Problem making my second loop

Hi,

Normally I think I make my first forehand loop properly. This is either from a back-spin ball or top-spin ball, however when my opponent blocks the ball, i seem to have a lot of problems looping again. I either play a defensive shot -- turn on my backhand or just rally the ball back with a normal forehand shot (not a loop). When i try to make a second loop, I either miss the ball or hit the loop poorly. I have been trying to incorporate this second attack in my game but it seems very difficult.

In drills, i loop the second, third and fourth ball ok, but in a match I have alot of issues continuing the attack after my first loop.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi Rod,

This can be due to a few factors.

One may be that after you are playing the first topspin in a match you are throwing yourself off balance because your arm is a bit tight.  That will mean that you are putting yourself into a position to only play a backhand on the next ball because your body is turned that way.

The other factor I find with the 5th ball is that a lot of players tend to hit the ball long because they don't adjust the angle of their racket after the 3rd ball.  Often on the 3rd ball you need to generate spin or speed yourself but on the 5th ball the speed is already there and you need to turn the angle of your racket down more to hit it on the table.

We have a tutorial on this for our Premium members on Forehand Followup.