3rd ball attack allowing for sidespin

Ivan Kopcanski Asked 11 years ago

Hello,

I am left hander and 90% of my opponents are right handed.

I serve very often a long or medium length pendulum side spin serve deep into player's backhand.

I get long push back down the line to my back hand - this is too often to ignore.

The return spin is strange - back spin with rotation axis not parallel with base line.

if it is hit flat, tends to go down and right (in regards of my view point).

My idea and goal is to attack this ball with forehand pivot top spin.

The problem is not a ball's back spin, but it's tendency to go at the right side.

My solution is modified footwork - I place my legs and shoulders in almost 90 degrees with base line.

Then it gets easier to hit the ball in the spot where that "going down" effects starts to work for me.

I asked my partner to return repeatedly my serve in exact the same way - and my tactics worked!

Question for you is: is it ok to modify footwork like that or there is a better solution?

Similar to that, same solution can be applied if opponent serves pendulum back spin to me -

 diagonally to my forehand. Thanks for help, sorry for the long text :)

Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago

Hi Ivan,

I think you can do this also with just a slight adjustment of the wrist.  You can bend your wrist backwards slightly and then brush the ball on contact to lift the ball and also get the angle of the stroke correct.

If you turn your whole body it can be slow to get back into position for the next ball.