Kuala Lumpur: There are many different serve techniques in badminton that we can use during a match and the ultimate goal is to confuse or create difficulties for the opponents to return our serves, thus giving us an advantage to score points.
There is a new spin serve that suddenly gained popularity since Denmark’s World No. 264 doubles player Marcus Rindshoj used it in the second round of the 2023 Polish Open. Although Rindshoj and his partner Rasmus Espersen eventually lost to Andy Jun Liang Kwek/Loh Kean Hean of Singapore 19-21, 17-21, the way Rindshoj served has caught a lot of attention from players around the world.
Korea’s World No. 10 men’s doubles player Choi Sol-gyu has already used it in men’s doubles matches in the Korean league, while the newly crowned Asian champions – Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty from India have said that they have been practicing using the new way of serving even before the Badminton Asia Championships in Dubai.
So, what’s so special about the technique?
The basic idea is to spin the shuttlecock before the racquet touches it, and while the shuttlecock is spinning, the server would use the racquet to hit it over the net. To do that, the server should:
1. Hold the cork of the shuttlecock between the thumb and the middle finger nail.
2. Flick the shuttlecock into a counterclockwise motion and release it.
3. The shuttlecock will be twisting because of the swirl and then the server can hit it with the racquet and push it over the net.
4. After the racquet makes contact with it, the shuttlecock will go twisting in the air and tumble across the net making it hard for to receiver to return.
Here are two videos that explain how this “unreturnable” spin-serve works:
Here are videos from Rindshoj’s Instagram showing how the serve works and how difficult it is for the opponent to return that serve:
The video is on the second slide. Click the arrow to go to the second slide.
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Perhaps Rindshoj should patent this awesome serve:
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