The GUP

Let me present another idea that Gregg Whitfield (see links previous post) brought to my attention, the idea that you want your opponent to hit from a low position.  

Let's think about that for a quick moment.  The concept is probably not new to you, think "hit to their feet"  and "a low dink is a good dink."

The power that comes from this is that our friendly opponent has to hit the ball upwards to clear the net.  If they don't do a good job with this shot, then we would smack it back to them on a downward trajectory.  Basically, once more, hitting to their feet.

How is this done on a general basis?  We want to target the depth of our shots to match the opponent's position.  That might be mid court or deep or even at the kitchen line.  We want the ball to bounce near that depth.

If you are like me, that generally means a shorter shot than you are used to hitting.  And it probably means a softer shot with less power than typical.  Gregg might mention another point, and that would be that some back spin would be ideal for its ability to control the shot and how difficult it is to return a back spun ball.  A shot with back spin will have a flatter trajectory than a top spin shot.

Back spin will tend to come off the paddle lower than no spin or a top spin shot.  Frequently a back spin shot is returned into the net.  It will also bounce lower than other spins, which helps with our interest in hitting a low shot.

Any short, soft shot will require our opponent to hit up on the ball.  We, of course, having hit a low shot, have our paddle up and ready to hit the next ball down into the court.

So, bottom line, on any shot, hit it so that the ball will bounce at the same depth or shallower than your opponent and don't worry about pace.  Then be ready to hit a high ball return!