penhold-players-serves
lem496 asked 3 years ago
Hey Guys,
Im having great difficulty reading serves by pen holder players. They seem to be able to perform some type of voodoo with the various amount of spin and speed without any real telltale signs. No matter how hard I concentrate on their blade angle or the contact point their serve hid always appears well hidden. Any advice with dealing with these magicians?
Hoping all is well,
Lem
Tom Academy Coach answered 3 years ago
Hey Lem! Haha yes I understand what you mean, they usually get more flexibility in the wrist movements and a lot of acceleration in the serves so can generate a lot of spin!
The best way if you really aren’t sure is to try and aim for the middle of the table on the centre line. As silly as that sounds this gives you at least a decent chance of the ball going on if the spin kicks it to either side.
As for reading the spin it’s not easy of course, but really try to focus on the contact on the ball and also the follow through which can give you some clues to the spin coming at you.
Also quite often if you are unsure of the spin players tend to get a bit passive and careful. So try to still look out for the serves that are drifting long because its much easier to deal with them by playing a topspin if possible as you can apply your own spin and neutralise some of the spin from their serve!
