side spin

Dan Unknown Asked 14 years ago

I recently played a friend in table tennis who uses an almost extreme amount of side spin and only side spin.  The ball travels slowly and high.  I feel like my skills are better than his and that I should be able to beat him.  However, I kept finding myself out of position, unable to return the ball with any power, and consistently hitting way off to the side.  I completely lost control of the match.  How do I take control and hit the ball with some power with so much side spin coming at me?

Alois Rosario Answered 14 years ago

Hi Dan,

Playing against these sort of player scan be difficult at first.  You will find though that once you develop your topspin you will be able to overpower this sort of player.  You need to play with some pure topspin and ensure your strokes are correct.  You also need to play your stroke with a bit of speed to counter the sidespin.  If your stroke is too slow the sidespin will still have effect.  The sidespin on the ball doesn't allow for any error in your stroke. That is why it can be tricky.  

Remember though that once you can generate enough speed and spin they have nothing to hurt you with.