Cross-court and angled net shots

Angled or cross-court?

Cross-court net shots are a specific type of angled net shot: they travel along most of the net. In other words, you hit them from one net corner to the other net corner — so they cross the court.

There are other types of angled net shot too, such as when you hit the shuttle from the middle of the net and direct it towards either side. These are not really cross-court shots.

This terminology might be confusing, so let’s look at some examples. First, suppose the shuttle is in your left net corner. Here are your options:

• A straight net shot, which returns the shuttle to the same corner (the left)
• A cross-court net shot, sending the shuttle to the opposite corner (the right)
• An angled net shot, sending the shuttle towards the middle of the net

Now suppose that the shuttle is near the middle of the net. In this situation, your options are:

• A straight net shot, which returns the shuttle straight back to the middle
• An angled net shot travelling to the left corner
• An angled net shot travelling to the right corner

Why make the distinction?

There are some subtle technical and tactical differences that distinguish true cross-court net shots from other angled net shots. We’ll look at these distinctions in the section on angled net shots from the middle.

However, it’s worth noting that there is no exact boundary at which an angled net shot becomes a cross-court net shot.