Get Your Copy
This lesson appears on PingSkills Coaching Lessons Volume 2 available as a DVD or download.
Take your game to the next level by purchasing one of our Table Tennis DVDs.
The Backhand Topspin Against Backspin
The Starting Position
You can turn with your waist a little more side on to the table than for your backhand counter hit stroke. You start your swing with your bat down well below table height. As a guide try to start your bat around knee height with the face tilted slightly forward.
The Contact
The crucial part of putting topspin on the ball however is the contact of the ball on the bat. The contact needs to be a fast brushing action to generate the topspin and lift. If your contact is too slow, you will not lift the ball over the net.
The Finishing Position
The bat should finish above eye level. The bat will finish outside the line of your body, in line with your right shoulder or even further to the right. You can add a little wrist movement with this stroke but be careful not to use too much wrist as the stroke may become too inconsistent. Later as you become more confident and want to generate more spin you can add more wrist.
Spin versus Speed
The starting and finishing height will vary depending on the amount of spin vs speed you want to put on the ball. The more spin the lower the start and the higher the finish position (more vertical swing). The faster the shot you want the higher the start and the lower the finish position (more horizontal swing). However remember with the backspin on the ball if you want to generate speed with a horizontal swing you need to contact the ball fast.
Consistency
Practice your backhand topspin against backspin using multiball if you can. This is a much more effective way of getting a lot of practice within a short amount of time. Use the Consistency Chart to see how many topspins you can get on out of 100. Make sure to hit the ball slowly at first until you have really mastered the stroke. That means you can easily hit around 20 shots in a row without a mistake. If you can spend just 10 minutes of your Table Tennis training session doing this you will be amazed at your improvement.