Learning to read backspin

Michael Eisen Asked 12 years ago

I struggle with attacking pushes, because I tend to misjudge how much spin is on them. If I am given the same amount of backspin each time, I can get the hang of it, but then if it changes, which of course it tends to in an actual match, then I am caught out. So how do I learn to read the spin on the ball better? I try to watch my opponent's bat as they hit the ball, and to watch the ball as it comes towards me, but it doesn't seem to work. Is there a drill or procedure for learning to read different amounts of backspin reliably and adjust my topspin shot appropriately?

Thanks very much

Michael

Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago

Hi Michael,

The small adjustments that your opponent can make, makes it really difficult to put this into a simple formula.

I think the best way to start with is to brush the ball really finely so that you are getting lots of spin on the ball.  Then get the ball to go quite high over the net.  The topspin will bring the ball down for you.  This will give you a good margin for error and therefore lead to less mistakes.

Learning the small differences takes a long time and there is no real shortcut.  It sounds like you are understanding the basics.  Try to practice the stroke as much as you can and get your training partner to give you all sorts of variations during training.  You can even do this with multiball.

The basic thing though is do it as much as possible.