Receiving services for a defender

Table Tennis Service Return

Last updated 11 years ago

sumanth vemuri

sumanth vemuri Asked 11 years ago

Hello sir,

I am a defender now after a year of practicing i am able to use actual defense while playing. The major problem im facing is, on receiving services.  Most of the time my receives are not that powerful and i get whacked and i have to be extremely alert and fast to get them back on the table. As for every defender Joo se hyuk being a role model, and he dosen't get smashed on the first ball itself i want to know what i should be focusing on to make it possible to give better returns .

Thank you sir


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago

Hi Sumanth,

The two keys for the return are keeping the ball low with backspin and also in general keeping the ball deep on your opponents side.  This will give them a more difficult ball to have to deal with and so will make it harder for them to attack you with a strong topspin.

You can also put in some variations of speed and spin to really make it difficult for our opponent.


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sumanth vemuri

sumanth vemuri Posted 11 years ago

Thank you sir, I've been trying to do that in the past few days and its giving me good results, im able to push the ball deep into the opponents court, and occasionally im able to impart backspin. I can impart backspin on a normal ball with my LP but i don't know why its a lot tougher during service return. Im using a tsp curl p1r 1.2 mm,, would this have any effect on my returning capabilities.


Jeff Plumb

Jeff Plumb from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago

Hi Sumanth,

It can be often more difficult on the serve because the server can disguise the spin. It is good to hear you making good progress on this during the rally. I think keep working on the return using the same principles and you'll start to see more improvement.

With the long pimples you won't be able to generate much of your own spin, that is just because of the properties of the rubber.


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago

It could also be that they are serving with backspin so your long pimples will send that back as topspin.  If this is the case then hit through the ball more rather than chopping it.



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