As a penholder, nothing aggravates me more than pushing short backspin serves or pushing long backspin. It's a passive mindset which is not advantageous for penholders. I can loop but not yet at a consistent enough level to my liking.
This night everything just seem to click. I was focusing more on more elbow action up on my loops vs backspin and it was working. Furthermore, the best penholder at our club gave me a valuable tip which proved priceless. I asked him how he flips short serves to his backhand. As a penholder, you'll get that a lot. He doesn't use reverse penhold backhand (RPB). Rather, he's a traditional backhand (TBH) player.
No matter what happens, he always seems to get the fast paced, topspin to topspin rally he's looking for. He showed me his technique and you will see me applying it in the youtube video above. I might post a closer video of it in the future if I find it continues to prove successful for me. I was amazed how easy it was. I also asked him when do I perform that flip vs pushing? His answer? The only time you push is if you are out position. Otherwise you always attack. Spoken like a true penholder.
I began taking his approach and remembering his words of "you must make high friction on the ball" and also applied it to my forehand as well. The shots are not extremely powerful but they accomplish my goal of turning the point into and open game which I prefer.
Overall it was a good night and I'm hoping to continue the development going forward.
Stay tuned in the future for more club play.
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