How to Return Any Table Tennis Serve (With Pictures)

Last Updated on April 25, 2024 by Alex Horscroft

table tennis return serve — XIAOYU TANG | CC BY-SA 2.0 | unedited

Serves plague many table tennis players, and I can relate. There’s nothing worse than facing an opponent whose serve seems unreturnable. You’ve almost lost the match before it has even begun.

That’s why it’s so important to have a strong grasp on how to return table tennis serves. In its most basic form, you should push short backspin serves and loop long backspin serves. As for topspin serves, you should either flick, drive, or loop the ball depending on its length.

Of course, there are other shots you can employ as well. In this guide, I explain absolutely everything you need to know about returning table tennis serves. You’ll first learn some service return principles, and then I will explain your options for returning each serve.

Analyze the Serve

Before you choose your ping pong return of serve, you first have to analyze the income serve. If you don’t your return will miss, plain and simple.

There are three steps to analyzing serves, determining the spin, determining the sideways position, and determining the depth. You calculate these simultaneously.

1. Determine the spin

The most important part to get right is the spin, and it’s the most difficult.

There are four types of spin to be aware of: no spin, backspin, sidespin, and topspin. To gauge which is on the ball, take note of which direction the opponent’s rubber contacts the ball. If it goes upward, it’s topspin, sideways, sidespin, and downward/underneath, backspin.

Of course, other than chop serves which are pure backspin, most serves have combination spin. This means they have a blend of sidespin and either topspin or backspin. To help you visualize these combinations, I produced a spin infographic. The arrows represent the motion of the racket.

2. Determine the Sideways Positioning

Next up you need to figure out where the ball is going to land on the table. Here I’m referring to the sideways positioning, as in either your forehand or backhand side.

If the ball is at your crossover you can move to play a more powerful forehand shot, however, if it’s wide on your backhand side you are best sticking to your backhand.

Take note of swerve as well. A fast and long sidespin serve will swerve in the air causing it to move more to the left or right than you might think.

The quicker you can identify the sideways position, the more time you give yourself to move appropriately. This is especially vital if you like to attack serves.

3. Determine the Depth

Depth can also be challenging to ascertain if you’re facing a skilled server. They will move you in and out frequently to prevent you from getting into a groove.

The most difficult serves when it comes to depth are those that are half-short vs. half-long. Half-short serves occur where the second bounce lands very close to the far edge of the table. Half-long serves, on the other hand, are those where the ball narrowly misses a second bounce.

The difficulty is differentiating between the two, as they each require different shots. Half-short serves are easier to push and ripe for flicking, whereas half-long serves present the ideal situation to loop.

Related: Every Ping Pong Serve (With Pictures)

How to Return Every Ping Pong Spin Serve

How to Return a Short Backspin Serve in Table Tennis

Short backspin serves are one of the most common serves in the game, and they are usually the easiest table tennis serves to return, at least defensively speaking. You have three shot options:

Touch the ball short (light backspin)
Push short or long
Flick

Touch the ball short (light backspin): This is ideal for very short backspin serves that just bounce over the net. It is one of the best shots at ensuring your opponent can’t loop the ball because you will never hit it long. However, as it has light backspin, your opponent may flick the ball back.

Push short or long: This is the standard way to return a short backspin serve and the easiest. You can prevent a loop by pushing short. Alternatively, you can push long to force them to either attack the ball or give you a long push return.

Flick: This is your only attacking option against a good backspin serve. I recommend a backhand banana flick over a forehand flick as it’s much easier.

How to Return a Long Backspin Serve in Table Tennis:

Long backspin serves usually have some sidespin too, so take note. That being said, lower-level players struggle to keep the ball short, so if you play at this level you should get your fair share of long serves that have solely backspin. Your two options are:

Loop
Push

Loop: Your strongest option is a loop. If you have the time to get into position to play it you should absolutely do so. It’s a strong attack which puts you at a good advantage in the rally.

Push: If you can’t loop the ball, you’ll instead have to push. The issue is that it’s very difficult to push a long serve short, so more than likely, you will push the ball long. This means your opponent is free to loop the ball. Therefore, you should avoid it if possible.

How to Return a Short Sidespin Serve in Table Tennis

Short sidespin serves with neither topspin nor backspin are rare as they are quite easy to attack. Nonetheless, you will see them from time to time. There are three ways to return such a service in table tennis:

Touch the ball short (light backspin)
Push
Flick

Touch the ball short (light backspin): I wouldn’t recommend touching the ball as you’re much better off flicking or pushing most of the time. By touching the ball you are imparting very light backspin which puts you at the mercy of the spin on the ball. To make matters worse, touching requires finesse, which is difficult when you have to account for heavy sidespin.

