Returning a sidespin serve

Hello Jeff and Alois

I am having difficulty returning a sidespin serve. I had learned that you can just attack to the centre of the table, but this wasn't working. The ball kept on flying out. I tried changing the angle of the bat to cancel out the sidespin, and the ball went in, but it was really high and the opponent just smashed it in. Is it possible to attack on a sidespin serve?

Thanks

Nishant

Hi Nishant,

It is possible to attack the sidespin serve.  I think it is important to understand the exact spin on the ball first which you will gain from learning to use the angle of your bat correctly.  Apart from using the angle sideways you also need to alter the angle up and down to keep the ball low.

Once you can get this you can also attack the serve.  Use your normal topspin but again you will need to adjust your angle slightly to allow for the spin on the ball.