Service return advice

Hi All,

I'm looking for a bit of general shot advice, a sort of "go-to" shot until I learn how to deal with it correctly?

In my local league I finished with 81% wins over the season so it's time to try the next level up which I am doing next winter season. Of the few games I have played in the higher division the one thing I seem to struggle with is short & heavy backspin serves.

Assume you were in the middle of a match and you only had 30 seconds to give a player advice, what short and simple advice would you give about returning this serve?

I have the summer to practice as we are having a semi-friendly league and it's of more mixed ability, so I see this serve a bit more and have more chance to try the advice against this serve.

Thanks in advance.
 
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Hi All,

I'm looking for a bit of general shot advice, a sort of "go-to" shot until I learn how to deal with it correctly?

In my local league I finished with 81% wins over the season so it's time to try the next level up which I am doing next winter season. Of the few games I have played in the higher division the one thing I seem to struggle with is short & heavy backspin serves.

Assume you were in the middle of a match and you only had 30 seconds to give a player advice, what short and simple advice would you give about returning this serve?

I have the summer to practice as we are having a semi-friendly league and it's of more mixed ability, so I see this serve a bit more and have more chance to try the advice against this serve.

Thanks in advance.
Master the short push and getting to the ball early. It is important to be able to deny the first attack with a short or half long but uncomfortable return.
 
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1. always step into the table
2. don't watch the ball, watch the racket of the opponent
3. mirror the opponent's angle
 
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1) If you don't know how to control the serve, mirror the opponent's bat angle and just touch the ball without energy, thus returning his spin to him.
Many amateurs can have very spinny serves but don't know what to do when they get their spin back reversed, especially with sidespin serves.

This will generally not work if the serve is topspin because there's no 'bat angle' for topspin serves generally, and it will definitely not work on better players because it's not a very high quality return usually.

2) practice bending your right knee and getting it UNDER the table, so your head is close to the ball when receiving a short serve. Not just stepping up to the table with legs straight. This will give you much more feeling on the return and you'll have much more quality, short and spinny return.
Unless you're very tall, that is.
 
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Of the few games I have played in the higher division the one thing I seem to struggle with is short & heavy backspin serves.

Assume you were in the middle of a match and you only had 30 seconds to give a player advice, what short and simple advice would you give about returning this serve?

Depends on how exactly you're struggling. What are you trying to do with the serve? Are you missing the return itself? Getting killed on the third ball?

Most likely you're trying to short push but sending the ball too long or high. In this case, I'd follow the advice above. Get to the ball as early as possible, stay low, and take it off the bounce. If you're getting fooled by no spin variations then welcome to the club. The only real cure is experience. My 30 second advice is to watch how the ball moves through the air. Heavy backspin floats and glides, no spin wobbles.
 
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While staying "Safe" with a push return, a deep push return... as deep as you can safely place it off the bounce...

You have a couple ways to make variation that will reduce your opponent's consistency.

1) Placement - you can vary placement right at the opponent or to the wide opposite side

2) Spin - you can vary the spin between very heavy or near dead

Spin variation doesn't work unless you can show you can push heavy. Placement variation will not work unless you can take the ball quickly off the bounce and keep it deep without hitting out.

Just the spin variation alone is gunna get you places. It is a PLUS if you can block opponent's first attack for a winner. After a spell, opponent realizes they lose too many points missing attacks or getting blocked off the table - then they start passing up the attack chance... that is where you open up REAL HEAVY and spin the opponent out of the gym.

This can work with players even a couple levels above you IF you can be consistent and quality enough. This is taking away your risk of missing the short return or mis-reading the spin... but I agree with NL in that strategically, it is important to learn and train a short receive.
 
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I laid out WHAT to do, but only 1/2 of HOW to do it. A lot of the spin variation is all in your grip pressure at impact and when you accelerate. Also, a key to staying "safe" with your long deep push is LIGHT grip pressure. You get spin from accelerating during the dwell, and also pace and spin from firming it up right at impact.

Saying it is way easier than doing it.
 
Depends on how exactly you're struggling. What are you trying to do with the serve? Are you missing the return itself? Getting killed on the third ball?

Most likely you're trying to short push but sending the ball too long or high. In this case, I'd follow the advice above. Get to the ball as early as possible, stay low, and take it off the bounce. If you're getting fooled by no spin variations then welcome to the club. The only real cure is experience. My 30 second advice is to watch how the ball moves through the air. Heavy backspin floats and glides, no spin wobbles.

My struggle is not being able to return the serve in the first place.

I can return backspin with a short push and admittedly I have a habit of popping it up on occasion so I need some work here too.

The heavier the backspin gets the more I struggle. Eventually this gets to a point where I end up putting the ball in the net.
 
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My struggle is not being able to return the serve in the first place.

I can return backspin with a short push and admittedly I have a habit of popping it up on occasion so I need some work here too.

The heavier the backspin gets the more I struggle. Eventually this gets to a point where I end up putting the ball in the net.

Hold the racket softly and don't push it forward first. This way you can return short heavy backspin safely. As you improve you will be able to control more the length and spin. During training you can practice other options but if you are in league match just try to do this dropshot short and low. No need for spinny pushes yet.
 
So what I have taken so far from the advice ....

Get in early
Get as close to the ball as possible
Take the ball as soon as possible
Soft grip at the start and tighten up when at the end of the shot.

Sounds like my push shot needs to be improved as I have no idea if it's a light or heavy push! Any guidance or better still, edu videos?

Thanks again everyone
 
Hold the racket softly and don't push it forward first. This way you can return short heavy backspin safely. As you improve you will be able to control more the length and spin. During training you can practice other options but if you are in league match just try to do this dropshot short and low. No need for spinny pushes yet.

So an open blade as if I am about to push, but don't actually push through?
 
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So an open blade as if I am about to push, but don't actually push through?

Yeah, something like that. The key is that you don't have to try hard imparting heavy spin on your own. If you return a heavy backspin ball this way your ball will be a light backspin ball. But it will be safe. Of course during training you have to try to push through, but usually it's enough in league play to keep it low and short. Unless you are playing on a level where people will flick every soft ball. In lower leagues consistency is very important.
 
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