Games

sina abolhoseini Asked 15 years ago

Hi,

Last week I participated in a national open. They wanted to choose 8 players. I was playing very well and I could reach the round of 16 between 114 players. I had to play against one of the seeds. I was so nervous. I think I was afraid of the name. I lost the first game 11 to 2. Then I tried to play my best. Unfortunatly I lost the second game 11 to 9. When I won the 3rd game 11 to 7, I found that it's not a hard work to beat him. I tried my best but again unfortunatly he got the last point by chance, ball hit the net and then dropped in my side, and I lost 13 to 11. I was so amazed with his flicks. Any time he was down he played with downspin serve and when I dropshot in his forehand or backhand he played a deadly flick with forehand. What should I do when a player is so expert in flick? (when I didn't play dropshot he played heavy topspin in forehand and backhand)

Thanks

Alois Rosario Answered 15 years ago

Hi Sina,

Well done on reaching the Last 16.  It sounds like a great effort with 114 players in the tournament.

When someone flicks to you, you need to get back into position quickly after the short ball.  The flick will often feel like it has some backspin on it because it comes at you fast so you need to lift this ball a little more than normal.  Try using a short almost vertical topspin stroke to lift the ball over.  It is hard to counterhit these flicks because the ball tends to go into the net.

The other thing is to work on your short push.  If you can get the ball lower, shorter and with more backspin consistently then they will not have as many opportunities to flick the ball.  It is only a small difference between having the ball flicked hard at you and being able to get them to push the ball for you to attack.

Again it is an important part of table tennis to learn the short game at the start of the rally.

Work on improving your short pushing and receiving serve short.