How to Build a More Complete Return of Serve Game
This is a brand-new, technique-first column in a Q-and-A format. The mystery experts providing answers are two former national team players — both now seasoned coaches — who prefer to remain anonymous. They just want a quiet life and good sleep, with no desire for fame.
I think sharing these technical insights with everyone is genuinely worthwhile, and it’s a good complement to the main channel content. That’s how this “Climbing to the Peak” column was born.
How Do You Practice Receive of Serve to Cover Everything — Both Short Balls and Long Balls?
The key is maintaining the right distance between your racket and the incoming ball.
Try this: position your racket so it’s halfway over the end of the table when receiving. Then have your partner serve a fast, deep ball to catch you off guard. Keep your racket about 40 to 50 centimeters away from the ball. When a fast deep backspin comes out long, drop your center of gravity and draw the racket back, then move forward to meet it. The arm must be completely relaxed — drive the paddle with your body, use your body weight to match the force of the incoming ball, and snap the wrist quickly back to recover. If the ball is topspin, don’t drop the racket; instead draw it back directly, then push forward.
If the ball doesn’t come out long, because your racket is already over the table, you can side-cut, flick short, or flip attack. Don’t hold the racket too low — that makes short-ball receives much harder.
Use your body, through the racket’s distance from the ball, to compensate for errors in eye judgment. That way you can handle the half-long, no-bounce balls with your forehand while still covering short balls and fast-deep serves.
The core principle is maintaining that racket-to-ball distance. The trade-off is that with a shorter distance, your striking power decreases — but you can make up for that with spin and placement. This approach is simply about reducing blind spots in your receive game.
The Opponent Serves a Short Side-Spin Backspin, Which Is Hard to Flick Short and Easy to Get Looped — But You Also Can’t Loop It. What Do You Do?
First option: if you have good touch, flip it directly.
Second option: tilt the blade back slightly and push-flick it down the line.
Third option: a push-short is still viable, but at that point don’t contact the ball head-on — approach it from the side to cut off the sidespin. Use the wrist and fingers to add frictional force. That way the return comes back fast, stays short, and still carries sidespin — effectively giving the problem right back to your opponent.