Defensive style and receiving serves

Table Tennis Service Return

Last updated 11 years ago

nilesh raghavan

nilesh raghavan Asked 11 years ago

How could I return a smash by a chop or loop?

Also, how to push a sidespin tomahawk serve?


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago

Hi Nilesh,

Take a look at our lessons on the Backhand Chop and the Forehand Chop.  These will help you with these strokes.  It is then a matter of getting the angle of your stroke correct to allow for the amount of spin and speed on the ball.  The more spin and speed the more vertical or downwards your stroke needs to be.

To push a tomahawk sidespin serve you need to adjust the angle of your bat to allow for the spin.  So assuming both are right handed, you would need to push the ball with your bat facing to your right as the sidespin will take the ball to the left.  You can use either forehand or backhand depending on where the serve is placed.

For more tips on receiving serves you can see what is available on our Receiving Secrets lessons.  These are open for our Premium members.  If you want to join even for a month, you can go to the 'My Info link at the top left hand corner of the website and explore your options.


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