Backspin smash
Table Tennis Strokes and Technique
Last updated 8 years ago
Jared Peterson Asked 8 years ago
Hello Alois and Jeff,
I recently played an opponent who would smash high balls with backspin/sidespin by pulling is racket down on the ball while smashing. As i have never played against this before it was extremely difficult to adjust to. What do you recommend to return this stroke and is it a good changeup option to confuse my opponent every once in a while?
Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago
Hi Jared,
This type of smash is a risky stroke but very effective if they get it on. No real solution on how to get it back other than making sure you allow for the massive swing on the ball the further away you are from the table.
If you get a high ball, just smash it straight. The risk attached to smashing with sidespin are not as big as the reward. It gives your opponent a chance to win the point by you missing the smash.
Thoughts on this question
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Dakota Castleberg Posted 8 years ago
I believe Jimmy Butler (USA) does this type of stroke in his matches Jared, if you have any interest in watching his matches to see if it's the same type of thing.
Mike Deubig Posted 8 years ago
Hey Jared,
It's funny when I played in college (back in the 80's), forehand and backhand smash were one of my main weapons on offense. Now I'm more of a looper/topspin player but I still use the backhand/forehand smash against players who tend to give me high under spin and I have won my points and sometimes games as a result. It's a great change-up, but you need to focus on practicing it and reading the spin. It will not be easy at first especially if you never done it before or done very little of it. Once you can detect which spins are good for smashes (along with proper technique), your percentage of making that shot go up. As a result, you will win a lot of points that way! :)