Returning Fast Pendulum Serves
Receiving
Siddhartha Raja Asked 12 years ago
Sir,
I have problems on returning fast pendulum serves. When i try to hit topspin stroke i can not return the serve because they are low but when i push the ball it goes high and my friend use the third ball attack.
Jeff Plumb Answered 12 years ago
Hi Siddhartha,
When your opponent serves long, the ideal response is to topspin the ball. As you've found out, if you chop the ball back your opponent will have the chance to attack first and put you on the defensive.
To topspin the ball you need to first read the spin that is on the ball. If it has some backspin, you want to play a more vertical stroke to lift the ball. If the ball has topspin, you want to play a more horizontal stroke to counter the topspin. With both these variations you want to make sure you are brushing the ball to generate your own topspin. It's the topspin that will make your stroke safer by getting the ball to dip.
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Siddhartha Raja Posted 12 years ago
when i hit the topspin stroke in return my opponent plays a faster counter shot and in return i can not do nothing because the ball is travelling very fast
Try to vary the spin and speed of the return. A fast ball isn't always the best solution. The other thing to vary is where you are returning the ball to. Try to find their weaker side for countering. You can also vary the length of your topspin. In general try to get it quite deep on their side, but again as a variation you can place it short on the other side.
Try all of these variations and see if they help you.