Push: A push is your primary defensive measure. A well-executed push can keep the ball short, preventing your opponent from hitting a strong third ball your way. To push a heavy sidespin serve, you need to strike more of the back of the ball rather than underneath it. This is because there is no existing backspin on the ball. You will also have to impart heavy backspin to override the existing sidespin.

Flick: If you want to attack a short sidespin serve, a flick is the best shot. With a backhand flick, you can produce heavy sidespin and topspin to counteract the spin on the ball. What’s more, as there is no topspin or backspin to gauge, the room for error is relatively large.

How to Return a Long Sidespin Serve in Table Tennis

A pendulum table tennis serve (sidespin)

Long sidespin serves can be very difficult to attack — they are usually paired with topspin or sidespin. What’s more, as they are deep, you are practically forced to attack the ball. There are three shots you can use for your table tennis service return:

Push/chop
Drive
Loop

Push: Much like returning a short sidespin serve, you can push a long sidespin serve. It’s not very difficult to do. However, it is not optimal as you are giving up an attacking opportunity. You are also likely giving this opportunity back to your opponent as it is hard to push a long serve short.

Drive: Drives are perhaps the safest way of returning long sidespin serves. Just take note you need to read the spin well as drives only impart moderate topspin.

Loop: Your best shot against a long sidespin serve is a loop. As there is no backspin or topspin on the ball a loop is fairly easy to execute here. The heavy topspin it produces counteracts the sidespin on the ball.

How to Return a Short Topspin Serve in Table Tennis

Short topspin serves are quite rare as topspin causes the ball to kick forward, meaning it’s hard to keep a topspin serve short. That being said, skilled serves can do fast short topspin serves that just bounce twice — very tricky to return!

Flick
Push/chop
Block

Flick: If you see a short topspin serve coming your way, a flick is your best option by a long shot. Flicks are easier against topspin than backspin.

Push/chop: My least favorite way of returning a short topspin serve is to push/chop the ball. While it’s true the backspin makes it more difficult for your opponent to attack, it can be difficult to get the angle and spin right. This may lead to a push that bounces too high.

Block: The safest way to return a short topspin serve is with a block. It doesn’t require much skill and it’s very difficult to mess up. The only issue is that it gives the opponent an easy ball to attack.

If you choose to block, I recommend playing the ball wide to where you think your opponent doesn’t expect it will go (usually wide on the forehand). However, you can only do this a few times before your opponent will adjust.

How to Return a Long Topspin Serve in Table Tennis

A reverse pendulum serve (sidespin & topspin)

You will seldom receive a pure topspin long serve, it usually had sidespin too which makes it more difficult to return (see serve above). That being said, the ways to return it are very similar:

Block
Drive
Loop

Block: Again, a block is your easiest option to execute. But it’s worse with a long serve than a short one as it’s easier to punish.

Drive: A drive is almost as easy to hit, and it’s better than a block as you put more force behind the ball, making it harder for your opponent to make a return.

Loop: If you can react in time to a long topspin serve, you should certainly play a loop. It is the most potent shot of the three and gives you a good opportunity to end the rally.

My Top Table Tennis Serve Return Tips

1. If in Doubt, Push Heavy

There are times when you’re not really sure what spin is on the ball, so it’s good to have a shot for such service returns in table tennis. A heavy backspin push is what I use.

I angle my push up higher than normal, this gives me a greater margin of error. Whether there is topspin or backspin on the ball, it still has a good chance of landing in (albeit if there’s topspin it will bounce quite high).

This is where the heavy backspin comes in. By producing as much backspin as possible, I’m not only less susceptible to the spin on the serve, but I’m also making my shot more difficult to attack. Many players of intermediate level and below struggle immensely with heavy backspin. Advanced players can even have some trouble too.

2. Pay Attention to the Point of Contact

Lots of players add a little jazz to their serve. A flashy motion before, an exaggerated swing after, but it’s all just noise.

The only thing you should care about is the direction their racket travels when it makes contact with the ball. Everything else is just a strategy to put you off.

3. Keep Your Pushes Short If You Can

While you can sometimes get away with long pushes against low-level players, you won’t be so lucky against advanced individuals. Therefore, you should try to keep your pushes short if you can. That way, they can’t hit a loop past you. Instead, if they want to attack they’ll have to flick which is much easier to handle.

Closing Thoughts

Table tennis serves can be very difficult to return, but by properly analyzing a serve and understanding which shots you can play, you put yourself in a much better position.

As a general rule of thumb, you can push or flick short serves, but for long ones, you should attack if you can. This allows you to seize control of the rally from the get-go.

To improve your service-attacking ability, I recommend getting your training partner to throw a combination of half–short and half-long serves your way. Just take 10 minutes per session to do this and you will see significant progress in your ability to make table tennis serve returns.