Lifting an Underspin Question

Hi , my setup right now is Sriver Fx on my backhand, right now when an opponent gives me underspin or chop on my backhand side my return will always be chop also or push, and I'm trying too change all of that by attacking it . So every now and then I try to topspin it to lift the underspin or chop to start my offensive attack. But I think of the 10 attempts to do the backspin 6 doesnt go over the net. :( .  may be because when they give me a underspin its a little bit close to the net. Right now I'm changing  a little bit the angle of my racket by opening it to lift the underspin or chop.

Actually I have a robot to practice on attacking underspin when given on my backhand side. Luckily the robot can give me diffrent throw positons on my backhand short and long, and right now I dont have coach.

lildudejds wrote: No, don't change rubber. It's just all technique and learning the proper stroke necessary to loop underspin. Do you have a coach or anyone around to teach you?

+1

What is a 'roll'? I am not familiar with the term.
Is it a stroke that kinda like a push but instead moving the bat down to give it backspin you move your bat upwards to neutralize/put some top spin?

There are some short pieces of advice I can give to you right now so that it will be a bit easier for you to overcome backspin on your BH loop/flip so that the ball doesn't end up in the net

1) open your blade a little more and add a little more push with your topspin

or

2) make sure the ball dwells on your blade a little more and while it's there you need to control it longer adding your own spin - this is required to stop the incoming spin and to start putting on your own

3) sticky (tacky) rubbers or the rubbers with deeper rubber penetration (softer topsheet) help there in #2, especially if you learn to do it properly

and

4) dip your racket a little lower, almost pointing the top of the blade into the floor, then start the swing motion upward simultaneously turning your wrist clockwise and up, in the end releasing the ball when your wrist with your racket is pointed almost vertically. Don't forget to add forward motion with your upper body, if necessary.

4 out of 10 is fine when you are learning, soon it will be 5 then 6 then 7 once you reach 8 you will be a quite good player

lildudejds wrote: get a practice partner

I really appreciate all of you guys for giving me alot of ideas on how to this lifting of underspin on the backhand side. I tried it today with partner he do a short chop close to the net on my backhand side then I will try to backhand loop it by opening a liitle bit the racket coming from the bottom of the ball then lifting it, its like a flick,  if he gives me a long one i will try to  backhand loop it with a added smash to start my offensive. I tried also to change my body position with the help of my footwork  to FH side position then do the FH loop drive, instead of bh loop.  I really need to practice my consistency on this technique since most of my opponents use this arsenal to me since most of them  know I have a week on answering chop on backhand.

lildudejds wrote: Please explain. It's not fair to take 4 words out of my explanation and not state my other points.

Mathemagician wrote: lildudejds wrote: Please explain. It's not fair to take 4 words out of my explanation and not state my other points. � Yes, of course, you are right and I apologize.� I thought�the rest�was implied.� All of your other points assume that a practice partner is available and when none is, they�are rendered�moot. � I think we can all agree that a live partner/coach is preferable to a robot in the vast majority of situations.� However, not all of us have access to a practice partner on demand.� Thus, the real alternative to a robot is nothing, and it's�difficult to argue that a robot is worse than nothing.� This, of course, assumes that it is used correctly! � Most of the people I've seen�who claim that robots are damaging cite the argument that the balls served�are too consistent, too fast/slow,�or the timing is wrong.� They seem to believe that robot training is simply "looping against a robot" ad infinitum.� Nothing could be further from the truth, and this is more an issue with the person configuring the robot than the robot itself. � In reviewing older posts, I ran across testimony from an experienced�coach who states that robot training is very beneficial, especially to beginners.� This has agreed with my (admittedly quite limited) experience as a beginner. � By focusing practice on specific drills to accomplish�specific goals, enforcing variation in the aim of my shots and placement of the robot's serves, incorporating footwork into the drills, and always returning to a ready position between shots my game (as measured by results against human opponents)�has improved dramatically in a short period of time.� (Oh, and my rule is that every ball I pick up off the floor must be served back to the robot's collection net.)� Sure, this requires some�effort and discipline on the part of the player, but�this improvement has occurred in spite of�the fact that�most of my days are filled with work, family, etc and�there are very few people who are as�willing as my robot�to join me in the garage for practice in the wee hours of the morning when I am available. � YMMV

Understandable. But do you also see my point when I say that when using a robot by yourself, bad technique is just further drilled into your muscle memory? I only speak from experience. I had a robot at one time as a beginner, and it was so much fun I used it so much that my already undeveloped strokes were just set even further back from the point of developed strokes.

Mathemagician wrote: Once you get good at looping these consistently, add�footwork by adopting a ready position one step to each side�of where the ball will arrive and stepping to it when you hit.� Be sure to return to ready then step back before the next shot.� Then do two steps, then three, each for various spin/speed/depth settings. Also practice alternating return between the far corner and down the line.� Don't just blindly�return the ball to the middle of the table!

BINGO. Robots ruin your footwork unless you focus on drills such as this:)

brush the ball at its back like brushing it 2 o' clock angle and 3 o' clock if its heavy back spin. the timing is crucial also. brush the ball on the rise

I'll tell you though, dont change your rubber. Im using Sriver FX too, and I do it pretty okay :)

JH, I agree with the words about keeping your rubber. You can make perfectly acceptable opening loops with it. It will take some looking at theory, some looking at it being done well, some thousands of hits trying it out. You are in a unique situation and you have to use what you have available to get the job done. If you use a robot, try to also change the spin to learn the adjustments for heavier or lighter spin. You can either open the blade some more, or make a faster upwards swing. Adjusting the bat angle is more reliable if you are close to maxed out on your swing speed/accelleration.  Nothing will replace training with a human player giving you a push or a chop. You have to see it all to be able to anticipate, move to position, get low enough, explode up and forward with the right open bat angle (more open for heavier spin) and the right timing/balance/recovery. You don't get these clues with a robot, but it could be better than nothing if you use it to learn your blade angles and stroke direction for different spins. Nothing will replace the feedback of someone watching you hit. Getting the anticipation and position right are under rated.  So many people miss the shot because of poor balance/movement/position/reaction. It all starts by being low and crouched. Being caught standing invites all kind of trouble. Maybe the robot spraying the balls all over the place helps you practice that some. You will get real frustrated in your early stages and that is just something you will learn to deal with. You will improve with more reps if you understand your errors and work to correct them, and go next to nowhere if you don't. That is the arguement for the robot doing the same thing. You will learn to avoid being tense and make you explosion smoother/well timed and eventually add more wrist and differnt contact points to make a hooking loop. Your confidence will eventually improve to a point where it is profitable to attack the right ball. You will probably fail in the early stages, but keep at it and succeed.

ChopSmash wrote: Absolutely +1  This is something that I struggle with. I have a very fast FH lifting stroke. I generate a huge amount of spin. My main problem is that I often totally miss the ball    because I don't have enough forward motion in the stroke to make sure that I make good contact with the ball. I know that I need to work on this.

It's hard to train, but a coach and a long-pimple player (to defend and give underspin your looping shots) will help you, I think.

I trained my forehand loop against a long-pimple player and it works.

And multi-ball works well to get a good forwards motion.