Tomahawk serve

nick persad Asked 10 years ago

I am a left handed player i sometimes find difficulty returning long tomahawk serves with plenty sidespin or sidespin backspin. When i attempt to push the sidespin the ball may pop up when i move to attempt the forehand loop on my backhand side I either overshoot the ball or am too far off the side of the table to get the return after they hit the ball back. How should i play these two types of spin when long to my backhand. As I have tournament on saturday and sunday 7th and 8th this was my problem last time in quarter finals some reason i just cant return good tamohawk serves.

Alois Rosario Answered 10 years ago

Hi Nick,

In the long term you should try to make a backhand topspin on this ball.  For now though, since the tournament is on; a couple of days away, think about moving to the side and pushing this ball back low and deep.  This will allow you time to get back to the ready position for the next ball.  As long as you can get this ball low over the net and quite deep on their side, you will be in a reasonable position in the rally.