Secret to really heavy backspin

david j Asked 8 years ago

I have a player in my tabletennis club who plays with two anti rubbers (toni hold), and he manages to put really extreme backspin on the ball.

Now, i know the theory of how to deal with those types of backspin balls, the more backspin there is the more vertical your topspin stroke has to be. No matter how hard i try though, as soon as i touch the ball no matter how vertical i do it, it goes straight into the net.

I'm watching pro players topspin very heavy backspin balls by other pro defensive players all day. Is there some secret to it or does it come down to just perfecting your topspin stroke? I'm really trying hard but i just can't return those heavy backspin balls with a topspin of my own, so i just end up pushing them which gives me no advantage. I swear my bat is near vertical when i do it

Hope you can help me,

Kind regards,

David

Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago

Hi David,

You could try even going past vertical with the angle of your bat. So open it up so it is slightly facing towards the roof and then lift the arm the same way.

The other thing is to make sure your racket head speed is high. If your arm is moving through slowly you will not get enough speed to counteract the spin.

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Jean Balthazar Posted 8 years ago

If your opponent uses anti-spin rubbers (i.e. grip-less rubbers), that "extreme backspin" is just your own top-spin coming back at you. So don't try to put the maximum spin all the time. Put less spin sometimes, by opening your bat more, as Alois mentioned, or even break your opponent's rhythm with a well controlled push. That will make him come closer to the net, and then you can restart with a strong and well placed top spin.