Receiving
How to return a spinning short serve?
Hi Vinit,
You first need to recognise the type of spin on the ball. It can have backspin, topspin or sidespin or a combination of these.
You can watch the server when they are hitting the ball to get some information on this. YOu can also watch the flight of the ball to give you some more clues.
If the serve is short then you are best to either push it back short or if the serve has some topspin then you can also try to flick it back. The third option is to do a fast long push as a return.
We have a course on Receiving Secrets that will help you a lot with this aspect of your game.
Struggling to return spin serves? You're not alone! In this video, we break down how to read spin, adjust your bat angle, and return serves effectively—so you stop giving away easy points.
🔹 Skill Breakdown: How to identify different types of spin and adjust your return technique.
🔹 Common Mistakes: The biggest errors players make when returning spin serves—and how to fix them fast!
🔹 Viewer Q&A: Answering your top questions about handling tricky spin serves.
🔹 Train Smarter: Drills to help you practice and improve your serve returns.
Mastering serve returns is one of the fastest ways to level up your table tennis game. Try these tips and let us know in the comments: What’s the toughest spin serve you face?
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vinit jadhav Posted 12 years ago
thanks Alois,
Your valuable inputs will help me in my future matches
regards,
vinit
No problems Vinit. Glad to be able to help.