How to play against long backspin serve

hi alois,

There is a friend of mine with whom i play almost everyday. He is really very good at attack and doesn't give me any chance to attack first, i am good at lobbing but after returning some of his smashes ,he hit's it out of my reach, eventually he gets the point, he usually serves a long back spin serve from his backhand to my backhand(we are both right handed).

i return his serve with a simple chop but the ball tends to go too high which results him in smashing,even if i return it correctly the chopping rally continues and once in a while i throw it up high, i am not good at doing back hand topspin so i don't try that much, on the other side he is good at picking up my serves and doesn't give me any chance to attack .i sometime try to loop on a service but i am not confident at hitting those shots,he is good at both smashing either from FH or BH and is consistent. is there any way i can start attacking first?it's been a while since i won from him, what strategy should i adopt? help me :)

Hi Samad,

You need to focus on getting that backhand topspin better against backspin.  If you can do this it will change the whole game.  At the moment he know that he can just serve the ball long to your backhand and then attack the next ball because you are always going to push the return.

Your backhand topspin doesn't have to be fantastic but just lifting the ball with some topspin will change the look of the rally. 

In the meantime, you can try to be a little better with your push return.  Sometimes these type of players don't like it if you push the ball faster and more decisively to them.  Try taking the ball a little earlier so that he has less time.  Also think about the placement.  Try going out deep and wide to the forehand or deep and fast to the backhand and see what his attack is like off these balls.  This will get him away from the table and can be an awkward ball to make an attacking stroke from.