In table tennis, returning serves with a lot of sping: it's very hard for everyone. Here's my thinking about learning how to return super spinning serves. It's beginner (competitive) level.
 |
| Brickell PingPad Center (more about this at the bottom) |
I think of the spin on serves as having two axis: Up/down (top or bottom spin), left/right. Some serves combine the two axis.
Up/Down
So if the server cuts the ball on the serve (ie undersping), the return will tend to go low and hit the net. So I need to angle it up to get it over the net. Probably, I should cut it back to keep it low and hard for my opponent to hit. So a cut serve is best returned with a cut return.
If the server brushes upward and applies topspin to the ball, a return will tend to popup and fly off the end of the table. I must close the angle of my racquet to keep it down. If possible, I should put topspin on it by brushing up behind the ball.
Left/Right. Note: as the returning server, I think in terms of my left and right. And for this primer, I'm assuming we're all righties.
If the server uses a back hand serve and brushes the ball from MY right to left, a return will tend to fly off to my left and miss the table. So I hit the ball back toward the right side of the table. Simply, I return the ball towards the side that the server racquet's come from.
On the tomahawk serve and others where the racquet comes straight forward brushing one side of the ball. Here's the rule. I should return the ball away from the side that the racquet brushed. They brush the left side, I hit to the right. They brush the right side, I hit to the left (all from my POV).
Both Axis at once!
If the server uses a forward serve brushing the ball from my left to right, my return will tend to fly off to my right, so I hit back towards my left to keep it on the table. Again, I hit towards where their racquet came from.
BUT, in competitive table tennis games, the server is adding a lot of deception and hitting the ball in such a way that it's hard to see which axis they are on (this is a great line from Ping to Pong's video). And good players, to make it even harder to follow, will throw the ball high in the air so in watching ball, you cannot see their paddle's position until the ball falls back down.
Here's a video which shows another way to put the spin on the ball.
More experienced players and coaches don't talk (or think) in the simple axis concept that I do, they seem to categorize by the type of serve. Here is "Ping to Pong"'s (film author) categories of spin:
One great point that he makes: Look at the contact point between the server's racquet and ball: ignore all the fake movements before before and after the contact point. Great advice. Nicely said. Effing hard to do.
So now I need to recognize a reverse pendulum serve and send it back to the server's backhand. Also, the hook and tomahawk. And send them back to the server's backhand.
And I need to recognize the pendulum and send it back to the server's forehand.
Another point, many people talk about the TT ball having a clockwise or a counterclockwise spin. Opinions please: Do other players really think that way? It seems so abstract to me and I can't seem to get my head around it. Many players seem to talk about watching the spin on the ball. This seems impossible to me....
