Ball placement on forehand

Hi guys,

I'm pretty sure I've read about this or seen a video on it on youtube, maybe on your channel, but I can't find it again for the life of me. Maybe it is on your channel and you can direct me to it or provide me with the answer.

What I think I saw was when doing a forehand, always try to hit the ball long/deep on the table, so the opponent struggles to return it, having to back up or something at the very least. I saw doing this and keeping the ball low over the net in almost a straight line path from the top of the bounce to the end of the table will give you the most distance to work with, and then your stroke can be longer, and your ball has the potential to have maximal spin. I think I saw pro players will always try to hit the ball deep/long like this. Is this accurate? It sort of makes sense to me.

I know you have a video on serve placement, and you talk about how pros keep 80% of the balls short, and 20% long, and another video on keeping the ball low, but this is more about the forehand placement, and I don't know if it's only for loops, or any forehand, or any backhand return for that matter. Or maybe even chops.

Basically, should you always keep the ball long on the table in returns? Is it something I should be focusing on doing?

Hi Noor,

Depth of attacking strokes is good in general however as with anything, variation is always good. Playing a topspin that lands short on the table when your opponent is standing back or is waiting for a faster ball can be effective.

The same gos with pushing, short is often good but a long variation can be useful.