follow-up-shot-after-open up
Hamza Caratela asked 4 months ago
Hi guys, I have been having this problem where I open up against a backspin ball and as soon as the other person blocks it back, it feels as if I have no time and it just comes back to me like a bullet. I can’t react to it at all and I end up being put under pressure and I start to block rather than me taking control of the rally and being dominant. How do I fix this? It is really frustrating because I’m just giving the points away because of this. Instead it just makes me worried to open up.
Tom Academy Coach answered 4 months ago
Hey Hamza, I can understand this problem for sure. What is really important with this is keeping the bat high and making sure you are in a good position to topspin the next ball, quite often players end up having the bat too low after an open up and they can only block and react to the next ball. Also making sure that your open up shot isn’t to long with the swing making it hard to recover for the next shot.
A great way to practice this is doing an open up and the opponent blocks back quickly anywhere and you can just work on a fast recovery and getting into position quickly for the attack. Really focus on using the elbow and lower part of your arm and not to much shoulder this will speed up recovery. Also making sure you have good rotation from the body and using the legs on the open ups, this will help you stay in a good stable position and again speed up the recovery time to help you attack the next shot.
Tom 🙂
