Breaking a flat hitting habit
Table Tennis Strokes and Technique
Last updated 8 years ago
Arjan van Luttikhuizen Asked 8 years ago
Hi Alois and Jeff,
Lately I've drifted towards a more attacking style close to the table, I'm getting a very small margin for error on my topspin strokes because I unintentionally hit the ball quite flat on. When trying to focus on the start / finish positions and brushing the ball I still end up getting very little "dip" on the ball. And then when I do get good spin it tends to fly way of the table. What can I do to more consistently play the slower, higher topspin?
Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago
Hi Arjan,
The key is to maintain the topspin all the time. This will give you a much better margin for error over the net.
It is a trade off between how high the stroke can be and the speed of the ball but maintaining the brushing contact is crucial.
Thoughts on this question
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Arjan van Luttikhuizen Posted 8 years ago
Had a really long training session today and things are already starting to look up. I went over the relevant technique video's on the site one more time and focused on improving on one point at a time. For some reason those heavy topspins that kick off the table almost horizontally feel much more satisfying than the speedy strokes.
I also found that it's perhaps never a good idea to use the slow spinny topspin against a ball that also has significant topspin on it, your thoughts?
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 8 years ago
HI Arjan,
Yes the heavy topspin balls are very difficult to do the slow topspin against. Much easier off the backspin ball or a slower ball in general. The ball doesn't fly off your bat as quickly.
D K Posted 8 years ago
And if I want to do a slow heavy topspin off a slow heavy topspin,what should I do?
Take the ball lower?
Johan B Posted 8 years ago
Brush the ball and aim diagonally up :p
D K Posted 8 years ago
This is for a topspin stroke in the wide sense.