OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Over the past few sessions at the clubs I've been trying to take more advantage of my much-improved forehand by trying to run around on almost every serve to my backhand corner and return it with my forehand, no matter how deep and wide it is.

And you know what I've found? It's easier to return tough, spinny serves when I aggressively attack it with my forehand loop or a forehand hit. I think it could be because I'm overpowering their spin with my own, instead of being tentative and letting their spin do the work on me.

It's funny, because I think a lot of people, me included, switch to pips to help return serves. But I've found that an aggressive forehand stroke is much more effective, and I now have more confidence in a forehand loop or hit, even more than using the pips. I never thought I'd say that.

I can't wait to play some guys from outside my club group next weekend when I go to a tournament in Schaumburg on Saturday the 25th. That will be a great test.

The biggest issue I've found so far with all the extra movement and aggressive lifting is that I get fatigued quicker. I may have to be smart about how I pace myself between matches, and how many events I enter in a day when it's a tournament that has rating-specific events (like U-1900). The tourney next weekend is a giant round robin, so I'm guaranteed 7 matches and I think I'll be o.k. from a stamina standpoint.

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"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Now Doug I can only wonder how you are managing to run around deep BH serves unless you are receiving serve from wide left. I played a young guy the other night who loved to run around his BH to hit with his FH and he was only 14 or so and light on his feet. He was leaving his FH way open to do this, so I was either serving fast down his FH and forcing an error or serving where he could go for the loop or smash and then I was blocking/countering back down his FH before he could get back in position. Now I'm thinking you're not going to be as agile as this 14 year old, so you might want to be careful about doing this too much. You'll become too predictable and open down your FH side.

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Yes, I'm standing well in the backhand corner. And I'm being very careful not too "cheat" too much and start moving before the ball's coming, otherwise someone could go down the line on me as you say. But I've been getting better at reading serves now, another great benefit of this strategy.

The biggest downfall so far is what you mention, getting the ball blocked down the forehand line where I have to chance to get to it. But I'm working on a few things to help to alleviate that. One is hitting the ball harder and deeper on the loops, so that it's not short and easy to block. one is going at an even wider angle, so if it gets blocked it has to come back cross-court, and the other thing I'm working at is stepping around and going down the line, which is a really tight angle but I've been able to do it a fair amount of the time. It's a work in progress, but it's been working better than I expected so far, given the limited amount of time I've been doing it.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Your idea sounds way better than passively pushing all the time. That gets too predictable. Even if you miss, made made the opponent concerned about possibly losing a point, even on their best serves. That could get the opponent to serve you some other serves that you have an easy time with coping. All in all, has good prospects for a better game, even if you give up a few blocked winners or miss the looponce in a while.

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Speedplay, that's a great idea. I will have to work on that and use that at the tournament next weekend. I missed a ton of opening loops today at the club and stopped moving on the serves. What I found was that caused me to stop moving on the rest of my shots too. What you describe is a great way to get the ball in more, and in a relatively safe spot.

Thanks Der, that's what I'm thinking too. The other thing I've noticed is that guys make more mistakes on serves against me now, because they try to be "tighter" with their serves.

I think I struggled today because I was just too darn tired. I couldn't get in a rhythm at all and must have missed the large majority of my loop attacks. But I was still able to take some games off the best guys there, so even when my game's down this strategy still puts some pressure on them. And it makes the pips even more effective, because it's even more of a change-up.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

I am assuming that you would not use this strategy against a lefty. I really love to see a right-handed opponent lineup deep in their backhand court to receive my serves.

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Currently playing classic defensive style (a la Chtchetinine)
American Hinoki Single Ply 9mm Bald Cypress
Palio CJ8000/1.2mm Dawei Butter
Saviga V 0.6

You're right about the lefty situation. I regularly play a very good lefty and I have to stand more towards the middle. Against a lefty who serves from his backhand corner or a righty who serves from the forehand corner, it's much more difficult to play this strategy. But then they're serving into my pips, so I try to remember to return aggressively with those. Any tips on what gives you trouble as a lefty in this situation?

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Actually, if your pips are on your backhand then they would be serving into your forehand inverted not your pips, unless I'm not understanding what you mean?

I'd be happy to give you some tips but I'm not quite sure which situation you are referring to. Do you mean after I have caught you too deep in your backhand court and caught you out serving off the side of the table in your forehand side? Or do you mean I have served to your backhand side and you have given me a pips return?

_________________
Currently playing classic defensive style (a la Chtchetinine)
American Hinoki Single Ply 9mm Bald Cypress
Palio CJ8000/1.2mm Dawei Butter
Saviga V 0.6

Sorry, just to clarify, if my opponent is a lefty serving from their backhand corner or a righty serving from their forehand side because I've been running around and attacking things with my forehand, they'll generally be serving into my backhand or middle, staying away from my forehand. And since I can't stand too far over into my own backhand corner, or they'd go wide to my forehand and get a weak return from me, I'm pretty much stuck returning with the pips.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5