The Badminton serve is the most important and basic shot in the game of Badminton. Every rally and stroke starts from a service.
No matter how good a player is, he or she will have difficulty to win a game without a good quality serve. Service is becoming more and more important in the modern game, especially in doubles. It may determine the fate of the player's game.
There are 5 types of serve that every player should master which are the high serve, low serve, backhand serve, drive serve and the flick serve.
The High Serve
High serve is mostly used in singles. A good high service must be high and lands in between the two baselines at the rearcourt. Malaysia's former legendary player Eddy Choong had one of the best high serve during his time. The shuttle would go up very high and very deep. When it came down, you had to stand at the edge of the rear court to retrieve it. If you smash, you would probably hit the feathers.
The high serve is considered as a defensive serve because it gives the player sufficient time while the shuttle is high up on the air. It will put you in a less vulnerable position. One of the advantages of this serve is that it forces your opponent back to the base line and open up his court.
The Low serve
The low serve are used when a player wants to attack. Most attacking players in singles uses the low serve because they have to keep their shots low so that it will open up an opportunity for the kill. The low serve is also used when your opponent's attack is strong because they will have less opportunity to attack when you keep the shuttle low.
Doubles player often uses this serve to force their opponent to lift up the shuttle. Most of the experienced players use the low serve when the speed of shuttle is fast. It is also better for players to use the low serve when they are actually playing in an air conditioned hall with the drift effect as it will reduce the chances of serving the shuttle out.
Backhand serve
Backhand serve employs more wristwork compared to the forehand serve. You just need to flick a little bit of your wrist in order to produce a low backhand serve unlike the forehand serve which players use other parts of their arm as well.
It can be a very effective serve as the stroke execution is fast. Players don't need to do much movement in order to produce a backhand serve. Top players such as Indonesia's Ricky Subagja and South Korea's Park Joo Bong do it so well. Before you can even blink, the shuttle has arrived.
The backhand serve is commonly used in today's modern singles game especially in Men singles. Most men singles players use this serve so that they will have more opportunities to play an attacking game right from the start.
The Drive serve
Drive serve is one of the variations to the high serve and the low serve. This is an attacking serve that can be used in both singles and doubles. However, it is rarely used so that it avoids opponent to anticipate the serve.
Some players like to shorten their grip to gain more control over their rackets such as Indonesia's top player Chandra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto. This service can be used when your opponent's overhead position is unguarded.
The Flick Serve
The idea of this serve is to get the shuttle quickly past your opponent and give him less time to play his shot. The shot's options that can be returned by the opponents are limited. It will produce the best results against an opponent that doesn't have good reflexes and bad concentration level. However, do not use the flick serve too often as opponent will be able to anticipate it.
It is important for you to master the badminton serve. The lack of quality of your badminton serve may affect the improvement of your game.
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