reverse-pendulum
Sweetiele asked 6 years ago
Hi,
I see a lot of players using variations of reverse pendulum serves. I can do a reverse pendulum with backspin but not with topspin. Can you please tell me how a reverse pendulum with topspin is done?
Thaks
Dan Academy Coach answered 6 years ago
Hey Sweetiele,
Firstly, it’s great you can do the serve with backspin as players usually find the sidespin easier to produce with a reverse serve, with the backspin version being the more difficult to master.
Okay, so how to produce the side spin. When you contact the ball have your bat angle more open and go more around the side of the ball. It’s quite hard to explain actually, we will make a video on this. Watch at 3.20 I am producing sidespin on the ball here: https://tabletennisdailyacademy.com/videos/reverse-pendulum-serve/ See how I am going around the side of the ball during contact rather than coming under the ball. Try to visualise how you will go around the side rather than under.
Hope this helps. Ill produce a video on how to do this soon 🙂
SweetieleThanks for the reply Dan!
I think what you are trying to say is that the two variations for the reverse pendulum serves are pure sidespin and sidespin under. So the point of contact on the ball is what causes the difference in spin. Contacting the side of the ball generates sidespin and contacting the lower half of the ball generates side spin and backspin. Can you tell me a bit about how professional players such as Olah confuse their opponents with the reverse pendulum serve?
Many thanks!
Thanks for the reply Dan!
I think what you are trying to say is that the two variations for the reverse pendulum serves are pure sidespin and sidespin under. So the point of contact on the ball is what causes the difference in spin. Contacting the side of the ball generates sidespin and contacting the lower half of the ball generates side spin and backspin. Can you tell me a bit about how professional players such as Olah confuse their opponents with the reverse pendulum serve?
Many thanks!
DanHey Sweetiele,
Yes that’s right the art is to have a good side spin serve whilst at the same time being able to put backspin, this gives you good deception in your serves. The way Olah is able to do this is through years of training, he has superb wrist speed which makes it hard for the opponent to read exactly how much spin and what spin he has put on the ball. He also comes under the ball really well to impart a lot of backspin. What also helps with Olah’s game is his follow up topspin shots. Because they are so strong it puts more pressure on his opponents to return his serve well and this is where they are more likely to make mistakes when returning his serves.
