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:

References:
TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2021 | Anders Antonsen (DEN) [3] vs Loh Kean Yew (SGP) | SF:

[markchandler]

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!

[baltarussow]

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.

[rotchanasaknrotchanasakn]

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

[limboliang]

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.

[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.😀

[sheminali]

Love the video when you mentioned tai tzu ying
Big fan

[GoobyBuzz]

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

[AnkurVashishtha]

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

[peterin]

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

[qeeloo]

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

[Byassch]

Good motivation first thing in the morning! Thanks.

[triangulatedcat]

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

[michaelkoerli]

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

[janeshwerpurushothaman]

Back hand smash. Cross court defence behind the body.

[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

[zznjocr]

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

[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.

[bbsolpico]

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

[jlcgu]

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. 😄