early advantage by anticipating your low serve.
Serving to the mid-court sides
Next time you’re on the court practising the game with your friends, make sure you try all these serve variations, multiple times over. To err is common but keep pushing yourself, trying to make sure the low serve travels as close to the net as possible and the high serve reaches the furthest point of the court. Let us know how you have progressed!
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