Third ball just long ball

Abhiram Reddy Asked 11 years ago

How can I make my third ball attack against a low and slow push which barely goes long, better? What is the best way to attack this ball? The ball isn't fast enough to make my full topspin stroke, neither is it short or high enough to flick. when I do perform a lifting topspin, I cannot put enough speed on the ball and simply gift my opponent a medium paced and net high ball with topspin which he attacks with ease.What should I do in this scenario?             

Also , because the stroke has a long follow through compared to the slow speed I put of the ball , my opponent is able to anticipate better and catches me out of position.  If the ball does come a tad longer with backspin, I can hit a faster stroke.

My short serves are pretty slow too.Is there a way to speed them up without making them half-long?

Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago

Hi Abhiram,

The key here is to get the judgement right of the length of the ball.  Once you have this then you can swing through faster.  Even though you may not be able to get as much speed, you will be able to get a lot of topspin on the ball which will trouble your opponent.

THe other thing you can try is to swing over the table with a more horizontal stroke, but you will need a lot more speed on your racket to lift this over the net.

For the faster short serve try to hit the ball into the table on your side a little faster.  THis is a very precise technique and one that needs a lot of prate to get just right.  Take a look at this previous Ask the Coach video response on How to do a short fast serve.