10 Badminton Shots Ranked from Easy to Super Hard

With this video I want to give my view on the difficulty of different shots, and maybe also give a good guideline for coaches and players what kind of shots they can start out with or what could be the next level for advanced players.
The difficulty also depends hugely on the context and situation. As I mentioned, a cross defence for example can be super easy or even natural when you hit the shuttle in front of you but far beside you it gets very tricky. Let me know in the comments with what kind of shots you are struggling a lot or what shots you want me to rank that I didn’t include in the video.
On my channel you find tutorials to most of the shots I talk about in the video: Here you can find them:
Clear and Smash Tutorial: • Smash and Clear Tutori...
4 Levels of Dropshots: • 4 Types of Dropshots f...
Reverse Slice with Yeoh Seng Zoe from Malaysia: • Malaysian Badminton Sk...
Sliced Dropshots: • Sliced Dropshots: Send...
Backhandclear: • Backhandclear tutorial...
Forehand Serve: • Badminton Forehand Ser...
References:
How To Play A Deceptive Backhand Reverse Drop - The most difficult shot in badminton! • How To Play A Deceptiv...
TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2021 | Anders Antonsen (DEN) [3] vs Loh Kean Yew (SGP) | SF:
• TotalEnergies BWF Worl...

[@markchandler7089]

Very good discussion and the film work is great. The dark background really helps to see the shuttle and motions. I especially like the thoughts on why some shots are easier than others. This helps me guide beginners through the tougher but important shots like the deep forehand serve. The ideas on spin-shots are a big help. Thanks for posting!

[@baltarussow7573]

For an amateur the forehand serve is sometimes surprisingly difficult, seems a lot easier to serve short with the short backhand. Nice that you mentioned it. Also, I have trouble visualizing the perfect smash and/or clear because I don't know how far beside me should the shuttle be ideally, over my racket hand shoulder, a little bit further to the side or a lot to the side. If someone could comment then I can sleep easier. xD Thank you for the video, Tobias. Good as always.

[@user-gk1ls8wi8f]

Also amateur level, forehand serve is not that easy when you what to mix long and short serve. Smash and clear is not hard but takes time to get the form correct. I found myself made mistakes when not paying attention as I don't practice enough like more advanced players.

[@rb-ex]

not to the side. in front of you and in line with the center axis of your body. when you practice this you need to always get your body well behind the shuttle, whether you are hitting smash, clear or drop. get behind the shuttle, and then move up and forward to the shuttle. you also need a swing that is generated from your contact with the floor and flows upwards through your body with hip rotation, a stretched and preloaded chest, and lastly into a swing that goes up high before it comes down and you use pronation and finally a grip to impart energy to the shuttle. the reason you are thinking about the shuttle being to your side is you arent doing any of that. you are trying to hit the shuttle using your arm. if you get your body well behind the shuttle and initiate power with your legs instead of your arm, allowing an upwards flow of energy to generate racket velocity, you will naturally hit the shuttle in line with a your swing and you wont have to worry about 'to the side'. the main problem for amateurs is not inadequate practice, but laziness, wanting it to be easier than it is and reluctance to get into the lower body as the engine of power and speed

[@einarjuel]

@@rb-ex well put, thank you! Coupled with "laziness", also important to remember everyone can do it if they put in time! :)

[@pol7ice]

shout out to Tai Tzu Ying :D

[@Byassch]

Good motivation first thing in the morning! Thanks.

[@johnnychung4020]

thank you for another great vid.

[@godknifetube]

Loved this! Danke!

[@sheminali1613]

Love the video when you mentioned tai tzu ying Big fan

[@rotchanasaknrotchanasakn1719]

IMO "forehand reverse slice from forehand rearcourt " is NUMBER 9.Very hard to control shuttle , it often goes outside or hit the net .Thank you very much.

[@rb-ex]

nice video, tobias. not so much because of the difficulty 'ranking' of shots, but because you covered a lot of technical points here and demonstrated a lot of nice technique. i have a comment about the spinning net shot. i see many players using a lot of arm movement to generate spin, and i have never liked this method because it is not easy to reproduce. even when we watch your expert coach do it with his flat undercutting of the shuttle, many of his shots are very high and would be instantly killed in doubles and some of them in singles. for me the spinning net shot begins with a lunge position, keeping the wrist high and angling the racket toward the shuttle. the spin and push over the net happens by moving the lunge forward very slightly but quickly, and there is no arm or wrist movement at all. this way allows you to push the shuttle right over the tape, even when your opponent is guarding the net, and it often produces shots that trip lightly over the tape and fall down along the net. no, you dont get the shuttle flipping over itself several times before it crosses the net, but that isnt necessary when you are getting teh shuttle to the tape sooner and the flipping happens on the other side of the tape. moreover, because you are using large muscles with very simple movement in the legs instead of much smaller and more complex muscle movement in the upper body, it is much easier to reproduce the effect than using your arm. the lunge position also preloads your legs to recover instantly and respond explosively to any cross reply

[@limboliang6238]

I found the forehand reverse slice very easy to learn for some reason, but I definitely agree with the backhand slice, I can't seem to get the right stroke or timing doing it.

