Artyom Utochkin - Modern table tennis - strokes, trainings, strategies

That’s what the forehand top-spin on a half-long ball is used for. The purpose of its use – to seize the initiative, put your opponent in an uncomfortable situation and prepare for the opportunity to continue the attack and win points.

Another aspect that we cannot ignore.

The attentive reader noted that when the forehand topspin (loop) is performed on the flying ball from the right-hand corner, the left leg, of course, hinders. And what about the left corner? We can safely bet your foot over the corner of the table, and nothing would interfere us.

And the reader will be right. Much of what we now discuss (in addition to tactical points), refers specifically to the forehand top-spin on the half-long ball from the right side of the table.

When playing from the left side there is really nothing hinders us and we can take a full position, placing a left foot forward, but the tilt and the passage of the racket through the ball remain the same. It is also important to play “the ball”, adding it a good spin. And similarly, the main share of the work is performed by the forearm and hand, and the movement ends slightly earlier.

These technical issues remain the same because we are talking about a ball that flew only 10 cm out and we must not try to play it immediately. We need to prepare ourselves, playing the ball safely and with good rotation.

Incidentally, it is much easier for children to play such balls than for adults, because they are not hindered by a table and due to a small stature, they can safely put the left leg under the table and perform a full top-spin to the outflying ball.

Still, we recommend coaches to teach kids to play with this ball technically correct because it is always difficult to relearn. It is much easier to instantly learn the correct execution.

In the game, there are often balls that are very easy for winning points.

For example, you made a short serve with a side top-spin, your opponent didn’t notice that, he performed a chop and the ball turned out very high, you might even say, perfect to complete the attack.

However, oddly enough, many athletes make a lot of mistakes when playing such balls. Let’s try to understand why.

We often train classic top-spin against the block, but rarely the chopped top-spin. Generally, the least attention is given to the rest of the forehand top-spin variations in the training process. What is the result?

As a result, the hand is accustomed to some extent to always direct the ball with more flat trajectory. That is, to direct the move up more than forward. And it is correct for the two abovementioned variations.

But at a top-spin on the uprated ball, it is necessary to direct move a lot more ahead. Not forgetting to add a spin to it.

Many tennis players who perform top-spin on the uprated ball stumble over these 2 things. Either one plays ball too high and it flies beyond the table, or tries to play it too hard (without spin) and the ball flies into the net.

One of the key reasons due to which there are a lot of mistakes made with such balls, many mistakes, is the psychological aspect .

When such ball appears in front of the athlete, it usually happens unexpectedly and unplanned. Following idea immediately strikes in such situation: “Now.. I have to score..”. But no, this attitude is not conducive to win a point.

Let’s take a look at actions in this situation by the example of the world strongest athletes.

Firstly, such balls can’t be “unplanned” for them. If they make a short serve with side topspin or flat serve, they initially assume that one of the options to continue this rally would be a high ball. Yes it will happen rarely, but deep in their consciousness they support this moment.

Secondly, if this ball appeared unexpectedly for them, then they would not try to win points immediately. They would prefer to perform more stable top-spin. Right, maybe the point won’t be won due to this action, but there would be no mistake, and the initiative would be possessed, which is a pretty good situation.

Another point, which is not refined by many tennis players is marching ontowards such ball. Here’s the psychology again. Crazy idea about a fast winning of points emerges and the athlete tries to win the point immediately, without taking a comfortable position to perform a complete top-spin. Moreover, such situations arise at competitions constantly. And the interesting thing is that we are in no hurry to do a classic top-spin, not marching on to him, because we understand that a simple top-spin does not warrant us winning points. Therefore, we are not in a hurry. But as soon as we see a high ball here – we forget about what we need to march on because nothing would work out. Pure psychology.

Now let’s talk about technique in such balls.

As you have already understood from the preceding paragraph, march on is crucially important for successful implementation of high ball top-spin. Everything here is not as easy as it might seem at first glance.

The fact of the matter is that the high ball top-spin on can be divided into two versions: high ball top-spin from the right corner and the same top-spin from the left corner.

Do you remember that we faced the same gradation when we were learning forehand top-spin on a half-long ball. And for good reason.

The uprated ball is usually not too long. And that’s why the same division as in case of the outflying ball is relevant here. That is why we are studying this variation after forehand top-spin on the half-long ball (Artem Utochkin in his coaching practice calls such element as top-spin on the uprated half-long ball).

Let’s start with top-spin on the uprated ball on the move because uprated ball drops to a left side of the table in 60—70% of cases.

The critical moment for such top-spin performance, especially if you want to make it to win points, is a point of the ball flight, where you would play it.

The point must be higher after ball bounce off the table. If you start doing too early, the probability of error is maximum. Just try to play such ball on a training, not waiting for the highest point of rebound, and you’ll see it on your own.

If you start to do it in a moment when the ball begins to drop, then the error probability also increases significantly. With each lost centimeter a chance to perform a powerful top-spin drops because the ball is not high enough to fulfill top-spin to win points.

Remember: If you missed the moment of the highest point, then forget about top-spin to win. Make a simple top-spin, as if played with chopped or outflying ball. Yes, perhaps you would not win a point immediately, but you would take the initiative into your own hands, is this bad?

As you may recall the explanation concerning playing half-long balls with a marching on, we don’t need to change the feet position here, since nothing prevents left foot to stand on the side line.

When executing top-spin, it is recommended to make a slight movement: left foot semi-step forward. This allows you to have more control over the ball and greatly increases the power of your top-spin.