Badminton Basics - 5: The high serve

Saina Nehwal

As we’ve explained once before, the high serve – when delivered deep and accurately – can be an effective weapon. That it is currently out of favour does not mean it will never return in the future. Unlike the low serve – which generally provokes a predictable response – there is greater possibility for control of a rally using the high serve. Here are two great names talking about the high serve:

Han Jian (1985 World Champion):

“People often take it (high serve) for granted by just sending the shuttle high into the air. You must know its purpose. You must have a rought idea how good your opponent is at making his returns before sending the shuttle up. If you are standing on the right side of the court and you send a high service to your opponent’s forehand, be aware that you are presenting your opponent a wide angle for him to attack. Sometimes, it is best to direct the high service to the base near the centre line. This will narrow your opponent’s angle of attack. Do this when your opponent’s forehand strokes are better than his overheads. Generally, the high service is regarded as a defensive stroke but if it is executed high and deep to the baseline, it will offer your opponent little chance to attack.”

Ken Davidson (US coaching guru):

“Since the serve, being underhand, must be considered a defensive stroke, you are immediately faced with the problem of changing defence into attack. You must defend your court by making it as difficult as possible for your opponent to attack. Thus you learn the importance of developing a high, deep serve.

“The back line, 22 feet from the net, is also the long service line in singles. A high serve, dropping straight down on the back line, forces your opponent back to the utmost limit of the court and gives you the longest possible time to see, and reach, the return of serve.

Wang Yihan

“Admittedly, your opponent has time to prepare for his return and has the chance to hit down, but even the most severe hitters in the game cannot consistently smash from the back line past a good defence. When they do, the rally ends quickly, but an inconclusive smash means they have very little time to recover their balance and the server can, for example, play a drop-shot which immediately switches the attack to his favour as it forces the smasher to dash in some 20 feet in an effort to save a point.

“A high serve, falling at right angles to the floor on the back line, is much more difficult to time and smash cleanly than a serve travelling on a flatter arc. Risk hitting deep over the back line to be sure you are getting good depth on your serves. If your opponent lets the shuttle fall, and it is out of court, you have a definite measure to readjust your length, whereas, if you are short, you may never realize why you are constantly getting into trouble. If your opponent continually smashes ‘through’ your defence, you can be almost certain your length is faulty.

“Good length: If, as a beginner, you learn to hit high, deep serves and clears to within three inches of the back line, you will acquire a shot which will stand you in good stead against any caliber of play, since these particular strokes form the mainstay of singles defence.

“Various serves: The deep, high serve, directed near the centre line, is basically the best for singles. The high serve can be, and should be, varied in height and direction. You must probe to see if your opponent is weak on either the high forehand or the high backhand. It will be found that many players do not go back far enough when the shuttle is directed into the deep forehand corner, particularly in their right court. They thus allow the shuttle to get a little behind their bodies, consequently cutting down on their effectiveness.

“Angle of return: The first study of the theory of the angle of return normally starts by thinking out the possible angle of your opponent’s return of serve.

“Serving to centre: A serve directed to fall on the back line, near the centre-service line, keeps your opponent directly ahead of you and means he must hit away from you towards either side line if he wishes to pass you. By assuming a serving base near the centre line and serving straight ahead, you divide the possible angle of return into halves. Thus you narrow down, to an absolute minimum, the angle of his return and equalize the danger on either side.

“Serving to side line: When you serve high to the wide, side-line corner of the court, you automatically change your opponent’s point of attack 8-1/2 feet away from the middle of the back line, so you must readjust your defensive base over towards that side line, in order to even out the danger to your right or left. From the side corner, your opponent can smash straight down the side line, which means you will have to reach all the way over to the side of your court to intercept the shuttle flying parallel to the side line, or he can angle his smash from one side line diagonally across the full width of the court to the other side line. The straight smash has a shorter distance to travel, which is why you must move over slightly towards the near side line; you will have a little more time to intercept the cross-court smash which has farther to travel.

“Central defensive base: Thus we see that your ‘central defensive base’ varies sideways approximately three feet, depending on where you direct your serve, or clear: if it’s down the centre of his court, your base is on your centre-service line; if it is aimed out to the opponent’s forehand sideline corner, your base will be slightly to the left of your centre-service line; and if you guide your serve, or clear, to the wide backhand side-line corner of your opponent, your defensive base will be moved over slightly to the right of your centre line to the extent of some 12 to 18 inches.”

Previous articles in this series:

The low serve