A Tip of the Week will go up every Monday by noon.

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Published:

02/08/2016 - 15:56

Author: Larry Hodges

It's easy practicing topspin rallies since you can do them over and over in the same rally. The same is not true for practicing against backspin, unless you happen to have a chopper to practice with – and that's not quite the same either, since a chop against topspin comes out differently than a push, and you don't get practice switching from playing against backspin to playing against topspin or block. So how should you get your practice against backspin? There's a three-step process.

1. Multiball. Here's where you learn and hone the forehand and backhand loops. You can do this with a coach or a practice partner where you take turns.

2. Serve and Loop Drills. You serve backspin (usually short), and partner pushes it back long so you can practice looping. In each case you should play out the point. There are four main variations of this given below, in progressing difficulty. In all four of these variations you should probably do your first loop to the same spot each time so you can start off each drill with your partner making a good block. You might also arrange so your partner's first block goes to the same spot, depending on your level. For example, your first loop might go to your partner's backhand, he blocks to your forehand, and then you play out the point. There are many variations of these drills; decide what you need to work on and design the drill around that.

  • Partner pushes to one spot, such as wide forehand or wide backhand, and you forehand or backhand loop, then play out the point.
  • Partner pushes to wide forehand or middle and you forehand loop, or partner pushes to wide backhand or middle backhand and you backhand loop. While you know in advance whether you'll be doing a forehand or backhand loop, you now have to move to do so. Note that you should generally cover more of the table with the forehand (where the body is not in the way so you have more range, plus it's usually more powerful), which is why the backhand drill covers less of the table. But if you prefer backhand looping from the middle, make that adjustment. If you are a forehand player who covers a lot of ground with the forehand, then have them push to 2/3 of the table, or even the whole table, and you follow with a forehand.
  • Partner pushes to either wide forehand or wide backhand and you have to react with either a forehand or backhand loop. Partner should practice deceptive pushing starting here – sometimes aiming one way, then going the other direction, and try pushing quick off the bounce.
  • Partner pushes anywhere randomly and you have to react with either a forehand or backhand loop. Again, partner should sometimes aim one way and then go the other way, quick off the bounce.

3. Improvised Games. Do the very same drills you did in the Serve and Loop Drills, except now you should play games that start out in these ways. Keeping score makes sure both players fight hard, and very closely resemble real game situations. Choose what's needed for you. At the advance levels mostly use the variation where your partner pushes the serve back anywhere and you loop, and then play out the point. 

Published:

02/01/2016 - 14:15

Author: Larry Hodges

A common problem when facing a weaker player is literally go into the match with the tactical plan of not playing your best. Rather than play your normal attacking shots, you play soft, hoping not to risk the more difficult shots that make you the better player. It's often a mistake. 

This doesn't mean you should be ripping shots left and right against a player where you could win without taking such risks. But if you are used to mostly attacking at a certain range of speeds off a given shot, and hold back on this to play "safe," you're more likely to both miss the shot while giving the opponent an easier shot to respond to. Holding back usually means you take conscious control of a shot to soften the shot for "safety," which means you are throwing away much of the muscle memory you've trained so hard to develop. Result? You play soft and erratic, and the opponent has shots to tee off against while not facing your best shots, the very ones that made you the better player. That is risky play. 

So it's usually best to just play your game against a weaker player, focusing on the type of tactics that will allow you to play your best game without playing overly safe or risky. By doing so from the start, you spread the "risk" over the entire match, and guess what? While individually some of these aggressive shots might be "risky," the risk goes away if spread out over an entire match. If you would normally loop a given ball rather hard, then do so, and let the muscle memory guide you. 

Published:

01/27/2016 - 14:13

Author: Larry Hodges

At the lower levels, pushing is often over-used, but at the higher levels, many underestimate their value. All top players have excellent pushes. However, advanced players - and even intermediate players - rarely push against deep backspin to the forehand, unless they are choppers. (And even choppers will often attack them.) It's simply better for them to attack, usually with a loop. (The same can be said on the backhand, if you have a good backhand loop.) So … should you develop your forehand push?

