Need advice for anticipating 2nd ball.

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A lot of my training time is spent doing serve and attack drills. In a practice situation where I know where my serve will be returned, I can generally make strong and reasonably consistent attacks from both sides. However in a drill or match situation where I dont know where the 2nd ball is coming, it's a train wreck and I don't make strong or consistent topspins at all.

I feel the only way I can overcome this is if I guess where the 2nd ball will go, which requires me to commit a fraction of a second before my opponent pushes the serve. If I guess correctly, I can do OK. If I guess wrong, it's an even worse outcome than if I had simply waited and reacted to the return.

My question is which is the "correct" method. Should I focus on getting better at anticipating where my serves will be returned, or do I need to wait until my opponent commits and find a way to get there through faster footwork/strokes? I am 35 y/o and am in fairly good physical shape.

Thanks
 
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I personally like to anticipate the movement, but I wont move too far in the direction that I am anticipating it to go, in case it goes a different direction and I need to get there fast, so I don't commit to the movement completely but if I estimated correctly the stroke will be stronger than if I have to change direction definitely.
I like to stand at least a meter or so away from the table If i need to do this because it gives me a bit more time, and physically I am tall with long legs so it helps with changing direction I find.
Sort of an all rounders perspective, though take it with a grain of salt since I am relatively inexperienced compared to others here.
Good luck :)
 
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says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
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Maybe your stance and ready position after serve is not optimal. maybe you just need more learning, time, and training to up that part of your game to the level you desire.

Try to be wide, slightly open with FH foot a bit behind and CROUCHED. Failing to be wide and crouched really messes up your ability to move when you see the action.

Another key is right before opponent hits the ball, you should be flexing knees, this keeps you low, helps you see the ball better, and most important, allows you to move right away.

With some opponents, you can with a reasonable expectation, predict where ball is going. Some of it is knowledge. A lot of it is experience. For example, vs many one sided J-Pen players, an underspin serve that breaks away to their wide BH side low and short generally gets a long push to my BH that I can open up with heavy spin. More than half my opponents in Korea were like that and it helped me out in the crunch.

Serving is about controlling opponent options and limiting their receive so you can better take an immediate offensive advantage.

Sounds like you got a little learning and a lot of practicing, failing, re-learning re-trying ahead of you. No one gets this aspect of the game right away, it is something developed with time. As much as I am writing this and giving advice, and as much as serve/attack is such an integral & strong part of my game, I have improvement in this area ahead of me in my TT journey.
 
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You must have good serves to anticipate where they will be returned, and even so, there will be a few possibilities. Before I serve, I anticipate the possibilities where and how it can be returned and prepare for each case.
The better you serve, the fewer options your opponent have to return your serves and the better your anticipation will be.
 
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Ok here we go. First thing you need to work on is your serve and point structuring. Guessing where the serve return is going to go is not going be good enough at a reasonable level of competition. You need to be serving to achieve a highly probably return, so if I want a topspin return then I serve top or side spin. If I serve backspin I expect most of the time (if it's heavy) a short push or long push, I need to be able to predict to a certain probability HOW my opponent will respond. Then you need to think about placement and sidespin so you can start predicting WHERE your opponent will return the ball. IF you can build your service to this level then against a certain range of players you can build a high level of confidence to get the response that you actually want 70-80% of the time with your best serves. This way you don't actually need to be guessing where the ball is going.

A secondary small tip is once you have served, don't follow your serve, turn your focus to your opponent straight away. This gives you a slightly faster reaction time and marginally quicker reflexes as you are paying more attention to your opponents actions and movements than to the ball from your serve.

Hope that helps a bit :)
 
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Sir Loops (haha, what a BOSS of a screen name) Ton and Don still go there regularly me thinks. BOTH of those cats know what they are doing and they are no experience slouches. Prolly got 50-60+ yrs in the sport between them. Pick their brains, they'll give you free tips, and it would be a good idea to bring them sum V-8 veggie drink in a cooler or something they like.

Too bad USA can't sprout more clubs like Austin TTA fast enough. You got a good situation there. You should find zero difficulty trying to put into practice (and later, match success) what you are learning.

No one here is sugar-coating anything. The serve/attack phase of the game has many aspects and technical things, even if the concepts of serving to control opponents options and make them more predictable are easy enough to understand. They all take a considerable LOT of learning, table time, failure and such before it improves in match play, but you will be SO much better for the experience.
 
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Sir Loops (haha, what a BOSS of a screen name) Ton and Don still go there regularly me thinks. BOTH of those cats know what they are doing and they are no experience slouches. Prolly got 50-60+ yrs in the sport between them. Pick their brains, they'll give you free tips, and it would be a good idea to bring them sum V-8 veggie drink in a cooler or something they like.

Too bad USA can't sprout more clubs like Austin TTA fast enough. You got a good situation there. You should find zero difficulty trying to put into practice (and later, match success) what you are learning.

No one here is sugar-coating anything. The serve/attack phase of the game has many aspects and technical things, even if the concepts of serving to control opponents options and make them more predictable are easy enough to understand. They all take a considerable LOT of learning, table time, failure and such before it improves in match play, but you will be SO much better for the experience.

Yes, I'm really lucky to have that club just minutes from my doorstep. It's a fantastic environment with really great people too.

I don't know who Ton and Don are.

Thank you all for the responses. I asked some other people and got similar feedback. I think I have a habit of staring at my own serves, rather than immediately turning my attention to the opponent. I also think I need to bend my knees more. All of these bad habits are amplified in a match situation; especially where I'm playing unfamiliar opponents.
 
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Tom F and Jon D, both are 1900-2000 level players. I don't type worth a lick haha. Tom plays a double inverted game and I think he likes thinner sponged rubbers and Jon I think is the one who also plays a mean hardbat too. Tom is especially friendly to newer players and VERY willing to spend time with them a little at least. It is people like that that make a club grow.
 
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