The low serve (also called the short serve) starts the rally by sending the shuttle just over the net to the front of the receiver's service box, which limits their chance to attack. It is the main serve in doubles and is also used in men's singles, most often played backhand with a short push rather than a swing. A good one crosses the net low and peaks before it reaches the net. The app reads your serve motion from the side and estimates how low your hitting hand is at contact; it can't see the shuttle, so it never rules on whether a serve is legal.
Set up legally, relaxed grip
Stand inside your service box without touching its lines. For the backhand low serve, the most common stance is racket foot forward, close to the "T" where the short service line meets the centre line. Stance can vary.
close to the front line, balanced, nothing touching a line.
Use a short, relaxed thumb grip (hand higher up the handle for control, thumb on the back of the grip). Hold the racket out in front of your body and place the shuttle on the strings, ready to hit it out of your hand.
relaxed fingers, racket out in front, shuttle resting on the strings.
Know the service rules before you swing. Under the BWF Laws (2025 edition, Law 9.1), some part of both feet must stay on the floor and stationary from your first forward racket movement until you hit the shuttle; your racket must first hit the base (cork) of the shuttle; and the whole shuttle must be below 1.15 m from the court surface when you hit it. Some clubs and school leagues still play the older waist rule instead (shuttle below your lowest rib, racket shaft pointing down), so check which one your event uses.
feet planted, contact low, cork first.
Short backswing, push through
Take the racket back only a short distance and open the face slightly. Once the backswing ends, start the forward movement without a pause: the Laws treat a delay after the backswing as undue delay.
a small, smooth backswing that flows straight into the push.
Push through the shuttle and strike it out of your hand. Keep the racket moving forward the whole way from the start of the serve to contact (the Laws don't allow it to stop or go backwards). In a study of Australian national doubles players, the most accurate servers used a push driven mainly by elbow extension with some wrist movement, and kept the shoulder fairly still.
the forearm guides the racket forward; the shoulder stays quiet.
Continue the pushing action, then bring the racket up in front of you, ready to threaten a net reply.
push, then racket up and ready.
Low over the net, land short
Aim for a low pass over the net tape, with the shuttle peaking before it reaches the net, so it is already dropping as it crosses and lands at the front of the receiver's box. Elite coaches and players describe an accurate short serve in exactly these terms: low clearance and the highest point before the net.
the shuttle drops as it crosses the tape.
In doubles, serve mainly to the centre so you and your partner can cover replies to both sides, then learn to vary along the front service line (wide, centre, at the body) to keep the receiver guessing. In singles, serve slightly further into the court so the receiver can't play a tight net shot as easily.
same motion, different targets.
Feel it
A compact, unhurried push: feet planted, a short backswing that flows straight forward, the forearm guiding the racket while the shoulder stays quiet, and the racket coming up after contact. The shuttle crosses the tape low and is already falling. Make it look the same as your flick serve so the receiver can't read it early. The app reads your body, not the shuttle: it can estimate how low your hand is and whether your feet stay put, but it can't measure the shuttle's height, so it never calls a serve legal or illegal.
Fix-its
- The shuttle floats high over the net and gets attacked Shorten the backswing and push the racket through the shuttle along the line you want it to travel, so the shuttle peaks before the net and crosses the tape low. Practise under a string stretched a few centimetres above the net.
- Your motion is a big swing, so length and height vary Take the racket back only a short distance and push mostly with the forearm (elbow extending), keeping the shoulder quiet. Smaller motions repeat better.
- You pause at the end of the backswing or the racket stops before contact Make one continuous forward movement from the start of the serve to contact. A pause after the backswing is undue delay, and the racket must keep moving forward until the shuttle is hit.
- A foot lifts, slides or steps as you serve Plant both feet before your first forward racket movement and keep part of each foot on the floor until contact. Let the arm do the work.
- Contact is too high for your event's rule Contact the shuttle lower and in front of you: below 1.15 m under the BWF Laws, or below your lowest rib with the shaft pointing down where the waist rule is used. Ask a partner or umpire to watch; the app can't judge this.
Drill
- No net: hit backhand low serves from your hand into a hoop or bucket. Count how many land in.
- Target serves: with a partner across the net, put a target near the front service line and alternate backhand low serves for 3 minutes, scoring hits. Allow a second attempt after a net or out serve while you learn.
- Under the string: stretch a rope or string a few centimetres above the net and serve between the tape and the string to groove a low trajectory. Make the target smaller as you improve.
- Moving receiver: the receiver changes position and racket position each serve; adjust your target along the front service line (wide, centre, at the body).
- Serve and return: one player serves, the other returns; swap roles on a signal. Clear stray shuttles from the court before the next serve.
Sources
- BWF — Statutes Section 4.1: Laws of Badminton, Version 5.0, in force 26 April 2025 (Law 9: Service)
- BWF — Statutes Section 4.1.4: Alternative Laws of Badminton, Version 2.0, in force 4 January 2027 (Alternative Service Laws 9.1.6 a/b)
- BWF — Badminton Coach Education Coaches' Manual Level 1, 2nd ed., Module 7: Introduction to Serving; Backhand Low Serve (pp. 85–89); Forehand Low Serve (pp. 92–93)
- BWF — Shuttle Time Schools Badminton Lesson Plans (2017), Lesson 7: Serve and Rally; Lesson 21: Doubles Tactics
- Vial, Croft, Blazevich & Cochrane — Reductions in both temporal and spatial movement pattern complexity is associated with greater performance accuracy, Translational Sports Medicine (2018)
- Vial, Cochrane, Blazevich & Croft — Using the trajectory of the shuttlecock as a measure of performance accuracy in the badminton short serve, Int. J. Sports Science & Coaching (2019)
Last checked 2026-10-26.