In my day, there were players who received short serves much better with their backhand than with their forehands. Every coach in the world would tell them to work on their forehand receive against short serves, especially flipping. But a few players would still stubbornly receive with their backhand, even against short serves to the forehand – and they did so effectively. The response from most coaches? Instead of learning from this, there was an overwhelming, “Work on your forehand receive!”

There was a rationale for this. If you receive with your backhand against a short serve to the forehand, it can leave you out of position for the next shot. However, while you might not be able to cover as much of the table with your forehand on the next shot, players have shown that they have no trouble getting back to cover the next shot. There’s also the problem that if you favor the backhand flip too much, you may face a player who can serve both short to your forehand and long to your backhand with the same motion, and it might be impossible to cover both your backhand. So, yeah, develop the forehand flip.

However, much of the thinking on this has changed, because of the rise of the backhand flip, in particular the banana backhand flip, which is essentially a mini-loop over the table. (Google it on Youtube.) But even without the extra topspin from a banana flip, for many players, backhand flipping is just easier than on the forehand – and so such players shouldn’t hesitate to sometimes receive backhand against short serves to the forehand. (Many or most of the best players in the world do this, including Ma Long.) It’s very important to have a good forehand flip as well, but if you are better with the backhand against short serves to the forehand, then go ahead and use it when you can. It may look funny but it can be effective!!!