Returning a fast pendulum serve

Strokes

Grenville Pereira Asked 13 years ago

Hi Alois / Jeff

I have an opponent who is also a left handed and serves a fast pendulum serve. As it comes at an angle to my backhand , I am trying to use the backhand topspin to return the serve. The problem is that i am still developing my backhand topspin and find that I am not all that consistent and quite a few of the returns go into the net. I am not able to make out the amount of topspin or back spin on the ball. How do I proceed in this case. Is there a common shot I could use if I do not know the spin or do you have any pointers to improve the backhand topspin in this case.

Thanks

Regards

Grenville

Alois Rosario Answered 13 years ago

Hi Grenville,

This will come down to practice in the end but in the meantime, give yourself a little more margin for error over the net with the shot.

Let the ball come close to you and then lift it up more with a higher arc over the net so that you get more safety with the stroke. It may look closer to a topspin lob than a topspin to start with. The stroke will be almost vertical with a brushing action.

As you become more comfortable and better at the stroke you can start to speed it up and get the ball lower over the net.

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Thoughts on this question (2)

Grenville Pereira Posted 13 years ago

Hi Alois

Thanks for the advice. on trying to make the shot a little more slower and brush the ball over the net , I am a lot more consistent at this . Even though the opponent knows my return and makes a 3rd ball attack , it's fine for now knowing that I am practicing and improving on the backhand topspin return. I also realized that earlier my starting position for the stroke was wrong , my bat did not come from lower the table to brush that back spin ball.