[@GoobyBuzz]

Great video as always! No 10 is just way too hard 😂😂

[@AnkurVashishtha01]

@ 8:02 I never thought about that. Thanks a lot.

[@tarunaditya3004]

Hey man big fan

[@jaisuperawesome]

Could you make a video of various types of returning the net shot from easy to pro like I always see on double? I noticed they are so many types of returning it but I saw only net kill tutorial only. Thanks

[@cadgamer]

Your couch seems so nice!

[@user-zz6nj1oc2r]

Hi Tobias, please show what are the main and key exercises for strengthening the muscles, ligaments and tendons of the forearm and hand, in order to develop biting blows and at the same time the arm does not become heavy and so that the forearm does not gain muscle mass. Thank you, with respect

[@lakshmanvenkat]

Hey Tobias ... Can you make a video on different kinds of legal serves that are accepted in international tournaments. I specifically want to know backhand low serve - how many/much time I can move my racket hand along with shuttle for a legal serve. Thanks in advance.😀

[@RajniKumari-fe3ts]

A1 de q AZ de Lp

[@RajniKumari-fe3ts]

Mmm L9v0

[@chitung2277]

Fantastic as always.

[@michaelkoerli3815]

The hardest shot? When the shuttle just drop after touching the net and rolls over… that’s no 1 for me

[@adlitorres89]

lucky net shot 🤣👍

[@1Flyingfist]

@@adlitorres89 Yes, but LCW could do lucky net return, in response to that and the shuttlecock would stop on the net again and then go over. 👀. That backhand TZY is still the hardest, because I can't even do backhand clear. It often hurts to try.

[@adlitorres89]

@@1Flyingfist i remember this moment, tomy sugiarto vs LCW , cross net shot after tomy lucky net shot 🤣 . then tomy face stunning 😅

[@jlcgu11]

It's not that hard for me if I'm not far away from the net.

[@triangulatedcat]

3:43 - " How did that happen? Is that the same shuttle we were playing with?"🤣

[@janeshwerpurushothaman6919]

Back hand smash. Cross court defence behind the body.

[@jlcgu11]

It's weird but the backhand clear, esp cross-court, was the main shot I failed to do well, probably because I didn't practise it enough. I can execute all the others above plus the backhand straight, cross-court and jumping smashes. There are many more shots that top players do that I can't, but then again I'm not a professional. 😄

[@jackburtonstwin]

The cross court backhand drop is such a "get out of jail free card" for many players that the ability to reverse slice this into a straight drop just throws opponents. Unfortunately, the level of timing and subtlety of racket movement is insanely difficult to get consistently right.

[@peterin3420]

really nice video mate but i reckon you mustve forgetten about the notorious backhand smash?! cant seem to find it in your video

[@tobiaswadenka8435]

True, I think I would rank it on no. 9 👍

[@jlcgu11]

@@tobiaswadenka8435 I first saw the backhand smash by Flemming Delfs in the 1970s and then again by Canada's Jamie Paulson. Taufik Hidayat (Mr.Backhand) used it regularly before Lee Zii Jia revived it. IMO, the cross-court backhand smash is more naturally executed than the straight one.

[@bbsolpico1]

The pending and fakery below net is the hardest. Like Lin Dan does, he reaches shuttle early and when you thought he's gonna drive it, he plays long at the last second

[@augustin_gan]

How difficult do you think the backhand spin/topple serve commonly used in doubles is? It basically negates any aggressive return of service unless the opponent has great observation and reaction.

[@tobiaswadenka8435]

I think it is very difficult to play it with consistency. I tried it quite a lot and get some ok spin into the shuttle but I have a hard time reproducing it in a consistent basis to use it in a match under pressure. I even feel that there is a big difference depending on the shuttle brand you play with as they have a slightly different balance and weight and that already changes the way the shuttle spins

[@qeeloo9339]

Just realised u upgraded to the arcsaber 11 pro! Great video tobi

[@gixxy_here]

According to me, toughest were late backhand & attending spin drops. Because all other shots are just our own options. For ex. we dont need to do a backhand reverse slice in a match. We can attempt any other shot. Only late backhand & spin drop is created by your opponent. Both have different strategies. One should attend a bit late & another one shouldnt be too late. I am just intermediate player. Its my opinion. Advanced players may have different opinion.

