The Foolproof Plan for Receiving Serve
This is a brand-new, technique-focused column in question-and-answer form. The mystery figures answering are two former national team members, both now veteran coaches. So the “Reaching the Summit” column was born.
Can you sum up the reasons for badly misreading the opponent’s serve?
Generally, a few reasons:
One, wrong receiving footwork. Stepping straight in with one big step, up or down, no small adjusting steps — you easily miss the rhythm and cannot grab the contact point. Always one big step up and down to receive a short ball over the table, no rhythm. That means you reach for the ball with the hand instead of using the body. Reaching with the hand means the hand must apply force, and once it does, the hand stiffens, so you naturally eat the spin. Then if the opponent mixes a fast topspin long serve in with the short ones, you panic more. So receiving must not rely on the hand alone — the hand and the body’s center must move together.
Two, misreading the incoming spin. Or you read it clearly but have already missed the best contact point, so it is hard to control the ball — and you eat the serve.
Three, purely psychological. Against people you know, fine; against strangers, you eat everything. Because you play strangers little, the hand and body stiffen when receiving. Even if you read it clearly, a stiff body cannot cancel the incoming spin well.
When you cannot read the serve well, is there a “foolproof plan” to cope temporarily?
At that point, do not demand too much of your return’s quality. First, contact the ball slowly, and make the return long enough. That way you have enough defensive time to get ready. When your return is slowed and lengthened, the opponent subconsciously has to adjust to the best position, so his chance of an all-out drive drops to almost zero.
(Heima’s aside: often, returning to the opponent’s forehand long feels safest, because it most likely will not pop up high, and you can defend and counter. If you chop long to his pivot side, besides popping up easily, he can relatively easily drive it hard.)
A slow, long return makes it unlikely the opponent can collect his force for an all-out drive, because the contact point is hard to find and the rhythm is changed. So if he loops, it is almost on the descending phase, and the return quality is relatively low.
(Heima’s aside: this clearly applies to amateur experts. Because if you cannot even defend a ball the opponent loops while unable to apply force, you are clearly only a lower-level player still lacking. An expert can mostly defend one such ball first.)
This kind of receiving tests your mental state — mainly relaxation. Of course, when you read it clearly, receive more threateningly. Only when you genuinely cannot read it and cannot receive well do you go “passive” like this and prepare your next-ball defense.
I am older now and can hardly score by applying power directly; I cannot produce high quality. What do I do?
You do not have to apply power. Power is a good scoring method, but not the only one. Especially past a certain age, the balls you can power are fewer and fewer, because you cannot grab good contact points. And past a certain level, you cannot blindly chase power — rationality matters more. Maybe the first few strokes set things up, and only after a chance appears do you go for the kill. You can skip power and still create chances by “accelerating.” Apply power once a chance appears; applying it randomly with no chance is just reckless go-for-broke. You only play that way against someone much stronger than you.