Reading spin
Receiving
Soumya Mukherjee Asked 8 years ago
Hi there. I am a beginner. When i play against my friend who does the pendulum serve i cannot read the spin whether it is side spin or back spin and end up hitting the ball in the net or out of the board. The same thing happens when he does the backhand serve. By luck i could hit it a few times. Please tell me how can i read these spins. Sometimes its frustuating. Please help me.
Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago
Hi Soumya,
This is the most frustrating part of the game to start with.
A couple of things that will help initially are watching the serving action and then watching the flight of the ball.
In the simplest form the ball will go off your bat in the same direction as the swing of the serve. So if they move their bat from left to right then the ball will go to the right when it hits your bat.
In our Receiving Secrets section you will find a tutorial on Understanding Spin which will help. There are a lot more tutorials in there as part of the Premium membership.
Recommended Video
How to Return Spin Serves in Table Tennis (and Stop Misreading Them!)
Struggling to return spin serves? You're not alone! In this video, we break down how to read spin, adjust your bat angle, and return serves effectively—so you stop giving away easy points.
What You'll Learn:
🔹 Skill Breakdown: How to identify different types of spin and adjust your return technique.
🔹 Common Mistakes: The biggest errors players make when returning spin serves—and how to fix them fast!
🔹 Viewer Q&A: Answering your top questions about handling tricky spin serves.
🔹 Train Smarter: Drills to help you practice and improve your serve returns.
Mastering serve returns is one of the fastest ways to level up your table tennis game. Try these tips and let us know in the comments: What’s the toughest spin serve you face?
Watch NowThoughts on this question
Become a free member to post a comment about this question.
Soumya Mukherjee Posted 8 years ago
Thank you.