Dear jonathan… I would say well done for coming through the first round! The people you beat in the first round didn't do as well as you!

You say this is your second tournament? In my opinion, losing in three games is an achievement. Perhaps you should have beaten your opponents, but from the sounds of it, you were beaten by a pair that played at a higher pace. Perhaps you should consider: firstly either learning to play at a higher pace, or secondly, discussing with your partner some tactics you could use to slow the pace down to suit your game – the first step in this transition, as you may know from watching pauls coaching videos, is changing the pace and trajectory of your clears!

I normally find, when I am beaten by a player who plays at a higher pace than me, that I tend to rush my shots, and thus they break down. So, for example, all my lifts tend to be a little bit short, because I am under pressure, thus I am under EVEN MORE pressure, because now I am against a fast opponent, who hits fast shots, and now he can hit them from further up the court, making things even worse. The downwards spiral continues… so my solution? Work on my lifts! Keep my opponent pinned to the back of the court, and see what they can do from the very back! Notice, another solution to my problem, could have been to play faster and try to overwhelm him! That may also work, but seeing as they are beating me at a higher pace, it seems unlikely to me that I can master an EVEN HIGHER pace during the match, so I chose instead to work on things I KNOW that I can do. This is just an example of a problem I sometimes have with a fast opponent.

I feel too many people will try to play at an even faster pace, and get beaten because of it. I would love to master that higher pace! But my shots must never break down even when under pressure. So until they are rock solid, I will not worry about increasing my pace. Then, I play them again, and all of a sudden, their shots don't cause me so much bother, because MY shots are holding up under pressure. This relieves the pressure from me, as my opponent has to try something new to beat me, because his normal game plan isn't working anymore! Hooray!

I hope you practise hard ready to get into the third round of your next tournament 🙂

Matt

For the lifts… practice practice practice!

I used to find that i was almost afraid of my opponents smash. This was very unsettling. I grew nervous, trying not to give away the attack, and when I did give away the attack, it was a nervous short lift. My solution was to practise my defense every session for 5 minutes, with a net attacker and me defending back to the net attacker. This developed my speed of thought, my grip changes, and my precision. Now when I play doubles, I want my opponent to feel as if their smash is meaningless in the face of my defensive qualities, as I am able to block, drive and lift the shuttle however I need.

With regard to hitting low to avoid an opponents smash: I would like you to be aware that hitting low may stop them from smashing at you, or may mean they are able to intercept the shuttle before it reaches the back of the court, which is not good. However being able to hit lower lifts AND very high lifts, will keep the pace of the game varied, and should help you to avoid their smashes. Remember that smashing a vertical falling shuttle is very difficult, and if you execute correctly will struggle to penetrate an oppositions defense. Therefore, I recommend making sure every lift is of a good length, whilst practising other things. The length is of more importance, in my opinion, than learning to play faster.

Remember, that attacking down the middle gives the best chance for the attacking net player to get involved!

In your next tournament, you WILL beat your opponents in the second round 🙂

Hope my story of my defensive capabilities may help you to consider what is the best course of action!