CPEN - problem receiving top spin serves.

mostly with my Bh those can be tricky but dead balls are a bit trieckier , its much easier to receive those with fh. unless you have a good few years experience with Cpen and an assortment of serves from opponents. if you have RPB it makes it a bit easier. although using your feet to position yourself will help in the short run. but mainly you just need to try different ways angles to return the the ball.

timtex37 wrote: I do know part of the reason is because I usually try to push the ball back with my blade under the ball hence the reason why it pops up and far when the serve is short.

Edited by suds79 - 09/24/2013 at 9:13am

Are you reading the spin of the ball properly? 

well hmmm.. quick suggestion  get a recording of yourself playing a few sets and get that person to serve some of the serves you are strugling with.. it will be easier to identify what the problem is

I have the same problem shakehand.  I'm becoming a bit better, but there is still lots of work to do.

1.  I would recommend that you watch lots of serve (not serve return) tutorials first and even practice doing those serves.  You can't avoid having to read the serve.  There are so many ways of producing side and side topspin, some heavier than others that you need to be keyed in on that.  Some people let the ball fall off their open racket from a high toss  (this is the one I usually misread) and others might sidespin the ball just below the equator.  Some people rub the back of the ball with a closed racket face, some people pull the ball up with an open racket face.  Sometime, delaying the contact can lead to a different serve.  After you do this, you will also get better at watching your server. 

2.  Always attack serves with sidespin for a period of time.  The thing about pushing side-underspin is that even if you read the underspin correctly, if you don't adjust for the sidespin, you will still pop the ball up.  So try to flick all sidespin serves.  After you are able to attack or roll them, then you can go back to making choices, but you will see that attacking serves often foils the agenda of your opponent and makes them a completely different player.  Those who serve heavy sidespin will get a heavy dose of their sidespin returned to them.

3.  How to attack them?  Start by looping/flicking the back of the ball (and usually, finishing in the direction the serve came from or towards the center of the table).  Get someone to serve you the spins while you know what is on them.  Do the same blocking or looping motion to a serve and see what happens when things go right and things go wrong.  The go wrong part is important because it helps you make adjustments once you figure out what you are missing.

4.  Finally, always watch the servers.  Watch other people return the server's serves and ask them what they are reading.  Sometimes, there are things you just don't see because you aren't looking for them, whether it is the first bounce, or what side of the paddle contacted the ball or the follow through of the server.

timtex37 wrote: I feel so grateful to have you all spend your valuable time writing up these valuable tips for me. I cannot say thank you enough! I will take all your advice into consideration! The more the merrier right? Regarding my first statement about my rating...I guess I would be safer to say, I'm around 1500 to 1600 than as it seems like a 1800 player wouldn't have such a problem like mine.

Edited by NextLevel - 09/25/2013 at 1:25pm

timtex37 wrote: Hello all, I am a lefty cpen avid table tennis player. I am not in any ranking system now but was before in the USA. If I have to guess, I would say, I'm probably around 1800 right now. Ok with that out the way, I can now ask for help. In a match, no problem with underspin but I am usually extremely weak in receiving top and top/sidespin servers rather it is placed to my forehand or backhand. I usually pop it back over pretty high for my opponent to open his attack. I do know part of the reason is because I usually try to push the ball back with my blade under the ball hence the reason why it pops up and far when the serve is short. When the serve is long to my forehand, I would usually loop it out the table. Anyone have any experience overcoming a similar problem receiving topspin servers? Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Timtex
best advice when receiving topspin with topspin over the table - stroke FORWARD not upward- Thats why the block often works.