Badminton service

Service is the first shot played in badminton and you are also going to agree with me that having good knowledge about Badminton service help in playing rally from start with good confidence, service in badminton is not a small topic there are so much thing to cover but for you I have written this full guide where you will find every single thing about service from Rules, Types, Technique to Faults.

What will you learn in this guide?

• Service rules
• Types of serve
• How to serve in badminton
  
• Service Faults

Badminton service rules In Singles

Singles service line

If the shuttle lands outside the same color area(service are done diagonally) than it is considered as out (on the line shuttle is IN)

During service head of racket must not be higher than 1.15 m,

In Badminton service is performed diagonally, their are two compartment in a badminton court in a box shape Left and Right,

In singles a simple rule and regulations  is followed for service if you are having points in odd number like 1, 3, 5 then you will serve from left box of court side diagonally to your opponent and if you are having points in even number like 0, 2, 4 then you have to serve from right box of your court side diagonally to your opponent.

• If the server wins a rally, the server scores a point and then serves again from the alternate service court.
• If the receiver wins a rally, the receiver scores a point and becomes the new server. They serve from the appropriate service court – left if their score is odd, and right if it is even.

Service rules in Doubles

Doubles service line

If the shuttle lands outside the same color area(service are done diagonally) than it is considered as out (on the line shuttle is IN)

Rules are same as in singles but as their are two player in a team then service will be done in continuity means if A and B is playing A receive the first service and win the point now the next service will be of his partner B and he will continues to serve until  they lose the point. see the illustration below.

Souce:- BWF

• A side has only one ‘set’.
• The service passes consecutively to the players as shown in the diagram.
• At the beginning of the game and when the score is even, the server serves from the right service court. When it is odd, the server serves from the left court.
• If the serving side wins a rally, the serving side scores a point and the same server serves again from the alternate service court.
• If the receiving side wins a rally, the receiving side scores a point. The receiving side becomes the new serving side.
• The players do not change their respective service courts until they win a point when their side is serving.

Update in service rules (2018)

Bwf introduced a new serving rule and will be followed in German open 2018, in this the contact point of racket with shuttle needs to be below 1.15m, all other things are same like racket needs to be in downward direction for backhand serve.

It can be a problem for tall players like kolding, ivanov, viktor axlesen etc.

But putting a standard height will reduce the arguing of player to service judge over given fault.

Which happens a lot of time nowadays.

Types of Badminton service and faults

In both disciplines, singles and doubles service a good is very important and the whole momentum of the rally

now a days player are always in hurry to finish the rally with smashes and if your serve is not good enough than you can lose the point right away on your serve both in singles and doubles.

1). Backhand serve

backhand service

Nowadays backhand serve is done in almost every disciplines, benefit of doing this serve is that your opponent cannot have many shot choices to make which gives the server a upper-hand

while in long serve the opponent have a large amount of shot choice to make due to which now more and more player are doing backhand serve.

How to do a short backhand service

backhand service

• Stand in a comfortable and balanced position with your racket hand in front.
• Lead with your racket leg and place your non-racket leg behind with your feet pointing towards your opponent.
• Carry out a short back swing then bring the racket forward.
  
• Hold the shuttle on the tip of the feathers in front of your waist level.
• Push the shuttle with the racket face and try to make the shuttle skim the tape of the net.
• You can try to shorten the grip for a better control of the racket.

Flick Serve in badminton

Under this serve player motive is to deceive the receiver by a sudden ejection of force from his racket the technique for performing flick serve is same as backhand serve.

The only difference is the power.

Doing a flick serve demands a lot of wrist power and if your racket is too heavy to perform this action then doing an effective flick service is hard , these are rackets which i recommend for a badminton player.

Above picture is showing where the shuttle should land to be considered as a good Flick serve(From X to that point).

Using flick service in match is a good tactic to deceive opponent on service and force a lose return.

Backhand serve Faults

No movement of Body:- You are not allowed to move your feet during the service and any other body part you waist. Also if your feet touches any of the lines in the center court than it will be fault.

Position of your racket:- The point of contact where you hit the shuttle should be below 1.15 m

Single action :- You are only allowed to hit the shuttle with single flow and no double action is allowed.

If you missed the shot , means not able to touch the shuttle while serving and it hit the ground it will be counted as fault and your opponent will get the point.

Hitting shuttle with feather:- If you make contact with shuttle feather first while doing a service then it is a fault so make sure that you are hitting cork of shuttle first during service.

2). Forehand serve

This type of serve is mainly used in women’s singles nowadays as it gives the server more time to be ready for the opponent’s shot and the reason why long serve is not used in men’s singles is due to the power player having to produce a hard smash and finish the rally on the service.

How to do a forehand serve

• Played with a forehand underarm action.
• Stand two to three feet behind the short service line.
• Relax your body and bent your knees slightly.
• Lead with your non-racket leg and place your racket leg behind.
• Bring your racket back to almost your shoulder level then swing it forward following the rhythm of the stroke.
  
• Hold the shuttle by the feathers and let it drop slightly in front of you.
• Hit it with the flat face of your racket and follow through until your racket reaches the non-racket side of your head.

Different variation in forehand service

Low serve

The low serve is played gently over the net to land at the front of your opponent’s service court, near the short service line.

It’s important that this serve passes low over the net (hence the name low serve).

The low serve is used in both singles and doubles. In doubles, the low serve is used more frequently than any other serve.

High serve

The high serve is played powerfully upwards, so that the shuttlecock travels very high and falls almost vertically downwards at the back of the receiver’s service court.

High serves are used frequently in singles, but never in doubles (at a high standard of play).

Above picture is showing where the shuttle should land to be considered as a good long serve(From X to that point).

The high serve can only be played with a forehand action. Unlike the other three serves, you just won’t get enough power from a backhand to play a good high serve.

Drive serve

The drive serve is played flat and fast towards the back of the receiver’s service court, passing low over the net.

The idea is to provoke an immediate reaction, hoping that the receiver will mishit the shuttlecock.

Drive serves are a gamble: if your opponent is too slow, then you will win the point immediately; but if he reacts quickly enough, then you are likely to lose.

Drive serves are almost never used by professional players, because their opponents are quick enough to counter-attack the serve consistently.

At low levels of play, drive serves are used extensively by competitive players, because many opponents are unable to handle them.

In particular, drive serves are favoured by strong junior players (around the age of 13), who enjoy getting cheap points.

Drive serves are mainly used in doubles, because the receiver stands farther forwards than in singles.

Forehand Service Faults

No movement of Body:- You are not allowed to move your feet(both feet touched to ground) during the service and any other body part you waist. Also if your feet touches any of the lines in the center court than it will be fault.

Position of your racket:- The point of contact where you hit the shuttle should be below 1.15 m

Single action :- You are only allowed to hit the shuttle with single flow and no double action is allowed.

If you missed the shot , means not able to touch the shuttle while serving and it hit the

ground it will be counted as fault and your opponent will get the point.

Other serve faults

• When your opponent is not ready

Remember badmintonisgreat.com if you face any problem in your badminton career.

Thank you for reading…….