Doubles service return, backhand or forehand

Table Tennis Service Return

Last updated 8 years ago

Arjan van Luttikhuizen

Arjan van Luttikhuizen Asked 8 years ago

 Hi Alois and Jeff,

Lately it seems as if my service return gets significantly worse when playing in doubles. I completely miss the ball off to the side or constantly feed them into the net and I ask myself why, why do I stumble even against easy serves? Playing the same people in singles goes fine!

In doubles I'm used to receiving almost all serves on my backhand, standing at the forehand corner. Do you think receiving with a more open forehand side, standing close to the middle of the table is better?


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago

Hi Arjan,

It may just be your positioning at the table.  Try to think of the right half of the table as the area you need to position yourself for.  So adjust your feet angle to accommodate this.

The serves coming at a different angle can throw you out of balance.

Work out whether you feel more comfortable receiving with the forehand or backhand when standing in that position.

The other consideration is to make sure you are out of the way of your partner for the next ball.


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Thoughts on this question

Johan B

Johan B Posted 8 years ago

I prefer covering the entire area with my forehand when receiving. As a surprise, I'll sometimes switch over to a backhand position once they throw up the ball. This is especially nice when they're basically doing everything they can to keep the ball too short for a forehand flick (which would go predictably cross court), and you surprise them by stepping around and playing a backhand down the line.

Whichever you choose, try to do a lot with your returns, because they can do a lot less by way of surprising you with placement :)



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