Any tips on dealing with dead balls?

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Move forward if the balls come short.
try to always topspin the ball a little if you have inverted rubber. If there are a little backspin in the ball it will go down if you flathit to much. If the ball is "dead" and from a anti it is proably not much backspin in the ball so you proably need to loop forward aswell or you will not hit the table. Important to read the spin.
 
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Yes you need to top spin the ball a bit if you want to attack it. Or brush loop it with a lot of spin. Anti power has minimal spin reversal so even a heavy top spin will be returned fairly dead unless they chop it. You need to find the right angle to loop the ball forcefully. I notice many people are very bad against dead balls... very bad! They end up just patty caking them back over after missing a few attack attempts.
 
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I play quite a lot against anti (BTY Super Anti) as my main doubles partner uses it and we practice 2-4 times/week. Her level is way above mine but this is my experience:
- you really need to read the spin or you will loose big time
- if you attempt to top spin “floats” you really need to hit the ball on the top or it will go long
- smashing / flat hitting no spin balls works quite well
- I always try to play as flat as possible against her as spin just works in her favor especially when serving

She’s a real nightmare as she twiddles fast a lightening so I always need to see what rubber she uses and what the spin is. Horrible. We haven’t lost a doubles game all season. Fantastic.
 
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dead balls are actually easy to play, but the main reason for missing that, is that - well they're dead - so the timing is different, and you have to adapt your footwork. Rushing - or taking the ball too late when its low and you're standing a bit too far from the table, is going to cost you the point.

I think the main focus should be to be moving well and get in the good position quickly and then everything else is easier. I think taking the ball a bit earlier helps with a close bat angle and don't put too much power in the ball, make sure you feel your body is going a bit forward at the end of the stroke. Not just a vertical stroke else its a miss.

The other way if you're late on the ball is just to lift the ball from under and put it back calmly and gently on the table. The kind of player you seem to be describing will not be an all-out attacker. so just play that one more ball and wait for another opportunity.

the guy with anti cannot attack you with topspin. His best chance to score a point is your mistake, or to do a flat hit if the ball is high. so if you just put back the ball on the table , without giving a high ball, while moving him a bit, he's probably not going to hurt you with his anti. Unless his BH is fantastic and he can attack with it you should be ok.

Because the anti player has few attacking options, if you can stay in the rally, then you can afford to be patient and wait for the inevitable easy ball coming to kill .
 
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