Are you looking for a new sport to play? Badminton is the world’s fastest racket sport. It’s played on an indoor court with a net dividing it into two halves. The shuttlecock, or birdie, is hit back and forth across the net by players using racquets. It’s easy to learn but difficult to master! Tennis is in many ways similar, but also very different. So which is harder?
Tennis is harder than badminton. Tennis requires a lot of running while badminton does not. That’s why many people argue that tennis is harder than badminton.
If we take a closer look there are more nuances to that question.
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Badminton Is Much Easier Than Tennis For Novices
For novices, badminton is considerably easier to learn than Tennis. For instance, two inexperienced badminton players standing ten feet apart and separated by a net can begin by hitting the shuttle high and at an angle, sending it flying to the opposite side of the court.
Extreme novices should be able to execute a rally consisting of five to ten consecutive back-and-forth strokes.
Tennis, on the other hand, would be impossible for two extreme beginners standing at opposite ends of a tennis court to send a tennis ball across the net with the proper trajectory and enough speed to allow the other player to return it and turn it into a significant rally if the surge lasted more than two shots.
Badminton is a high-intensity sport. It demands a more rapid pace than Tennis. You must work on increasing your response. The fastest responder will win. At a higher level (for example, among world-class athletes), the gap between players’ response times is nearly identical. Precisions would be the winning characteristic at this stage. The shooter with the most precise shot will win.
Tennis is akin to badminton, although it has several distinguishing characteristics. Additionally, it is a fast-paced sport. Tennis, on the other hand, utilizes a larger court space. You have plenty of time to establish your position and choose your shooting direction. On the other side, physical fitness is necessary to participate in these activities.
However, let us go to the next level.
Due to the additional “three-dimensional” movement required, badminton has a higher aerobic requirement than other sports. This is due to the shuttle’s travel angles. The hitting the court movement entails changing positions on the court in about six distinct ways, whether at the knee or lower level, standing level, or well above level.
In Tennis, a baseliner regularly strikes behind the baseline, much like a ping pong player does at the end of the table. On short balls, most of the movement would be side to side, with some forward motion to conclude the rally.
Because they would race to the net and complete the rally with angled volleys, a serve and volleyer’s coverage would be more three-dimensional.
Use of Strength in Badminton Compared to Tennis
Both badminton and Tennis require core strength, but I prefer badminton since it requires more three-dimensional turning and twisting. Tennis requires higher upper body effort due to the larger racket and ball, and overwhelming raw serve velocity and straight-out groundstroke successes are crucial to winning a game.
I’m not convinced that badminton is essentially a quick sport. It does need rapid movement – guarding against smashes, quickly taking the shuttle at the net to gain a competitive edge, and so on – but flourishing in Tennis also demands quick movement.
To volley or back peddle to cover ground in preparation for an overhead smash, one must be lightning fast. Returning a serve against slicing requires quick cutting motions to prevent high-angle serves from being returned.
On the other hand, badminton needs nearly constant rapid, bursty movement throughout a rally, whereas tennis players move slowly on baseline rallies and faster as they got closer to the net.
Precision In Tennis Vs Badminton
Badminton demands a greater degree of accuracy than Tennis. Keeping all other variables unchanged, the Badminton court is much smaller than the Tennis court.
To gain an edge in badminton, you must be able to direct the shuttle to a location that is just out of reach of your opponent – this takes extraordinary precision. This is referred to as placing in badminton.
Apart from smashes, the shuttle is slower in flight (and accelerates more rapidly with distance due to shuttle physics), allowing the opponent to regain ground more quickly than in Tennis.
Precision is also critical in Tennis, as seen by pinning opponents back with groundstrokes and straight winners and angled volleys.
Expertise and Dexterity In Tennis And Badminton
While they are separate sports, both badminton and Tennis need a great degree of ability to compete at the highest level.
Full smash, half smash, start reversing smash, slice drop, smash defense to the body, clear, push clear, change the depth, groundstrokes to the net, serve and serve return, backhand clear to back, forward and crosscourt netplay, left and right, and serve and serve return are all required badminton skills.
Tennis players must be able to serve flat, slice, reverse, and American twist. There are numerous types of volleys, including straight, angle, and half volleys. Flat or topspin forehands can be consecutive, inside out, crosscourt, or looping over opponents at the net. Slicing, top spinning, outside in, straight, or crosscourt backhands are all possible.
Returning serves entails intercepting the ball from the smallest angle possible while moving forward. Badminton is more “wristy” in that the arm movement begins with large muscles and must end at the wrist or, in certain circumstances, the tip of the fingers.
Tennis demands a relatively free-flowing, fluid arm movement. To assert that Tennis does not require wrist motion is an exaggeration, as huge top spinners are equally “wristy.”
In my perspective, advanced badminton and Tennis demand more extraordinary talent, anticipation, and deceit. It would help if you also countered your opponent’s assumption with deceptive head, torso, arm, and wrist movements on the flip slide.
Tennis contains anticipation and deception, primarily through body position and racket face hints, but these aspects are less important than others.
Tactics in Badminton and Tennis
Professional badminton and Tennis need the use of solid strategy. The objective of badminton is to outmaneuver your opponent in three dimensions by utilizing the entire court.
These factors are critical: changes in tempo, location, deception, anticipating angles, and even the use of high straight clears. Tennis strategies are mainly 2D in nature. For example, baseline strokes are used to hold the opponent at the backline, generally to the opponent’s backhand side.
A slice serves to the Deuce court (to a right-handed opponent) clears the court for a crosscourt volley winner. Topspins are utilized to narrow the margin of error and force the opponent’s shots higher and further back on the court.
Flat baselines increase the angle of attack while maintaining a fast pace.
Badminton is easier to learn than Tennis for beginners. Tennis and badminton are both “tough” at the highest levels but in distinct ways.
