Photo and Tip of the Week

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Sylvan Guo in action at the Western Open, where she won Under 1400 and was second in Under 13 Girls.
Photo by Kingston Gee (c)2006.

TIP OF THE WEEK
Learn to Re-Loop

By Carl Danner
Here's a fun way to learn re-looping, or at least get the feel.

Both you and your practice partner stand several feet back and hit high topspin lobs at each other. Have fun with it, and try to make them spinny. As you gain some touch, gradually reduce the height and get closer to the table. When you bring the shots down to normal level, you're re-looping.

Here are some keys to making this work:

1. Contact the ball at the top of the bounce.  This is important, because
it's hard to lift a falling topspin to hit the table consistently on the
trajectory you want for a re-loop.
2. Use a very relaxed, almost rubbery arm.  Tension kills this stroke.
Remember to smile.
3. Emphasize footwork.  You need to be in just the right place so that your
relaxed arm swing will contact the ball at its height.  That's entirely a
job for your feet.  Top players don't reach, lean, or contort their stroke
to assure ideal contact.  They move.
4. Your racket needs to be closed (i.e., aiming down) more than you think.
Most re-looping errors go off the end.
5. Try for deep shots that bounce near the end line.  They're much better
than shorter efforts.

Regardless of whether you turn into a looping machine, it's worth trying this technique to get more feel against topspin shots. Even a soft, glorified lob can be a useful option to handle an opponent's loop.