Spin, More Thoughts

 I've commented a couple of times on spin in the past posts, but new thoughts keep coming up.

Almost all serves produce a top spin.  This is due to the paddle moving more upward than the trajectory of the ball.  Think of it as brushing the back of the ball.  The point I find interesting is that it takes no special effort to get the top spin as long as your serve is legal.  If you "cheat" a bit and come more sideways into the serve instead of with an upward swing, you can interfere with the production of the top spin.  That makes the serves easier to get into the corners, but lacks legality!

There are three situations where top spin is the proper tool.  Obviously the serve, then there is the third shot, and finally when at the net the famous roller shot is useful.

In almost all other situations, a cut or slice spin is a better choice.  I'll deal with that down the road.

When the serve has top spin two nice things happen.  You can and should hit the serve well above the net and let the spin bring it into the court.  As you hit the ball harder you will generate more spin, so hitting harder serves usually does not require a different trajectory over the net to keep the ball in the court.  Play with this and find a speed that places the ball mid to deep into the serving court. The second nice thing, is that on occasion the serve returner will hit the ball out because the top spin will make the ball jump towards the baseline.  You can vary the amount of spin by where you contact the ball and how hard you swing.  A little experimentation will be useful for this.

Third shots...  The serve has come back and usually we can hit the third shot a lot like a serve; swing from low to high and create the top spin.  That produces a ball that can dip nicely below the net level.  Since the ball is dipping, you have more room over the net than with a slice or flat (no spin) ball, thusly much safer.  Since you don't want this shot to go deeply into the court since the opponents are at the net, a moderate pace is better than a full drive.  The ball will dip nicely, you might get the golden shot that lands at the feet, or the silver shot that creates a mishit by coming off the bottom edge of the opponent's paddle due to the excessive dip late in its flight.

A full drive is a good shot for a third, but you have to hit the ball closer to the net and hitting the net is a real danger.  I like the moderate paced ball for that reason.  Top spin is vital for this shot.  If you like to bang the third, a wily opponent will let you hit them over the baseline.

The famous roller shot, is done from the KL, you get a ball that's a bit high and you can hit it deep into the court with the top spin keeping it in.  Again, it is a low to high hit, brushing the ball.  The ball does need to be close to or above the net when you hit it.  It's not a dink and you are trying to get it past your opponents.  The center of the court is good target. 

Note that all top spin shots will lift the ball due to the upward movement of the stroke.  Take a look at serves and note their path.  The extra lift is why this shot is not the best tool in all situations.  Trying to hit a top spin dink can lead to pop up for example.

And top spin ground strokes are easier to return than slice spin shots.  Which is why you would prefer not to use them for the second shot.  Basically, slice all service returns.  I'll put out a different post on slice spins down the road.  This one is getting a bit long as it is.