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If you want to get good at doubles,
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there's one thing you should prioritize
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improving more than anything else.
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Most players focus on the flashy things
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like the explosive smashes and
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incredible defensive reactions.
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Watch any top doubles pair in the world
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and you'll notice something interesting.
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Many viewers will immediately think
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about how much physical and technical
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capability each player has to develop to
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produce the shots and respond to them.
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But when you look closer,
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there's something even more important
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happening underneath all of it
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that fundamentally drives your ability
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to improve at doubles.
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This something is rhythm and more
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specifically your mental rhythm on
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It is the factor that makes or breaks
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everything else, [music] at least the
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higher level you want to go.
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For those of us who started playing
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badminton by playing singles, you may
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know this feeling very well when first
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getting into doubles.
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You might have been in a situation where
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you get on court playing someone in
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that you know you beat in singles
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and then suddenly you lose.
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And you don't just lose,
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you lose by a wide margin.
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Shot quality, skills, power, or even
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partner coordination were never the main
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problems. If we can win against our
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opponents in singles, but we were unable
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to win in doubles, the real problem had
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to do with our mental rhythm on court.
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We say this because things started to
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change when we were advised to try our
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best to hit the shuttle
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before it started to drop as much as we
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could. It's not possible to do it all
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the time, for example,
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But off of short serves, blocks, and
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drives, this made a huge difference.
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Instead of waiting for the shuttle to
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you must go to the shuttle.
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And that's one of the big reasons in why
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the pros are able to play so much
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Unlike singles where shots can
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consistently be taken with your racket
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facing up in the front court and behind
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you in the back court.
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If you do this all the time in doubles,
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you're not going to win
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unless your defense is much better than
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whatever your opponents can produce.
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If you're playing someone at a similar
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level or higher though,
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that's pretty much never the case.
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Thus, the game is really won through
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your ability to produce a loose shot
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from your opponent that you can
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That usually means getting the lift or
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and the eventual net kill opportunity.
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In many cases, it's okay to actually
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sacrifice shot quality in return for an
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earlier contact point.
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That's why you'll see a lot of these
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brush type of shots in doubles, where
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it's not necessarily a drive,
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nor are you trying to spin the shot
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really tightly to the net.
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We don't doubt that if the pros really
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take their time, they'll be able to net
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roll or play these shots super tight to
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but that's not the point of playing it.
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You don't want to give your opponent
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time to react, so really any shot that
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gets the shuttle going downward and
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allows you to take an earlier contact
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point to force a faster reaction
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Of course, shot quality still matters
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Many players, including ourselves, had
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right away experienced problems
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where we could no longer control our
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shots as our contact point and movement
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To improve on our shot quality while
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maintaining the faster rhythm, the key
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was understanding that the game wasn't
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about your pure raw speed [music] and
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strength, but more so where and when you
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You might have heard the saying slow is
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smooth and smooth is fast.
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What this means in a badminton context
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is that raw speed and reaction does not
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always translate into speed on court.
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Michael McElvey had previously made a
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video titled speed is not fast and it
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which explains how speed is more nuanced
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One thing that particularly stands out
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[music] is how he describes speed in
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sport as not just distance over time,
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but also raise the factor of cognitive
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Every time you move in a sport like
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badminton, there's a lot to process
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through your brain. What shot is coming
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What are you playing in return?
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Forehand, backhand, swing technique,
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footwork. Pros are pros because much of
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this is subconscious and so well
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practiced that you don't need to
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actively think. Shots get played
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instinctively and there is no delay from
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which is how they're able to play so
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fast and smoothly. But even among pros
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The technique is subconscious, but your
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brain still controls all the movements
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by your nervous system.
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If something like your legs are too fast
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or still moving while you're playing
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>> that can greatly disturb your ability to
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Especially if you're not practiced in
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those scenarios. This is where the idea
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of slow is smooth and smooth is fast
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And the perfect player to study for this
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Hendra Setiawan is fast,
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but not fast and strong by most people's
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traditional definitions.
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He's the oldest badminton player to ever
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win a world championship at 35 years
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But it's not because of his physical.
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Yet he has no shortage of highlights
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showing his rapid exchanges at the net
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as a front court player.
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Where players are often known for their
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The reason is because Hendra Setiawan
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moves at the right time.
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What you'll notice from Hendra Setiawan
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and numerous top pro players is that
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they often preemptively move even before
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their opponent has even swung their
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Sometimes they'll move a little toward
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where they anticipate their own shot to
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It's not just on your own shots, either.
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You can and should often do it in
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response to your partner's shots, too.
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And this is something we'll talk a
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little more next with the idea of
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improving partner coordination. These
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anticipatory steps are crucial because
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they allow the player to preemptively
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get in position. So that when the shot
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you're not trying to control so many
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You can just think of it this way.
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Try sending a text message on your phone
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walking, jogging, and then sprinting.
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The faster you get, the harder it gets
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It's the same in badminton. The shuttle
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becomes extra hard to control the faster
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But if you are preemptively moving and
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already there when the opponent's return
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it's much easier to play.
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You don't have to exert as much force
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just to get to the shuttle in the first
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place and lose control of your racket.
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In fact, players like Hendra Setiawan
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are so [music] good because by the time
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their opponents are hitting the shuttle
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back, they're already standing still
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>> On the note of preemptively moving,
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this is also extremely helpful in
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creating nonverbal cues to your partner.
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Many doubles players already know the
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front and back and side-to-side
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rotations, and they'll know [music] that
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front and back is attack, while
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side-to-side is generally for defense.
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In game, however, this rotation can
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and you might even experience things
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like racket clashing as both of you go
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hesitate at the same time.
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You can't prevent these situations 100%,
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[music] but it makes a big difference if
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one or the other begins preemptively
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If your partner starts moving forward,
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then naturally you should start moving
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back a little and vice versa to cover
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This is also why a lot of badminton
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doubles pairs tend to have a playmaker
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and one that generally follows the
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rhythm of the playmaker.
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The playmaker can make the game really
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easy to play as their initial movements
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will essentially dictate where the other
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Over the next few weeks as well, we'll
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be adding more and more doubles data
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into our app. Soon, you'll be able to
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compare your own gameplay against
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players like Hendra Setiawan and have AI
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deliver weekly insights based on your
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When we first started playing doubles,
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we thought the answer was simple.
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Just take your single skill and put it
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Those skills still all mattered,
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but the game felt rushed.
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We were constantly trying to catch up to
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the rally. Opportunities appeared and
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disappeared before we could take
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Even when we knew what shot we wanted to
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we often weren't quite in the right
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position to execute it.
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It took us years to understand why.
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The best doubles players seem to have a
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different rhythm on court.
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They take the shuttle earlier. They
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begin preparing for the next shot before
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their opponent has even hit. And by the
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time the shuttle comes back, they're
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already balanced and ready to play
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That's why someone like Hendra Setiawan
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can still thrive in some of the fastest
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exchanges in badminton,
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despite being much older than many of
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>> and in physically worse shape. His game
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is built around timing, anticipation and
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understanding the flow of the rally.
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So, if there's one thing we hope you
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take away from this video,
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it's to start paying attention to
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Watch when players move, not just where
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they move, how early they take the
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shuttle and how one player's movement
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influences their partner's next
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Because once you start noticing those
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doubles starts making a lot more sense.
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The rallies will actually start to feel
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slower but smoother because you're
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moving more in sync with your partner.
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And instead of feeling like you're
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it starts to feel like you're part of
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If you guys liked this video, make sure
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to hit the like and subscribe buttons so
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you don't miss out on future content.
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And as always, thanks for watching.
