Receiving left handers serves

sougata sarkar Asked 13 years ago

Hello Sir,this is Sougata from India. I am not strong to receive the short side spin service of left handers as I get confused whether the ball is short or coming slight out.. and in this confusion I couldnt receive the serve properly...and please suggest me how to receive those high side spin services.

Alois Rosario Answered 13 years ago

Hi Sougata,

Firstly it is a matter of getting used to the ball coming at a different angle from the left hander.  There is nothing else special about a left handers serve.

To judge whether the ball is short or long you need to watch the flight of the ball carefully.  In training get someone to serve a lot of serves and don't try to return them.  As you are watching them from your receiving position, try to predict as early as possible whether they are going to come short or long.  If you do this for a few sessions you will find that you will start to get better at judging the length of the serves. 

For the high sidespin serves you can flick them back. Take a look at our lesson on the Forehand Flick and the Backhand Flick.