Returning Ma Lin's serve
Table Tennis Service Return
Last updated 5 years ago
asif ali Asked 12 years ago
How do i return Ma Lin's serves?
Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago
Hi Asif,
Firstly we need to get a chance to play against Ma Lin...
If you mean returning the type of serve that Ma Lin does, you need to adjust your bat for the backspin on the ball. Start with your racket facing upwards. This will counteract the backspin.
You don't need to push forward very much on the ball because the backspin will almost take the ball back as long as you get the angle of your racket right.
Watch the video response to this question titled How to Return Ma Lin's Serve.
Thoughts on this question
Become a free member to post a comment about this question.
Claus Hamacher Posted 12 years ago
"Firstly we need to get a chance to play against Ma Lin..."...
Good point, Alois! :-)
Ittipat Amonrungmetham Posted 12 years ago
Agree with Claus Hamacher :D
Julio Torres Posted 12 years ago
I Agree with Claus too
Cristh Garrido Posted 11 years ago
all returning depends of the angle of the racket??? for example i feel that make a short push in a serve with fauth backspin is more difficult than in a ma lin serve, then in this situation i just must close the angle of my racket??
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago
Yes Cristh, a lot does depend on the angle of the racket. For the no spin serve you need to come straight down on the ball so the angle of your racket and stroke is very vertical. You also need a relaxed hand to get the ball back short.
Cristh Garrido Posted 11 years ago
Thanks Alois
bertus bertus Posted 11 years ago
Ok... Now a video on how to return Ma lin's third ball attack! 8-)
But returning those serves are more difficult than it looks... I had the change to play ball with Danny Heister (coach of Boll's TT club)
He was serving and he told me: Try to return the serve without letting the ball go under the table!
I think you can guess what happend next... I felt really stupid afterwards haha!
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago
It is great to had the opportunity to feel the amount fo spin that someone like that can get on their serves. With a lot of training you can do that too.
bertus bertus Posted 11 years ago
Well, I'm not sure if this was mainly due to the amount of spin he generated or my ability's in TT at that time.
I try to focus more on deceptive serves with some spin rather then trying to put just a lot of spin on the ball like Danny does.
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago
He was probably giving you long fast spins as they are more effective against a developing player.
bertus bertus Posted 11 years ago
Yes, it was indeed a long serve. In order to clear some room behind the table so the ball would be able to go under the table and maybe due to the reason you wrote.
Interesting to see is that I found a video on youtube of Danny doing exactly that serve. And his opponent, noone less then Liam Pitchford makes many errors on returning that serve as well as you can see on video link below. (serve is done at 2.55 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJT-EEW_fcU
Cheers!
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago
This is a heavy backspin serve with pure backspin. The ease of his action makes it difficult to pick how much spin there is on the ball.
Sourav Mehra Posted 11 years ago
Can we just counter the ball with the same angle as shown in the video?
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago
You need to have a very open bat.
Ujjal Chatterjee Posted 9 years ago
Hi Alois,
We have learnt from your earlier lessons that the all spins should be countered by proper bat angle (as required)...and that is what again you have refreshed us.
Thanks.
kathy mckelvey Posted 7 years ago
Thank you. Yes its obvious that the angle of the bat is the key to scoring points!!