Attacking long pushes

martin k Asked 7 years ago

Hi there,

I play quite often against a left handed player who really enjoys long pushes. A mostly defensive player that prefers using his backhand all over the table, but if the ball pops up he will counter with either his backhand or forehand. Anyway, if I serve short backspin to his backhand or forehand, I will mostly get a fast and long push back. Either straight very far into my backhand corner, more into the middle near my cross over point or long and wide into my forehand corner. And mind you, those are really fast and long with some backspin. More often than not near the end line. I do not know about any other player that hits the edges or clips the net more often ;) Very annoying.

If I just stay passive and push long back, he will just continue with long pushes until the ball pops up. My strategy so far has been to just attack with a topspin on the 3rd ball, no matter what. This is with varying success, especially on the backhand. First, it is hard to anticipate if I get the ball back to my forehand or to my backhand. Just after the serve, I try go get into position just about a relaxed arm length from the table. Still, I find it difficult to loop it properly back. It feels like the ball is already there before I can do anything and mostly goes into the net, or off the end of the table. Surely, probably a better backhand looping technique is needed, but I wonder if this is mostly due to my feet position. Maybe I just not move enough to either side, or even move unconsciously towards the table.

If I manage to attack it on my forehand, it feels like the ball is quite often on the side almost into my body and already dipping too far down to make a good return.

I feel I cannot continue just pushing long back because then I am playing my opponent's game, being passive and losing. I therefore rather attack already on the third ball. What would be your strategy on how to deal with those long, aggressive and well placed pushes?

Alois Rosario Answered 7 years ago

Hi Martin,

I would try serving long and fast to him.  If he is passive and pushes the ball back it will give you more time to see the return rathe than off a short serve that he can push aggressively from closer to you.

You can mix up the length a bit on the serves.

I would continue to pursue trying to attack at the first opportunity.  It sounds like he is very comfortable with the pushing game and it really isn't your forté.

You can still work on your topspin against backspin strokes.  The better you get at these the more comfortable you will be to make the attack effectively.

Give that a try to start with and see ow you get on.