In this 20 second video we see the importance of moving the ball around when attacking off underspin. Samson Dubina starts off driving his backhand loops both crosscourt and down the line off underspin and then switches to the same shot with his forehand.
This offensive skill is critical to have in your arsenal when an opponent either pushes too long off a short serve or serve return. These balls are not only open-able, but are drive-able to finish the point directly.
The key to taking advantage to the situation is PLACEMENT. Loop driving directly into your opponent’s racket will elicit a block that often will come back faster than the attack.
“Take you time” and look to your opponent’s body and ready position prior to determining where you are going to loop to. It could be crosscourt, down-the-line or maybe into the elbow of their playing hand. The longer you can wait the more you can freeze their movement, but make sure you are still looping underspin on the beginning of the ball’s descent. Waiting too long will force you to spin the ball up more than forward. Make sure to give yourself enough space between you and the ball so you can use your shoulder rotation and weight transfer to drive through the ball.
Additional Paddle Palace Tip: Place some broken balls on the table and try to knock them off to improve accuracy.
