How to play against a player with extreme spin
Receiving
Phillip Simmons Asked 10 years ago
The best player in our club serves and rallies with extreme spin. He hold the racket in an unusual way and hits all shots with the same side of paddle. His racket holding style is similar to the Seemiller style, but, he doesn't grip the handle at all, but rather, cradles the racket in his palm with the thumb across the backhand side and one or two fingers on the forehand side. He said he learned to play with rackets that all had the handle broken off.
His serves and shots have extreme spin and moderate pace. When the ball hits the table it jumps up sharply to the right or left at least a foot or two. Most of the time players hit it off the table.
My goal is to be able to return his serves onto the table in a consistent manner. I'll concern myself with other aspects of his game after I can do that. That would be quite an accomplishment since about 80% of the players in the club can't do. We have several player in the club who have ratings between 1400- 1700 and they also have trouble.
I'll be very interested in your response and will try to implement your suggestions right away.
Alois Rosario Answered 10 years ago
Hi Phillip,
The principles of returning any serve are the same. It is all about the angle of your racket when you contact the ball. If the ball is going to the right then angle your bat more to the left and so on.
As a Premium member you will be able to see the lessons in our Receiving Secrets series that will help you to learn and improve on these principles.
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Phillip Simmons Posted 10 years ago
Let's try again since your response didn't help, mostly my fault. I didn't tell you that we all know the principles of racket angles against spin serves. Also that I use very good long pips (Badman Reloaded OX). I don't usually have trouble with spin serves using this rubber on my backhand. Let me ask some specific questions that will be helpful.
1. Is it better when using long pips to take the ball early and hit the ball right off the bounce? Or let it bounce and let some of the spin diminish before hitting the ball.
2. Would I do better if I hit very hard through the ball with my long pips, thereby capturing the spin on the ball and taking spin off on the return.
3. The player I am discussing also disguises the racket motion very well so it is hard to determine what racket angle is required to return the serve. It is easier to determine on his shots by watching the curve of the ball. Although I have trouble doing that on his serve.
Thanks for your alway quick response.
Phil
Hi Phil,
That does change things a bit. Take the ball early for that effect. Or you can take a step back and push or chop the return to make it easier to get the ball back on the table.