Follow up - Blocking Flat Hits

Tonight I got a chance to play all three of the players whose flat hits give me so much trouble.  I still am not happy with the overall results, but I did do much better than I normally do.  I really focused on trying to make sure that I had some forward motion on every block and that did result in returning more than half of the balls I was able to reach.  However, I never really seemed to take quite enough of a stroke to make the returned balls a real threat so I still lost most of the points.  I seem to tense up as soon as I see that big backswing from my opponent and lose the ability to make a fluid forward stroke.  But maybe with more exposure to the fast flat kill I will get better at making a real counter stroke.  The other thing that still bothers me is the number of balls that went by me so fast that I did not get a blade on the ball (often past me before I even reacted with a backswing to the proper side).  I am thinking that I must be getting stuck too close to the table during the pushing phase therefore just do not have enough time to respond.  I probably need to get back out a little more when pushing starts and also I need to work on getting back some extra distance as soon as I see the attack coming.

I did get a chance to watch a visiting player try to deal with these same flat hits.  He used to be the number 1 player at the club, but now only comes rarely.  When he got stuck close to the table he did seem to have almost as much trouble with those shots as I did.  However, I did notice two major differences in his ability to deal with these players.  First, his pushes seemed much more difficult for them to attack.  They had to wait longer to get in their attacks and often he was able to open before them.  Secondly, he often was able to take the flat hit much farther away from the table than I do.  Partly because as a 2 wing looper he does play a little more back than I do.  But also he seemed to be able to get an extra step back before they could execute their hit which gave him more time.  At the greater distance he was often able to loop back their hits with considerable spin. 

So in summary:

1) I will keep working toward using more of a true counter-hit stroke to return these shots. 

2) I will work on getting an additional half-step back off the table once the first deep push or topspin is played.

3) I will investigate the footwork I seem to be missing to get that extra step back once I recognize the flat kill is coming.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.  I will keep working to implement them

Mark

Thanks Schen,

Good point about not getting out of my comfort zone on the playing distance.  I use short pips on the Bh so that makes it even more of an issue if I get too far back.

What I was referring to was a tendency to getting stuck playing at my serve return distance (where the paddle is right at table edge or just over it in the ready position).  When I watch better players they all seem to return and as soon as a long ball is played (or looks like one will be played) they move back at least so that their paddles are clearly a foot or so behind the end-line in the ready position.  Of course some move farther than that.

What are your thoughts on a reasonable minimum distance off the table once the short game is over (rally starts)?

Mark