The answer is yes - but not necessarily against long backspin to the forehand. You need to develop your forehand push mostly against short backspin to the forehand. Against this ball, you can attack, but pushing is often the better bet. You can push short, push quick and long, go for angles, heavy spin, etc. - all sorts of variations. And because you are closer to your opponent, he has less time to react. (At the same time, don't predictably push - learn to flip short balls as well.)

The problem is how do you practice your forehand push? If you push forehand to forehand with a partner, then unless both of you are practicing short pushes, you'll be practicing pushing against long balls. The answer is to develop the forehand push this way with a partner, but once it becomes relatively advanced, start focusing on drills where you start the drill by pushing against a short backspin, and then continue the drill/rally with other shots. You won't get as much repetitive practice this way, but you'll practice what you need to develop. For example, your partner serves short to your forehand; you push quick off the bounce to your partner's backhand; he pushes quick to your backhand; and you loop, either forehand or backhand. (Or, alternately, your partner loops off your forehand push, if it's "his" drill - and you still get practice pushing!)

Meanwhile, a nice drill is to push forehand to forehand (or backhand to backhand) where both players push short - but the first time a player pushes long (by mistake), you loop. This develops your short push, develops your loop, and best of all, it develops your judgment on whether a ball is long or short.

Published:

01/19/2016 - 14:19

Author: Larry Hodges

Some players have difficulty with serves that go short to their forehand – it's awkward for them to reach over the table for those serves. However, there's a tradeoff – you get an angle into the server's wide forehand. This means that 1) you have more table (its 10.3 feet corner to corner crosscourt, vs. 9 feet down the line), 2) your opponent has more ground to cover on that wide forehand, and 3) you can move your opponent out of position by going to his wide forehand.

However, there's another option – fake crosscourt, but put the ball down the line. Often you don't even need to do this aggressively – just push or gently flip it down the line. What happens is that your opponent, knowing he has the wide forehand angle to cover, and also knowing that most players don't take the ball down the line as often, moves to cover that wide forehand angle. This leaves him open down the line – which is what you do. Surprisingly, if you flip, it's sometimes better to do this shot softly, so your opponent can't use your own speed to rebound your ball back, making up for his being out of position and unable to make a strong shot on his own. A soft down-the-line flip will often completely disarm the server. (If you push, a somewhat fast and quick off the bounce one is highly effective.)

But key to this is to fake going crosscourt. It's only at the last second that you should tip your racket tip back from the forearm or wrist, aiming it to the right (for a righty), and take it down the line. Your opponent will be out of position, possibly over-anticipating a shot to his forehand, and will likely have to move back to his backhand, where he'll play a backhand shot instead of his likely stronger forehand.

For lefties vs. righties, there's a similar dynamic – fake down the line, then go crosscourt into the backhand. It's just as effective. In both cases, you've completely taken his serve advantage away, and forced your opponent to play a moving backhand. What more can you ask?

Published:

01/11/2016 - 10:50

Author: Larry Hodges

Ask ten people, and you might get ten answers. But there is a simple definition: a Good Serve is one that helps you win. Ideally, this would mean a serve that the other guy can't return – but if you can do that, your opponent isn't your level anyway. What you really want is a serve that sets up Your Game.

This means that if your best shot is a loop, then your serve should set up your loop as often as possible. If your best shot is a smash, then that's what your serve should set up. If you are more of a counterdriver, then that's what you want the serve to set up. And so on. On the other hand, what's a good serve for one player might not be a good serve for another. A short backspin serve might set up a looper who wants a push return – but it might not set up a counterdriver, who wants to get into a topspin-countering rally. A fast & deep serve might set up a hitter or counterdriver, but it might take a looper's best shot away. This doesn't mean a player should always serve the same way – but that they should favor the serves that will set them up.

You also have to take the future into account. If you are a blocker, you might win now by serving long over and over and letting your opponent attack so you can block. And while that might not be a bad tactic, strategically you might want to learn to serve and attack, perhaps by serving short, so you can add another aspect to your game. So you might want to develop serves that set you up to play the way you want to win in the future.

So develop lots of Good Serves, which set up your game now, in the future . . . or perhaps ones that just win you points directly from the sheer Goodness of the Serve.