unable to return a sidespin serve

Sabyasachi Chowdhury Asked 13 years ago

hi i m a new member .....actually i joined to ask a question.....i was playing with a couple of guys (indians) and when they serve they keep their bats vertical and facing up and upon contact with ball rotates it clockwise 90 degrees (looking from the serving persons perspective)....and if i try to chop it.....with my bat (in several ways.....like keeping it completely flat to completely 90 degrees)...but each time upon contact with my bat the ball flies out sideways of the table parallel to the net...i tried top-spinning backhand topspin....even sidespins added to the topspins still no result....is it because of my bat?.....i m using a chinese bat.....RITC the guy was using a bat like double the thickness of mine....and he holds his bat funny....his forefinger parallel  to his bat handle

Alois Rosario Answered 13 years ago

Hi,

Sounds like these guys are putting sidespin on the ball.

The best way to combat it is to just use your bat like a rudder to steer the ball back.  So if the ball flies off to the left you need to face your bat more to the right and vice versa. 

This will take a bit of trial and error.  Don't try to spin the ball back or play across the line of the ball.  It will only lead to more errors. 

Receiving this type of serve is something that takes a bit of practice.

The best thing is to try to get as much practice against good servers.