forehand-looping-deep-push-shots-with-heavy-backspin
TryHard asked 5 years ago
One of the players I play against regularly has a shot that causes me no end of problems. He cuts underneath the ball deep to my forehand with very heavy backspin, almost a defensive chop. I have a well-developed forehand topspin and with most players at my level I can open well against backspin. With his shot it often goes into the net when I try to topspin, and it is tough to push such a long return. How should I try to respond to this shot?
Tom Academy Coach answered 5 years ago
Hey TryHard, I know exactly what you mean and it can be very frustrating when you feel this shot should usually be on the table but it starts missing against a heavy push. Usually it can be a case of timing in this situation, I would recommend getting the bat nice and low, (Focus on dropping it belows the table) bending the knees well and taking the ball just slightly later, you also need to have a good bat acceleration to deal with this heavy backspin shot. Another small thing can be trying to brush in a more upwards motion and not too much forward motion, if you can contact the ball well it will help lift the backspin.
I would also suggest if you haven’t already having a look at this video we made which looks at generating more topspin against backspin- https://tabletennisdailyacademy.com/videos/table-tennis-hack-the-heavy-forehand-spin/
Against this player if he is doing it often and you are still finding it hard, sometimes you may even have to push one back with your forehand and then prepare to topspin the ball quickly on the next shot. Of course this depends on weather the opponent will attack or not etc, but I think with those tips in the video you’ll start dealing with this shot much better.
Let us know how it goes and if you want to know anything else on this area!
