Returning a long serve

Receiving

Michael Tipton
Michael Tipton Asked 14 years ago

I have an opponent who uses one serve but he's played for more than 30 years so as you can imagine he uses it to great effect. its a basic hard line drive like serve its very low and comes at me very fast ive tried standing a few inches back and blocking it. and have tried putting top spin on it by brushing the ball with my racket going up. neither of which does any good i either make it bounce too high thus its smashed or just make it easy to hit back at me. what am i doing wrong and what can i do to fix it? you guys are very helpful thank you :)


Alois Rosario
Member Badge Alois Rosario Answered 14 years ago

Hi Michael,

It sounds like you need to just experiment with the angle of your strokes.  You should use your topspin as much as possible. Play the same basics with your topspin.  Just adjust your start and finish position.  More vertical to get the ball with more sin and lift and more horizontal if the ball has topspin.


Recommended Video

Judging the Length of a Serve

A really important skill in table tennis is to be able to judge if a serve will be short or long. If it's short you won't be able to take a full swing at the ball and hence will need to use either a push or a flick to return the ball. However, if it is coming long then you can make a topspin attack. In this video we give you some tips to help you judge the length of the serve and hopefully this makes you a better returner.

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