Stance for returning serves for an attacking looper

Hi pingskills,

I'm an attacking looper and I need to understand the correct distance from the table to return a serve for an attacking looper.

I know the you have to stand a bit further than basic players but by how much? How to tell if I am in a right position. And since i am further away from the table, won't it effect me from receiving short serves? I'm not very tall. I'm about 160cm and my footwork is okay but not excellent.

And how far from the table to the the forehand topspin.I know you can't be too near and not too far, maybe around the middle.

Hope you can do a video response for that because it will be a bit easier to understand if I can see you guys do it

Warm regard,

Eugene

Hi Eugene,

Set up in the normal position where you can just touch the table when you are in the ready position.

For the longer ball that you want to topspin just stay that distance from the table, let the ball come to you and make the topspin or loop stroke.  It is more a matter of being ready and watching the ball carefully so that you can react and make the full stroke.

If they are serving a lot of long serves, then you can take a very small step backwards, only about 10 cm further from the table.