Attacking a long serve return

Hi Alois,

How do you attack a loop from your opponent after serving long.

What I sometimes do to lower rank players is I serve a long fast serve to their backhand and they return with a weak loop but I fail to attack this ball well hence making me stop using this tactic. But my coach said serving long to lower rank players is an advantage as some of them are unfamiliar with long returns and are comfortable with short serves.

In general, should I stay back and counter loop that or come close to block to corners and should I spin the ball more and flat hit it?

Thanks

Hi Mat,

This is not an easy ball to play that is why it is preferable in general to make a short serve.  To make this counter spin make sure you are stable first.  Then come forward on the swing of your racket.  You don’t need to lift the ball because it already had a good amount of topspin on it.

So even if the opponent is weaker, if you are having problems with this ball then serve shorter to get the ball that you can attack.