[@ohride]

backhand reverse slice!!!

[@Simon66544]

Huh? Tobi in the video u have the Nanoflare 700, but i always saw u using the arcsaber 11. did you change the rackets? And another question: Did you try the new Arcsaber 11 pro?

[@tobiaswadenka8435]

Yes I tried some different nanoflare rackets but usually I still play the AS11. And no I haven't tried the pro version yet but I definitely will

[@maryb.]

I think clear is pretty difficult..and also late forhend in the rear court..:(

[@DmitriPakhomov]

NF700! Don't you feel some lack of power for the smash? (I know that the Olympic champion in MD plays it and also Intanon but still would like to read you opinion also)

[@quanghua8293]

Great video! Can you make a video about stick smash? a Fan from VietNam :D

[@tobiaswadenka8435]

Yes it is on my list. Kind regards to 🇻🇳

[@adlitorres89]

backhand slice drop shot Chong Wei / T.Tzu Ying very hard to do 😅.

[@ninomojo]

I wouldn’t mind a full tutorial on how to do the reverse slice backhand drop :)

[@hortzbloodv2791]

Hey, ich habe mal ein ganz komische frage. Hast du eigentlich eine Idee wie man die badmintonfelder rutschfester macht? Bei uns ist das Problem dass die Felder immer so dreckig sind und leider ein zu hohes Risiko darstellt das man sich verletzt. Und ich wollte dich mal fragen ob es ein bestimmten Reinigungs Produkt gibt dass man das lösen kann.

[@tobiaswadenka8435]

Also manche Böden haben von Haus aus mehr Grip als Andere. Ein spezielles Mittel kenne ich jetzt nicht, ich denke das hängt auch immer vom jeweiligen Boden ab aber in den meisten Fällen hilft regelmäßiges nasses wischen (und natürlich trocknen lassen) schon sehr viel da der Staub meistens für das Rutschen verantwortlich ist.

[@hortzbloodv2791]

@@tobiaswadenka8435 leider bringt es bei uns nicht mit normal Wasser zu wischen. 😔

[@xxWidex]

What about forehand lift? And would you rank it easier than clear?

[@tobiaswadenka8435]

Yes I would put it in between backhand lift and serve (if you mean a basic lift with a long swing). A lift with a short movement and a lot of finger power is more difficult I think

[@pijerani3946]

in the smash, there actually has to be that quick turn in the upper body all the way to the wrist thanks

[@streetninja23]

I can make a video of top 10 unforced errors and rank them from Easy-to-Hardest 😂

[@aimbotter100]

why is it that most pros badminton rackets make that metallic "Ting" sound but mine does not ? Will really appreciate if someone can answer this question. has been frustrating me for a long time as I also want that sweet metallic "Ting" sound but no matter which string or racket I use, its almost a flat sound always. Thank you.

[@manasaryan3803]

Can you share a diet plan for badminton players mens ...and warm up and warm down excercise

[@tobiaswadenka8435]

I already made a detailed video on the warm up: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHa9dHqfqZqgi6c The other two are on my list for future stuff ;)

[@lakshminarayanan1458]

What handle are u using

[@sekharchandu6083]

Red colour

[@metanoia7874]

Overhead cross smash is the most difficult shot in my opinion

[@bikramsinghjohar9613]

The backhand smash should be at the tenth place

[@shyamwhite3094]

Did you change your racket 🤔🤔🤔?

[@tobiaswadenka8435]

No just tried another one in this video

[@mariothepudzilla4794]

7:00

[@bunneybeast]

What racket are you using??

[@tobiaswadenka8435]

Yonex ArcSaber 11 (testing the pro version at the moment)

[@bunneybeast]

@@tobiaswadenka8435 is it good??

[@sekharchandu6083]

What is racket name

[@k-senpai3203]

Smash is definitely harder than clear. 1. Smash need more power (more is better) 2. Smash need more control (above the net but not outside the line). 3. Smash need better timing.

[@fathimadji8570]

That is the Germany national team's coach

[@tobiaswadenka8435]

No I am not working with the national team but at a regional center in Germany for junior players

[@walker8648]

ρгό𝔪σŞｍ

[@bbsolpico1]

Easiest is block shot