receiving a sidespin serve

hi,

sir, i tried and tried to attack a short side spin serve but i usually fail to do so.when i try to flip the ball it just goes out , when i try to topspin i am unable to generate the spin, the only option i am left with is to counter the ball but it doesn't help much as when i return a simple counter i am in a defensive position. receiving this type of serve in the match  is very awkward moment for me. so please help. another thing i wanted to ask is how do i come to know that my rubber or my blade is dead.

thank you

bhaavan 

Hi Bhaavan,

To return a sidespin serve with a flick you can open the bat up and then angle the bat to the side to counter the sidespin.  This is a stroke that is quite advanced and will take time to get right.  Don't worry if you are making errors at first.  Keep working on it and you will soon see an improvement.

You can also push it back.  Again you can use the angle of the bat to allow the ball to go back straight.  Then brush under the ball to generate some backspin of your own.  This will make it harder for your opponent to attack.

To tell if your rubber is dead you can rub your finger across it and dee if it feels grippy.  You can also look at the surface of the rubber and see if you can see the pimples coming through.  This will happen when the surface of the rubber is starting to wear.