Pushing a heavy backspin ball short

Service Return

Abhinav Upadhyay
Abhinav Upadhyay Asked 10 years ago

Hi Alois,

I think I have been struggling in pushing a ball short while receiving serves when the ball has a heavy amount of backspin. I just go with an open angle blade and try to lift the ball but the backspin on the ball makes it bounce back from the bat very quickly and it goes longer by itself. This allows the opponent to loop it. What adjustment to do to handle such heavy backspin serves?


Alois Rosario
Alois Rosario Answered 10 years ago

Hi Abhinav,

Focus on keeping your hand relaxed.  You don’t need much forward momentum with your hand.  Just let the ball touch your bat.  All you need to do is provide the correct angle of the bat for it to go back on the table and very low over the net.  It requires a lot of touch and so a lot of practice.


Thoughts on this question


Eliot Hutstian

Eliot Hutstian Posted 10 years ago

is it possible to use "banana backhand flick on the table" like what fan zhendong usually does ? 


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 10 years ago

You can use this over the table.  It is a difficult shot to master though.


Eliot Hutstian

Eliot Hutstian Posted 10 years ago

Thank you ! then , can i use it against sidespin or topspin ? or it only can be use for backspin serve ? what usually fanzhendong use it for ? againts backspin only or anything else ? and how ? 


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 10 years ago

You can use it against any spin once you get the feel for the angle you need to use.


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