Delay of service or receipt of service is a frequent topic of conversation. Many players believe that they can take as long as they like to get ready to serve and similarly do not need to receive the service until they are ready to do so. This mindset leads to 'cat and mouse' games as players strive to remain in control of the pace of the match. With no umpire is can get very much out of hand.
The first piece of law, that is crucial in the debate is 16.1: “play shall be continuous, from the first service until the match is concluded”… (except for the allowed intervals between games, where these have been sanctioned by the appropriate badminton authorities). There is no written definition of ' continuous', so this is another element of the umpire’s discretion. An umpire's role is to ensure fairness to both sides, so it is quite conceivable that an acceptable pace in one match might be quite different from another. An umpire would certainly intervene if it was felt that one side was attempting to gain an unfair advantage by taking too long between rallies or indeed try to play on unreasonably quickly.
The second part of the jigsaw is in the service laws. Law 9.1.1 states “In a correct service, neither side shall cause undue delay to the delivery of the service once server and receiver have taken their respective positions”. Again, there is no definition of 'undue delay' so the umpire is left to use judgment. Common sense has to apply here and any hint of a player trying to gain an unfair advantage e.g. waiting so long that the receiver overbalances, will be dealt with. The spirit of the law is clear in expecting the players to get on with the game.
The service starts, according to law 9.4 with the 'first forward movement of the server's racket head’. This is only relevant however when server and receiver have taken of their respective positions to serve and receive. Note also that it is the racket HEAD that must move forward to start the serve - a downward movement as in a high single serve action doesn't mean the service has started until there is an element of forward movement in the racket head. Common sense also dictates that the service cannot start until the shuttle is in a position where it can be hit - a forward movement of the racket whilst the shuttle was behind the player’s back would not constitute the start of the service.
Finally, Law 9.1.7 states that “in a correct service the movement of the server’s racket must continue forwards from the start of the service until the service is delivered”. The law is a little inconsistent here, because it now refers to the 'racket' as opposed to the' racquet head’. A service judge will therefore be looking (with one of his/her eyes) to make sure that the racket does not or move backwards at any stage between the start of the service and delivery.
Law 9.6 deals with being ready or not. ”The server shall not serve before the receiver is ready but the receiver shall be considered to have been ready if a return of the service is attempted”. What constitutes an 'attempt’ is again not defined but any movement from the ready position would be deemed an attempt. However, a player who was clearly ready to receive, i.e. has set himself and looked up at the server, would be considered ready by the umpire and standing rock still making no attempt to return the service would not gain a' let'.
