Position For Receiving A Serve

Tim Pan Asked 12 years ago

Hi,Alois and Jeff,

I was just wondering what the receiving position for a Shakehand player is.I'm not talking about the way we should be facing the table or anything,but the way we should hold our bats.Before,I was a Pengrip player,and I had no problem with my bat receiving position.However,ever since I changed to Shakehand,I tend to hold my bat with the backhand side of the bat facing the opponent just left to the cross-over point.  This is because I tend to use my backhand more than my forehand. However, when I use this position,I find it just about impossible to topspin any long serves to my forehand,as I cannot topspin backhand.Do you have any tips on the angle and position of the bat before a rally?  By the way,your videos are great,why did you stop making them?  Keep them coming!

Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago

Hi Tim,

I like to have the bat in a neutral position so neither forehand nor backhand facing forward.  This gives me the best chance to make a shot from either side.  Try this out. By doing this you will be able to topspin those balls with your forehand rather than relying so heavily on your backhand.

We still make videos regularly.  They are put up on the site under different areas like the Ask the Coach video responses or as Blogs or in one of our courses.  It keeps us pretty busy making these.

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