What a question that is! And unfortunately, there are no simple answers! Some thoughts to get you going:

Feet:

Racket foot slightly forwards is definitely the correct answer! It brings your racket shoulder forwards, giving your racket arm plenty of space to move around. Racket foot too far in front could be problematic if you have to play any forehand shots, so “slightly forwards” sounds good to me.

Position:

If the shuttle is in the middle of your opponents court, then simply stand side by side, covering half a court each. It is my opinion that when this happens, you should seriously consider why a lift was played to the middle, is there a GOOD strategic reason for doing so? Remember that the attackers BEST smash (between you both) is now his FASTEST smash (because of the shorter distance. I think both player should be standing about 2-3 feet behind the midcourt, so that you have time to see the shuttle coming, and you can contact the shuttle clearly in front – you should be contacting the shuttle, with your racket arm forwards, at about midcourt.

When the shuttle is to the side, the straight defender should be able to cover the straight tramline, once again being a bit further back. If possible, go forwards to meet the shuttle. The cross court defender will probably benefit from roughly facing the direction of the attacker, and being slightly closer to the net and the middle than his straight defending partner. The idea is that the defenders, at the straight defence distance, should be comfortable with the pace of opponents shot. Therefore, standing further back as the cross court defender is not going to “help” defend, whilst taking a step forwards may give you some counter attacking options!

Posture:

This is a key idea that I don't think enough people consider! Posture! We are trying to deal with an opponents smash right? This is coming DOWN and its coming down FAST. Therefore we need to see it as early as possible. In my opinion, you want to lower your posture, so that you are, if possible, looking upwards towards the attacker, and leaning slightly forwards. This has two benefits – firstly  the leaning forwards should help bring you slightly onto the balls of your feet, making you ready to move, and hopefully move forwards into the shot at that! Secondly, going down SHOULD help you pick up the flight of the shuttle better! Why? Well… its a bit computer science nerdy, but you have to put up with that! The reason is, that the centre of our vision has MOST of the processing power in the brain. Consider the very middle of your sight, most of the detail we see – and I mean REALLY see, is in about 5 degrees of the centre of our vision. This is not very big. Once something goes outside this, the processing and registering of that thing is greatly reduced – the peripheral vision (its a lot bigger than you think). Thus, looking up at the shuttle, means that we are more likely to keep the shuttle in the middle of our vision for longer as it is coming down – meaning we process it quicker/better, and hence respond better. Give it a go, it might help!

Racket:

This is the big issue for me… what to do? This is very personal in my opinion! We want the racket out. We need it away from our bodies. We need to be able to play shots as soon as we can, and reaching forwards is the best way to do that. (TIP: if you are struggling to keep the racket out because your arm keeps dropping to your side, try this: extend you arm fully, and now turn your elbow slightly out to the side – this should stop it from simply swinging back down to your side).

What grip? Where to hold the racket? I would probably recommend a grip biased slightly towards a backhand thumb grip, but not a full thumb grip, as we may need to quickly change to a forehand grip. Remember though, that a backhand grip is probably needed for defending the body, and the backhand side, thus we need a backhand to cover 2/3 of the shots. I would hold the racket roughly in line with my racket hip and shoulder, with my racket pretty much pointing towards my opponent. My racket is probably held no higher than my hip – if anything comes too high on me, given where I am standing, I would expect it to be out.

These are just some things to consider!

What is interesting, is that in professional terms, most Indonesian players are considered to have great defences. However, they wait with their rackets by their ankles, and look plain lazy often! However, this does NOT affect the quality and variety they have in defence – this is the key. Beware over committing to either forehand or backhand – an intelligent and observant opponent will make you pay for it!

Matt