December 16, 2024 - What Type of Backhand Flip Should You Develop?

As a player, I’m old-school – my backhand flip against a short ball is light topspin, basically a standard backhand drive against most spins. Against short, heavy underspin, I just open the racket and drive up and forward, and focus on medium speed and spin, depth, and placement.

But these days top players almost all have modern banana backhand flips, where their backhand flips are basically mini-loops from over the table, with both topspin and usually sidespin. As a coach, I learned to do this, but nobody did this in my serious playing days, and so it’s not that natural for me to do it in a match, though I sometimes throw one in.

So . . . what type of backhand flip should you develop? (Note that it’s also often called a “flick,” especially in Europe.)

If you are an attacker and striving for a high level, then you should develop a banana backhand flip. It’s the norm at higher levels. You can find all sorts of demos of them on YouTube, or watch most top players on video.

But they take a lot of practice to develop properly. Unless you are going to put a lot of time into it, you might consider just a regular backhand flip, without the extreme spin. It’s not that hard to do, and the more you use it, the more consistent it becomes. Older players may also find the banana flip awkward as it can put some stress on the arm.

So, which type of backhand flip should you develop? You decide. But notice the question wasn’t whether you should develop a backhand flip . . . it’s which type. You need one. It’s a valuable tool for your game, especially on receive. If you don’t have one, then you flipping better get one!