Tip of the day

Learning the HEAVY TOPSPIN Dink! (ft. Christina Chin 5.47 DUPR)

Most of us dink like we're carrying a full cup of coffee across the room: tight grip, flat paddle, tiny push, and hope.

Christina Chin, a seven-time Canadian champion, dinks with topspin on her defensive and neutral dinks, and she walks Ed Ju through exactly how. Topspin adds pace, so your opponent has less time than they would against a dead dink.

Start with a loose wrist and drop the paddle face so the tip points at the floor. When players tighten up, the paddle goes flat, and she says a lot of people dink too flat.

From there, brush up and forward at roughly a 45 degree angle. The face starts toward the floor and ends a little up.

Use your shoulder, elbow and wrist together. Wrist alone pops the ball up, while a push dink uses only the shoulder.

Then follow through across to the opposite side instead of stopping. Stopping short is like slamming the brakes, so the ball pops, while swinging through gives you more spin and more pace.

She is upfront that finishing on the same side is safer, because you won't overhit it. Swinging through can go wrong with a heavy hand, so this is for players who already have some touch.

Save it for defensive and neutral dinks. Against an aggressive dink you can't volley, she short hops it instead with an open face and a push.

To build it, she uses the figure eight drill: one player hits crosscourt every time and the other hits straight every time. Aim for the middle of the kitchen, because over such a short distance a dink hit too hard is a popup.

What text can't show you is how far the paddle tip really drops and how big that follow through is on a dink, and watching Ed go from pushing to brushing makes it obvious.

Key points

Keep your wrist loose and drop the paddle face so the tip points at the floor.
Brush up and forward at roughly a 45 degree angle, starting face down and ending a little up.
Use your shoulder, elbow and wrist together, since wrist alone pops the ball up.
Follow through across to the opposite side for more spin and more pace.
Drill it with the figure eight drill, aiming for the middle of the kitchen.

Watch the full tutorial here.