OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi all

I've recently changed to SP on my BH and am really starting from scratch as a newbie with this rubber (having previously used LP, anti and inverted).

I've read advice that, when you attack, you should do it off the bounce when the ball is rising.
Because I used to be an LP player I'm used to dropping back from the table and it's a struggle for me to remind myself to attack the ball early. What happens if I am late to the ball and it's already on the way down. Should I still attack it? Is there a different technique for attacking such balls? Or should I really just push the ball in this case?

Thanks!
PK

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Blade: TSP Black Balsa 7.0 flared; FH Rubber - Donic Acuda S3 max sponge; BH Rubber - Speed Spectol 1.8mm

A dropping ball has to be "rolled", that is you pull it up, more or less like you would a backspin ball, only with your blade slightly closed. Take a look at videos of Kristian Karlsson who playes FH shortpips, BH inverted (a Yasaka set-up), e.g.
.
He will take a dropshot quite late; there will be some incoming backspin on this kind of ball, but even so he waits for the ball to drop en then he lifts it. This stroke can be used to lift dropping topspin balls as well. It can be effective to do this, because opponents will have trouble to read the spin (often overestimating the amount of topspin on the ball), but opponents who don't know about spin or who do know exactly what to expect will hit it hard, causing you problems, so try and keep this balls low. The further from the table you play this shot, the deeper you must get down (or you will be unable to pick it up) and the more forward speed and topspin you must use, grazing the ball with more solid contact. And in any case your arm movement must be very quick, or the ball will drop off. It is advisable to produce the spin/lift with your arm and wrist movement only, and the forward motion by putting your body weight into the stroke, moving shoulder and hip forward. Karlsson does it very well, so it is worth studying his technique.

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Without opponent, no match.

Sorry Kees, but it is Mattias Karlsson, not Kristian, who uses SP on FH (you can see how Mattias always twiddle after a FH serve). There are many films with Mattias, a lot more than are posted in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=10513
Here is one of his latest matches filmed (at 0:51 he about does what Kees describes):
http://youtu.be/3RrsVX75kJQ

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My blog: Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Serving techniques and strategy section

Right, I stand corrected... thanks...

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Without opponent, no match.