Replying to spin plus other techniques

Matt Speight Asked 7 years ago

Hi there. Please could you tell me what to do in the following areas: 1. Reply to all kinds of spin. 2. Using the pendulum serve (I'd like to learn the forehand one first). 3. Serving and becoming more aggressive with the backhand. I'd really like to learn all the tricks that exist in table tennis. My movement is limited for health reasons so I use techniques to compensate for this.

Alois Rosario Answered 7 years ago

Hi Matt,

The main thing when replying to spins is to watch the contact of the ball and then the flight of the ball. Then it is a matter of working out what type of spin is on the ball.  Finally you need to provide an angle of your racket to counter that spin.  It sounds like a complicated process and it can take time to get it right.  We have a series on Introduction to Receiving that will explain this in detail for you.

The Pendulum serve is a good one to start with when learning to spin the serves.  The main thing is to get your position correct at the start.  Get your self side on to the table and your elbow up at shoulder level.  Then use the forearm like a Pendulum and brush the ball on contact.  We have this in our Pendulum Serve tutorial.

Backhand it is important to start with getting the basics right.  One thing I find will help is to get your feet more sure to the table.  If you stand side on you will tend to favour the forehand and the backhand side will the difficult.

Work your way through our Strokes and Techniques section and you will find a lot of help for all things backhand.