Return Side Spin Serve

Hi Jeff,

How to return side spin dead serve? Actually I switched my racket from pre to custom. So I want to know know how to return it at a place where I want. Usually it falls off the table . I can not make out how to return even a less spin serve. The only serve I can return (using custom racket) is chop serve (simply by placing the racket in front of the ball at wide angle) or long pitched serve ( using top spin technique).

Hi Saffi,

Returning serve is one of the hardest parts of the game of table tennis. The key is understanding how the spin reacts off your bat. Backspin will cause the ball to go down, sidespin will cause the ball to go to the side, and topspin will cause the ball to go up off your bat. Once you can recognise the type of spin the server puts on the ball, the next step is to angle your bat to counter the spin. It sounds like you do this well of the backspin. Just try to emulate this with other types of spin. So for sidespin angle you bat so the ball would go out wide if not for the sidespin.

Let me know if this helps.