Opponent Never Pushes the Ball

Zhang Bo Lin Asked 10 years ago

Hi PingSkills!

I noticed that everybody in my club flicks. How do I encourage a push return from my opponent using serves?

Thanks!

Alois Rosario Answered 10 years ago

Hi Zhang,

Try to serve with more backspin. This will make it harder for them to flick the ball. Also focus on keeping the ball low.

One other thing you can think about is to put the ball a little further away from the net without going long. What we call the half long serve. The second bounce on your opponents side should be close to their end line. If the ball is really short and close to the net it is a little easier to attack.

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Ilia Minkin Posted 10 years ago

Another thing is to vary and disguise spin -- as any other receiving stroke, flicking requires very good spin reading. If your opponent pretends that they deal with a backspin serve, while you put topspin on it, they are likely to put the ball of the table.