Serve and Return in Badminton: Gender Differences of Elite Badminton Players

Abstract

Male and female players may have different game characteristics and performance. The first two shots of a rally in badminton have tactical importance. The aim of this study is to identify players' actions and behaviors and to assess differences in serve and return between the genders on the international level. We observed 15 male and 15 female matches from top international badminton tournaments. A notational analysis was used while observing the serve type, return type and the point winner. Male players hit the backhand short serve in 91 % of points and female players started the point mostly with the forehand long serve (58 %). Both genders won 50 % of the serving points. The distribution of return type is quite equal among the drop, lob, clear, smash and net shots in female matches. While returning a short serve, the lob was 4-5 % less efficient than a net shot in both genders. Women can try to use backhand short serve more often as we found the highest efficiency of all the serve types.

Kualitas Servis Pendek Forehand Dan Smash Pada Bulutangkis Di Club PB Ramba Jaya

“…Ini mengharuskan pemain untuk melintasi lapangan bulu tangkis ke kedua sisi dari lapangan tengah ke depan dan ke belakang untuk melakukan tembakan (Shariff et al, 2009). Sedangkan menurut (Carboch & Smocek, 2020) Bulutangkis adalah olahraga yang cepat dan dinamis melibatkan reaksi cepat, gerakan cepat dan tembakan kecepatan tinggi. Semua gerakan tersebut membutuhkan kelincahan tingkat tinggi saat melakukan fleksi dan ekstensi sendi tungkai bawah (pinggul, lutut, dan pergelangan kaki) secara cepat (Ortega-toro & Blanca-torres, 2020).…”

Location, Location, Location: Understanding the Impact of Shot Placements in Badminton Men’s Double at 2022 World Championship

“…To complement the new competition rally system, players' responding time to serves is relatively shorter, and the opponent's return rhythm has also become faster [2]. In recent years, doubles players have made great efforts to improve their quality of serving and changes in the route, seizing the opportunity to dominate the pace of the rally [8].…”

“…Serving to the frontcourt is the tactical application of starting the attack. Players will serve with quality to gain control, then organize the third shot's attack to restrict the opponent's reactions [8][9][10]. Besides serving, players also intend to gain control of the halfcourt actions and try to win the rally as soon as possible.…”

Potential and limitations of short backhand serve in badminton: Kinematics analysis

“…This type of serve is the most widely used, especially in men's competitions (Gawin et al, 2013). Male athletes tend to use short backhand serve in a ratio of 91% points (Carboch & Smocek, 2020).…”