OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Return of serve! Will it go long? It's a game inside of the game for me now.

Losing a bunch of points on my own serve because it's so boring to do vs the game of....will it go long?!

Your own serve is kind of a game of Will it go long? too. If your opponent attacks nost long serves. That game isn't much fun.

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And when the short ones also get thumped...ugh!

If you are lacking mobility NL stepping away from the table seems like it would be harder for you since you open up angles and would have to move to the ball a lot more. Would maybe be easier specifically when you have time for a ball that comes right at you but what about the rest of the time? Will be interesting to hear about the results, no harm in trying it.

The main adjustment is to stop bending my knees while playing which is where 95% of the immediate pain comes from in addition to the arthritis. If I can move without bending my knees constantly, then I will see what the limits are and work on anticipation. I do have long hands, so I want to see what the limits are in terms of compensating.

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Tonight, I played a guy who was almost exclusively serving shot no spin serves.
I couldn't figure out what to do with them. On the BH with SP, I have no real alternative to pushing the serves but pushes turn out to be weak and easy to attack. I was trying to flick with the FH but it's pretty hard to have a good spinny fast flick out of a low dead ball. I had zero chances in the first match and lost it 0-3.

By the second match, I remembered the advice that had been given here and decided to start questioning the actual length of the serves. It turned out a lot of them weren't actually short so I started topspinning those longer serves that were coming to my FH. My opponent was trying to counter topspin my shots but was failing many attempts. I won the second match 3-2 but all the games were close and I got somewhat lucky.

My question is: Is there an effective way to deal with short low no spin serves? Thanks!

If the serves are genuinely short, you'll probably need to flick when it really counts. It's possible to push short however the return will often pop-up if you are nervous.

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Got to work more on my FH flicks... I was trying to flick tonight but they were weak and slow and thus easy to attack.

BH flicks is a totally different story. I can sometimes flick a topspin and/or sidespin serve but flicking a dead ball just seems impossible to me.

You use pips on the backhand so you have to be more precise.

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

I find I can flick short no spin with some practice. I have been practicing on the robot and what works for me is to have a more forward stroke against no spin rather than a normal more vertical flick stroke against backspin. Not going 100% for ball speed helps me too. I find it more difficult on the forehand side. I need a slightly closed angle and I need to go more forward too.

Don't flick no-spin with SP, just hit it. It's a low-percentage shot but produces a winner when you succeed. And a few of those are painful for your opponent and might take that serve away.

It's hard to serve no-spin and keep it really low. Flat hitting high no-spin serves with SP puts enormous pressure on him to keep it low. Since pushing is not a good option that's the best you got, imo. Or twiddle to inverted, which you have time for on receive, and push hard with the smooth. Just be sure to immediately twiddle back.

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Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

Yoko Ono

I need more practice with no spin - I did try to hit it but everything went into the net. Perhaps need to add a little bit of topspin with a slightly more upwards movement but that's hard to figure out during a match.

Twiddling could be an option although it would have to be done really quickly.

I was able to perform some flick-like shots with my FH but they didn't pose any danger to my opponent and rather provided a good opportunity for him to attack.

Placement and variation are both important.

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Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

But the most important is technique!

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