Receiving a short right sidespin/topspin backhand serve to the forehand

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I noticed that one of my weak points is receiving a short right sidespin/topspin backhand serve short to my forehand. The serve is usually right sidespin with varying amount of topspin and from a right handed player. For me the easiest options so far has been to either go with the spin and get a good angle on a diagonal return to my opponent's forhand, or to go for a diagonal forehand flick. Sometimes I end the flick too much crossing over, but I am working on it.

However, my bigger problem is returning this serve down the line, to the backhand. Doing a forehand push here, quite often results in the ball popping up or being long and it is immediately attacked with a backhand opener. I am an attacking player with a decent backhand, maybe with a better backhand than the last guy I played, but those backhand openers caused me a lot of trouble.

Quite not sure how to deal with this return, maybe working on a more soft and vertical push? Working on this push return being low, has so far resulted in a somewhat incomplete stroke and many balls into top of the net. Perhaps a better option might be to work on a forehand flick down the line, or maybe just stepping over and using a backhand flick?

Yes, sure thing, serve receive requires a lot of practice and experience. But I think that getting some pointers always helps.
 
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I think first you need to read if it is topspin or backspin in the serve and adjust the angle according to that.

Serve with this spin Will always make it hard to sen the return to the backhand. I think it is easiest to go against the spin for the ball to go to the backhand long or short. You could also proably aim very much to the rigth because the ball Will go left.

If the return pops up you have misread the amount of topspin in the serve and need to adjust the angle. If you want to play or try to play short on a sidetopspin you need to brush the ball aggressive against the spin.

Like i Said utb is hard to get a good return far out in their baxkhand corner if the sidespin is very hard. If you can return with the backhand it is much easier for you to Do a good return to their backhand.

But i think as long as you vary the placement and not play all the balls in the middle of their forehand and keep the ball low Maybe you Do not need to return far to the backhand corner. If you return wide to their forehand which is proably easier you still have some advantage because most of the players Will loop you your forehand again and you know that.

Also if you know that they use the backhand and not step around much they are either backhand players or fat so put the ball alot in their pocket and they have to move.
 
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Thanks, Lula. Good information here, I will try to work on this during the week and see how it goes.
 
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Lula covered almost everything, the last thing is to be sure that the serve is really short, sometimes it is better to let it come off the side and loop it or tap it, sometimes round the net, sometimes below net height, sometime across to the other sideline of the opponent for a winner. But learning to touch the left side of the ball with your forehand is the hard part, and pushing or blocking it with your backhand, which naturally touches the left side of the ball, is much easier.

Another thing is to be careful about dropping the paddle to swing if the ball isn't backspin, it is common to move and drop the paddle and end up looping the ball too long.
 
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Good posts so far. I am not really saying anything different. Just saying things in a different way.

Spin avoidance: What NextLevel said: with this shot you have to touch the inside of the spin which is the left side of the ball. [Well, you don't have to, but it makes it much easier because you avoid where the spin is strongest. If you don't get the left side of the ball, you will go cross court whether you want to or not.]

If you contact the left side of the ball, you start being able to do more of what you want with it.

If it is a side top curving to your FH (reverse pendulum, hook or BH serve), and you wanted to push short, you have to touch the left side of the ball with your blade face pretty much vertical. If it is open, the ball pops up. And you push down very gently with the bat vertical while the racket touches the left side of the ball (the inside of the side spin) that is how you would drop this short top/side serve short. The short drop may take practice. It takes very good touch. And if you have misread the spin and it is backspin, that will go down and absolutely not work.

Also, the arm position is very awkward and hard to get used to. You need to have your wrist way back so the blade face is facing out to the FH side so you can touch the inside (left side) of the ball.

So, as has already been said, taking this kind of spin is much easier with the BH.

And if you contact the left side of the ball, whether with the FH or BH, you should be able to choose what you want to do wither that is a flip, a loop or (takes more technique) dropping a short push. :)
 
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First thing is to not let it get to you. If you let it get to you , your arm / wrist will stiffen up when you approach the ball and it makes it even more difficult for you to read and execute the shot. To be honest, this is a very common weakness and you have to go through a process to improve it, so don't lose your heart when you miss or your return gets attacked successfully. You will eventually get better.

Having said that, one of the important thing to realize is that its way easier to generate spin on short balls on the backhand than with the forehand. This is true for both pushes and flips. Hence, its doubly important to not hesitate on forehand short balls and go with your instinct. If your instinct is to flip and you read the ball as topspin and you are flipping out of the table , try to soft flip next time when you are in the same situation with better placement (body , wide etc ) to get a hang of it before you try to be more aggressive. If your reading is correct and you are hitting the net , then you are not connecting the ball at the right time, try to flip it at the top of the bounce.
If its an side under , its still possible to flip it aggressively if the ball is high enough and in fact its sometimes easier to surprise the opponent with an aggressive flip on a side under serve by going with the spin, however, this is a stroke that will need perfect timing so don't despair if you are hitting the net, again try to go softer and get the hang of it. If the serve is too low for you to flip then just don't go for it. Again all these subject to your skill level, how early you can read the ball and be in position.

Now, coming back to what you had mentioned whether its important to develop a soft vertical push , IMO the answer is yes. It helps a lot get the feel of the spin before you can become aggressive. The key here is to get there early, and with a loose wrist and push heavy with a vertical blade . the ball will pop up sometimes depending on the incoming ball and where you are hitting but you should be able to adjust the timing and the angle of the push accordingly. If your push is going long , and is getting looped on the backhand try to vary the placement. Believe me variation is more important than short or long , high or low ... you have a lot of options , in fact the whole table to play with, sometimes go for the body , sometimes go for the wide backhand and once you get the feel , play it short. However if you insist on going down the line, my advice is be aggressive and try to do long heavy pushes. What this will do is it will prevent your opponent to take time away from you to get ready for the block , also it will help you develop a feel for the ball and you can use the feel to vary your pushes placement and length as the game goes on ...

Btw, there is a cheat that can help you survive game situations but I would not recommend you to restrict yourself to only this when you are playing semi seriously otherwise your skill sets won't develop, that is to soft roll the ball ( side under serves ) inside out with open wrists. there are a lot of players , especially right handed ones, who get surprised with the roll and getting their own sidespin back, what is key when you are "side swiping" the ball sometimes go under and through and sometimes go with the spin and roll it back , its very hard to tell the difference from the RH players POV and most of the times they miss the topspin because they served underspin and when they see you approach the ball with an open blade they think they are going to get an underspin back and loop it out ... but remember this is an easier way out and should be used only as back up options especially in match situations where you really need to win. Don't make it a habit else you will limit developing the other skills we have discussed here ( we , meaning all of the posters ) ... hope this helps ..
 
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