handle with a long serve

lefty from thailand Unknown Asked 16 years ago

hi, alois.  whenever i compete with righthander who has a good long serve. i always lose the point to him. he served to the end of the table with sidespin to my left hand and my right hand.i tried to push or chop it didn't work. most of my return out of the side of the table. pls tell me how to handle with long and fast sidespin serve. thank you so much.

Alois Rosario Answered 16 years ago

Hi Lefty,

If you know that they are going to serve a lot of fast long serves, take half a step back for your receiving position.

Try to use a topspin return rather  than a chop.  It is harder to control the chop stroke.  Because there is sidespin you need to allow for it with the angle of your bat.

If you get a reasonably strong topspin on the ball you will get rid of the spin on the serve and generate your own spin.

Take a look at the Lesson on Topspin against Backspin.  The stroke you need to use is very similar to this, just allowing for the sidespin by changing the angle of your bat slightly.

I hope this helps.