How to deal with long fast serves
Receiving
Krishnagopal Thogiti Asked 7 years ago
Today, I played with one of my play buddies. He served a long fastball to the corner. How to deal with those. As it was a serve, I didn't know where he would serve long, short, left, right. Hence I stood in the neutral stand around a foot back from the edge of the table.
I tried to loop the ball with topspin or counter hit the ball. The ball either went into the net or outside the table. I am very much frustrated.
I want to know how can I return the ball in the best possible way.
Alois Rosario Answered 7 years ago
Hi Krishnagopal,
This is normal. It is good that you are standing in a central position to cover all four options. The next thing is to make sure you are watching the ball from the server's hand. This watching will give you a little more time to see where the ball is coming. The if it is long, you should make a simple topspin stroke to return the ball. Don't try to make a big stroke, just use the speed of the serve to return the ball.
We do have a tutorial on something similar to this. Returning the flat long serve. If yo look in the Intermediate Receiving section in particular you will see a few options there for video answers.
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