Help with serve
tt777 asked 6 years ago
Hey guysNeed help with a frustrating problem. In practice at home i get the ball bouncing twice on the opponents side of the table at nearly 100 percent. At the club i serve one boumcers nearly 100 percent. The balls are different but are 3 star. The tables are different. Could it be the balls or table. Everyone says my serves are good and are a strength of my game. But i just cant get them bouncing twice on the opponents side. Any ideas? Any guru-like mystical wisdom?
Dan Academy Coach answered 6 years ago
Hey tt777,
Thanks for the question. The table and balls can definitely be a factor in this situation as you said, for example tables on gerflooring are a lot easier to serve short as the gerfloor makes the table bounce slower, therefore serves going shorter.
Having said all this, through practice you will be able to adapt very quickly to any situation. Are you landing the ball in the middle of your side first? This will help to get two bounces on your opponents side. Also, staying very relaxed so you don’t get to much of a thick contact will give you greater control. If you watch from 4.15: https://tabletennisdailyacademy.com/videos/backspin-serve/ I talk about the use of the finger and thumb, this will really help with the control. Practice the movement I am doing from 4.20 spinning the ball back to the net, this will help you keep serves tight in all situations.
Are you able to send us in a video of yourself doing the serves and then we can provide some feedback?
tt777Thanks Dan. The flooring angle is fascinating. I think i am pretty consistent with serving mid table and yes i have watched your video. I’ll serve 100 or more balls in practice (all good length) so you can imagine my annoyance at the club when they go long. I think video is a great idea. Will aim to get some both from home practice and club setting. Thanks for the help so far!
DanHey TT777,
That’s great, a video from both home and club setting would be fantastic. It will give me a much better idea on whats going on. Keep up the excellence work the with serve practice, it will make a great difference to your game. Have a good weekend 🙂
Hi Dan
Here is the clip.
I’m using Donic Coppa 2mm both sides and a Donic Appelgren Allplay blade.
I did take some video at the club but it only proved I can actually serve with two bounces. I just need the camera on me apparently 🙂
Any advice at all on how to get the serve quality up to the next level or so is greatly appreciated.
serve at home from Darren A. Gray on Vimeo.
Hey Darren!
Fantastic, thanks for uploading a video of you serving! Okay so I love your serves you have a great motion and I can see you have done a lot of practice with them. Great stuff.
Okay, so to make your serves consistency bounce twice, heres how. Check out the image below, this is taken after you contact the ball.
As you contact the ball your angle of bat is slightly facing downloads (red line). What this is doing is putting a lot of forward momentum on the ball, so even if you get some backspin the ball can drift long quite easily. You want your bat to be flat like the orange line. So when you contact the ball your bat is coming underneath the ball to cut the ball with backspin. Check out 7.26 in the video here: https://tabletennisdailyacademy.com/videos/backspin-serve/ Here I am talking about the angle, once you have mastered this angle you will be able to put a lot more spin on the ball plus get 2 bounce serves with ease. This is simply because you will be able to brush under the ball a lot more 🙂
I also think you could give yourself a bit more space when you serve. when you serve, your arm is quite tucked into your body. If you bring your arm slightly away from the body and out in front of you, you will be more relaxed and have a more free flowing, relaxed brushing action.
Hope this helps and please update me after practicing this 🙂
Keep up the great work!
Thanks Dan. Great feedback and what you say makes a lot of sense. Posting that image showing my bat angle helped a lot as did reviewing the video you provided. It’s great to get some specific advice on my serve (which i have never really had) so i appreciate it. You and Tom are doing great work!
