Member
Yes, I think this is very spot on. I struggle more with random shots (ie opponent slicing a ball too high) rather than purposeful shots. Maybe it's a good idea to play more games.
But what's the difference between serve+receive drill and an actual game? Isn't it basically the same thing in regards to training?
Let's say, for example, you want to get better at attacking backspin serves. You can start a drill in a very basic way. You partner serves short backspin to your backhand, you do a backhand flick and then play out the point. To advance this, get your partner to serve either short backspin to your BH (your flick) or long backspin to your BH (you topspin) and then play out the point. Now you have one significant element of randomness to deal with. Will the serve be short or long? You start to pay more attention to your partner's service action to work out the length. It's still in a controlled drill, in the sense you know it will be a backspin serve. But the random element of length makes it much more challenging and starts to replicate the randomness of match-play. You can advance this even more. Get your partner to serve backspin anywhere on the table BH, FH, middle, short, long, half-long - and you have to play an attacking shot every time (no pushes allowed). Now there is lot's more randomness to deal with, which makes it harder. Initially you'll make loads of mistakes. But the more you do this type of exercise, the better you get at dealing with all the different service placements you may face. So this is an example with you are still working on a specific skill (attacking backspin serves), but you are increasing the randomness by getting your partner to serve to different positions (replicating match-play).