Returning sliding away serves

Receiving

Aneesh Joshi Asked 14 years ago

Hello! I am a right handed player. I am having a lot of trouble receiving services which have heavy sidespin and go skidding AWAY from my forehand (regular cross court sidespin serve by lefty or backhand straight court sidespin serve by a righty). Although I am able to return ball on such serves I am not in control of my return so opponent gets an easy ball for attack and puts me on defensive. Can you please suggest me how to return such serves effectively?

Alois Rosario Answered 14 years ago

Hi Aneesh,

The serve that swings away from your forehand can be difficult.

I find it helps when I think about getting my nose close to the ball to hit it. This forces me to move my feet closer to the ball. The problem is when you are too far away from the ball. If the ball swings a little more it goes out of your comfortable hitting area. By being close to the ball you can still adjust.

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Judging the Length of a Serve

A really important skill in table tennis is to be able to judge if a serve will be short or long. If it's short you won't be able to take a full swing at the ball and hence will need to use either a push or a flick to return the ball. However, if it is coming long then you can make a topspin attack. In this video we give you some tips to help you judge the length of the serve and hopefully this makes you a better returner.

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