Basics

Doubles play is an incredibly fast, tough, demanding game. Unlike in singles, there are four people on the court and this means that you have a partner on your side. This is both a good and bad thing. Good, because you now have another skilled (hopefully) person to help you out, bad because it increases the complexity of the game dramatically. While singles play tends to focus on finesse, positioning, and shots like clears and drops, doubles play is more about speed, strength, and low/fast shots.

Doubles play also involves another complex dynamic: rotation. Because you are now sharing the court with your partner, you both must be aware of each others position and have to learn how to move around the court effectively so you can be both successful and safe during the match. Learning doubles rotation is one of the hardest mental exercises in badminton. Ideally, you will have an experienced player guide you through learning proper doubles rotation. Though, if you had that, you probably wouldn’t be reading this page! It is very difficult to teach doubles rotation and strategy through text but let’s give it a shot!

Movement/Rotation

One of the most fundamental strategies of doubles rotation is that positioning during offense and defense. Remember, as a general rule, you are on defense when your side clears or returns the shuttle such that it is rising when it crosses the net (giving your opponent an opportunity to make an attacking or downward angled shot against you; usually clears or a mishit shot). When on defense, you have little control over where the shuttle is going to go. You are on offense when your side returns the shuttle at a downward angle (smashes, drops, and drives are usually offensive shots). When on offense, you have much greater control over where the shuttle is going to go.

When your team is on defense, you should be positioned effectively side-to-side, each of you in the center of your side of the court, defensive-ready position. This position gives the greatest amount of coverage of the court possible. Humans are built to move better forward and backwards, not side-to-side. Thus by already positioning yourselves side-by-side, you take that movement largely out of the equation and are only left with defending what is in front and behind you. The biggest objective when on doubles defense is to return the shuttle and to prevent your opponent from winning the rally. The second biggest objective is to turn their offensive shot to you into an offensive shot from you (more on this later).

During offense, you should generally be positioned front and back; one person standing in the back-service alley and the other positioned pretty much in the center (or between the center and front service line) of the court. Because you are now in greater control of shuttle placement you don’t have to worry as much about defensive court coverage. The person in the back court is responsible for leading the offensive push. Every shot from the back court should be an offensive one (usually a clear or drive or well-placed drop). The only time a defensive shot (clear) should be made from the back court in doubles is if you are in trouble and cannot make any other shot to get the shuttle back over the net.Additionally, it is the responsibility of the person in the back court to watch the movement of the person playing up (or net) and rotate accordingly (more on this below).

The person playing up (usually called playing the net) is responsible for a few things. First, it is their responsibility to attack all net and half-court shots. Second, they are responsible for cutting off any weak or mishit defensive shots. Finally, they are responsible for identifying when the opponents have successfully converted from defense to offense. When this happens, the player playing net will have lead the shift from offense to defense. This means that the net player will begin the rotation back to a side-to-side position when he deems appropriate. The player in the back court must be aware of this movement and move accordingly.

I know this sounds a bit strange…especially with no demonstration so let’s run through an example. Let’s say that your side is on offense and you have just smashed from the back left corner of the court. The smash wasn’t as angled as you would have liked and your opponent defends the shot by returning a straight drive to the left alley (right in front of you) about mid court but out of your partner’s reach. This causes you to lunge forward and clear to their back court. Your partner playing net should see that you have cleared and should now be back pedaling  away from the shuttle (in this example, s/he should be moving from about the middle of the entire court to the center-right side of the court, ready to defend). You need to watch where your partner moves so that you can then move to fill the void s/he left. In other words, if you see your partner moving back to the right on defense then you had better move up to cover the left side of the court. Since you are in the back, you have the responsibility to take the lead from you partner. If you were to move fist, your partner wouldn’t know where to move since they can’t see you.

Shots

Drives

Drives are the workhorse of any doubles game. The drive is a flat and fat shot hit slightly above the net and into your opponent’s mid-court. Body positioning for the drive should be very similar to the normal ready position but with your knees bent slightly more than normal, putting you closer to the ground making you more stable. It is incredibly important that when you are driving with your opponent that you KEEP YOU RACKET UP!!! This is the #1 rule that I see broken the most and it always leads to a lost point. The drive is the second fastest shot in badminton and you don’t have time to keep your racket anywhere but up!

Situational Strategies