Watching and reacting
Strokes and Technique
Christian , Asked 8 years ago
Hello Alois and Jeff,
After several years of training, I can play a good spinny forehand topspin and I am happy with this stroke. Last year, when I played matches, my opponent returned the ball too long out of the table.
Now, the level of my opponents is higher and the returns come on the table and not out of the table.
My coach tell me this : "you have made a good forehand topspin and you're happy! You look at the opponent and you are not ready for the next shot." And this exactly what happens now during matches. (This is the same with my services. I have worked hard and I often make the point with my service. But when the ball comes to me I'm not ready for the next shot).
This is easy to say that I have to go to the "ready position" but I don't do this.
Can you give me a tip. How to deal with these balls keep coming back to me?
Thank you in advance.
Best wishes
Christian
Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago
Hi Christian,
The key here is tracking the ball continuously. This needs to start in training. So for a period of time in training, just focus on tracking the ball. If your focus is on this you won't be getting ahead of your self or behind by still thinking about your serve or shot you jus played.
This will take some time and there will always be times when it still happens. The more you practice this, the better you will get at staying on task. Your body will naturally move into position for the next ball because of what it is seeing.
Thoughts on this question
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martinand bernard Posted 8 years ago
I know that: I serve and it's finish, the game is over, but it's the beginning (lol)
Ilia Minkin Posted 8 years ago
I have this when I play tight matches. Like it is the end of a decider, things are close. And I had a serve that my opponent put into the net before several times. So I use this serve and instead of getting ready for the rally I'm just praying for a cheap point and watching whether they will return it or make a mistake again.
Christian , Posted 8 years ago
Hello Alois and Jeff,
it's wonderfull : the "little bonces" is a really good tip (you say this in the ask the coach show).
Thank you. I need to practice more but it works really well.
Best wishes.
Christian
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 8 years ago
Glad it helped Christian. It does still take a lot of practice but it does help with getting the ball.
Sachin Bhoi Posted 8 years ago
I was having the same problem, then I started practicing recovery as a part of my shots. Serve and recover to ready position. When practicing a loop, continuously always go to ready position and loop again. I practice this in my shadow practice, and I am getting better. First and Last part of every shot is ready position, that's my ideology.
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 8 years ago
You don't need to move all the way back to the ready position, you will waste to much time. Follow the ball.
Marco Pastore Posted 8 years ago
Hi all. I also tend to "watching and stand" after a good service or a good topspin shot, and then I am unready for the next ball. But my coach says also that I am a little "slow" everytime: it seems that I need a little too much time to understand the type of ball which are coming to me, and then to get ready to play the correct hit.
I am trying to track the ball every time and to be focused on my stand to be more reactive, but until now I am not got better in this skill.
To try to fix it, is it better to add some short training session focused only on tracking and reacting (instead of 2 hours just one hour) between "normal" training session, or do you suggest to maintain the same training session in a week (actually 2 of 2 hours for me) but adding in the middle or at leafst of the session some focused exercise for reacting better ?
I'd love to have your suggestions.
Best regards, Marco
Sachin Bhoi Posted 8 years ago
Coach, I practice returning to ready position in shadow practice only but when playing I just try to track the ball, am I doing correctly ???
martinand bernard Posted 8 years ago
then shadow practice for what? if you d'ont return when playing? after a short ball you have to return
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 8 years ago
Shadow play is possible with the movement of follow where the ball might be as well.
It is difficult in a faster rally to return back to the ready position. After short push you start to move back because you have time to move back and then back in if the ball is short again.
Marv Anderson Posted 8 years ago
I tend to be a little slow also in reading the incoming ball and getting back to the ready position. I think that experience is all that will help with the first issue.
For the second, I find that practicing with a robot really helps. By concentrating on getting back to ready, I am building muscle memory, and it is becoming more automatic as I play. By setting the robot to feed balls faster and faster over a practice session, I find that I can get to ready, or at least close to it, much more easily than in the past.
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 8 years ago
That is good to hear you are making progress with it Marv.