Return of serve on Tomahawk sidespin

Hi Pingskills,

I am looking for some advice who has a strong serve and 3rd ball routine...

The serve is a left handed sidespin tomahawk serve from the backhand side. Using the bat angle, I can comfortably touch the ball back towards him, however this sets him up for a backhand opener.. which puts him on the front foot. I have tried flicking the ball across table to his forehand... but the ball is tough to flick as there is no topspin on the ball...

Could you give me any suggestions?

Hi Simon,

I would think about pushing this back short.  Come down on the ball with very little forward momentum with a really soft hand.  You could also try flicking the return with a more open bat angle.  It is difficult to get a lot of backspin with the tomahawk so flicking should be possible if that is a good tactical option.