Dealing with a blocker

Jason Unknown Asked 15 years ago

What is the best way to deal with a very good close-to-the-table blocker? I'm primarily a top-spin player and this particular blocker is very good at not only blocking my shots but angling the returns so that I always have to move to make the next shot. Eventually I'm moving around so much that he forces me into an error.

Would a good way to deal with a blocker be to not try to drive my shots towards the edge of the table with a great deal of backspin and instead try a slower loop a little shallower into the table? I want to get him further away from the table but can't seem to do this.

Alois Rosario Answered 15 years ago

Hi Jason,

Blockers can be difficult to play.

To play against good blockers, you need to vary the speed and spin on your topspins. Good blockers usually prefer the ball coming through faster and at the same speed to them.  If you can slow down some of your topspins and put more and less spin on them, they tend to have more trouble. 

They often like the ball to come fast so that they can use that speed to outposition you.

Think about also giving them more backspin balls.  Often they don't as strong a topsin stroke against backspin.

Another effective ball against a blocker canbe a shorter topspin that lands closer to the net.  This forces the blocker to move in and out which could be difficult for them.  This shorter ball does not have to have much speed but the more spin you can get the better.