short-under-spin-serve-to-the-forehand-side

Hey Darrell, I know a few players I coach find this serve tricky. So a few tips I have found helps them. I would say to start with the best way to return these is a push.

So firstly make sure as you step into the table in the short forehand that you get into the table low with your head close to the ball. This helps you be stable and control the spin and stay balanced too. Try to contact the ball fairly early and don’t let it bounce up to much off the table, this will help keep it low on the opponents side. The last tip which I think is really important in getting a quality low deep push is to be positive and decisive with the shot, so make sure you push through the ball fairly firmly but also try to finish down towards the table more with your pushing action and not too much reaching forwards which can make the ball pop up as you said.

Let us know how you get on! 🙂

Hi Tom, well, I tried to do all of the things you mentioned, but I still lost on most short under-spin serves to my forehand. Honestly, even if I did manage to return with a short push, the guy just kept pushing back , some long and some short, until he went on the attack first and started looping against me. However, I do think I returned more balls this time against him. I just need to work on attacking first against his longer pushes to my forehand side instead of getting stuck in perpetually pushing. Thanks again for your advice.