Serves

The robot is also a handy machine to use when practicing serves. Turn the machine off and put all the balls into a Robo-Caddy or similar tray. Place the tray at your end of the table and practice serving into the robot’s net (owners with ball bucket robots can use the Ball Catch Net). By using the collection net to catch your serves, you won’t have to pick up as many balls from the floor when you’re ready to refill your serving tray.

Before beginning to practice serves, let’s cover some of the most commonly misunderstood rules concerning the serve.

(1) The ball must be placed in the stationary, open palm of the free hand. It must remain behind the end line or its imaginary extension and above the level of the table top. The ball does not; however, have to remain between the two sidelines or their imaginary extensions.

(2) The ball must be thrown near vertically upwards at least 6 inches and then struck as it is descending from the peak of its trajectory.

(3) The ball must remain above the level of the playing surface and behind the server's end line from the time the hand is stationary to the time contact is made with the ball.

(4) The ball cannot be hidden from the receiver by any part of the body or clothing of the server. The free arm cannot be left in front of the ball path after tossing up the ball.

(5) The ball must first hit on the server’s side of the table, pass directly over or around the net and its supports, then touch the receiver’s side of the table.

(6) If the ball touches the net or its supports after having first landed on the server’s side of the table and then landing on the receiver’s side of the table or touching the receiver’s racket without having touched anything else first, the serve is a “let” and is served over. There is no limit to the number of lets one can serve.

(7) Once the ball is tossed up, the ball is in play and the server must serve. If he stops his serve, even if he does not swing at the ball, he loses the point. Likewise, he loses the point if he swings at the ball and does not contact the ball.

It is beyond the intent of this manual to cover all the different kinds of serves. Indeed, a whole book could be written on the many types of serves that are possible. We will divide our discussion into four types of basic serves: the backhand top spin serve, the forehand backspin serve, the backhand right sidespin serve, and the forehand left sidespin serve. These are the serves I have found to be the most effective and easily learned. When serving, remember that you should primarily use a friction contact and most serves will use a wrist snap at contact to increase racket speed and spin.

Lesson 24: Ball Toss

Before beginning to serve, you should practice the ball toss. Place the ball in the open, stationary palm of your left hand. Your left forearm should be parallel to the floor, your wrist straight, and the left hand about 8–10 inches in front of the stomach, see photo 21 below. Now practice tossing the ball up so it stays in line with the center of your body and rises at least 6 inches. Let your left hand return to its starting position and the ball should fall back down in your palm. Practice until you can do this without missing.

Lesson 25: Backhand Topspin Serve

Once you can consistently toss the ball up straight and have it come back down into your hand, it’s time to learn the backhand topspin serve. Position yourself in a slightly sideways stance facing to your left behind the left corner of the table as shown in Photo 22 below. Now toss the ball up and after allowing it to begin descending from its peak, push your racket into the ball with your right forearm. Before impact close the racket angle enough to direct the ball down into the table near the left corner on your side. Stop when the tip of the racket is pointing forward. This short stroke can be seen in images 3 & 4 in Photo 22 below. After you are proficient using this short stroke serve, you may use the entire motion shown in Photo 22 to increase the speed of the serve by taking a backswing and using a longer follow through.

Start slowly, serving the ball crosscourt, and build up your speed. Practice serving to all parts of the table but emphasize a crosscourt serve that travels from your left corner and lands deep in the receiver’s left corner. Keep the serve low over the net. To this end, it will help if you contact the ball just above the level of the table. The higher above the table you contact the ball, the higher it will bounce and the less speed you can apply to your serve.

Once you can execute this backhand topspin serve confidently, practice assuming the ready position immediately after you finish your service follow through. In particular, be sure to pull your right leg back around to assume the ready position, instead of remaining in your left facing stance. You want to get into the proper ready position rapidly in order to cover your exposed forehand corner. Make returning to the ready position a part of your service motion. Practice until you can do 25 in a row without missing.

Lesson 26: Forehand Backspin Serve

The next serve to learn is the forehand backspin serve. Take a sideways stance to the right about two feet in back of the middle of your forehand court. Assume the starting position for a forehand serve as shown in Photo 23 below. Toss the ball up and at the same time pull the right forearm back and up to about shoulder height. As the ball descends, release the forearm and let the racket slice into the ball about halfway between its center and bottom. Continue to follow through until the racket ends up in front of your left hip. This motion feels very similar to chopping a tree with a hatchet. As a matter of fact, some players refer to this serve as a “chop” serve.

After you get a feel for this serve, work on keeping it low to the net and short, so it bounces twice on the other side of the table. Strive to graze the ball very finely to produce good spin. To increase the amount of spin, add wrist motion to the forearm snap. This serve is seldom done fast and hard; but rather, slowly and well placed. Practice a return to ready position as part of your serve motion. Practice until you can do 25 in a row without missing when you serve long and 15 in a row when you serve short (so the ball bounces at least twice on the robot’s side of the table).

Lesson 27: Backhand Right Sidespin Serve

The third serve to learn is the backhand right sidespin serve. This serve will be difficult to learn until you have mastered the two previous serves. Assume the starting position for a backhand serve behind the middle of your backhand court. Stand square to the table. Now place your right forearm lightly across your left forearm so the racket is held to the left of the ball.

Toss the ball up, and as it descends, pull your elbow to the right, causing the racket to slash across the back of the ball on its lower surface. Let your shoulders rotate as you pull the elbow to the right and then back. After you can perform this serve with the racket already to the left of the ball, practice starting this serve with the racket behind the ball as shown in, and then take a backswing (sideswing?) as you toss the ball up. Using a backswing will increase the amount of spin you can generate.

You need to work on two variations of this serve. A combination sidespin/ backspin serve, as shown in Photo 25 below, is produced by keeping the elbow down as you pull it to the right. Combination sidespin/topspin, as shown in Photo 26 below, is produced by pulling up on the elbow as you pull it to the right. Practice these serves while striving to keep the ball low over the net. Produce maximum sidespin by finely grazing across the ball at high speed. Be able to do sidespin/backspin or sidespin/topspin alternately with equal ease. After being able to serve long and with good spin, work on keeping the serve short, so it will bounce twice on the other side. A much finer graze and touch will be required to do so. When working on the short serve, try to maintain the same amount of spin as when you serve long. Practice until you can do 25 in a row without missing when you serve long or 15 in a row when you serve short.

Finally, practice your serves so you can serve to any location on the table. Strive to start from the same basic serve position and make your serves look similar to one another. This will make it harder on the opponent to anticipate your serve. For instance, your first serve could be a short sidespin/backspin serve down-the-line. The next serve could be a long sidespin/topspin serve crosscourt, followed by a short sidespin/topspin serve to the middle. A fourth serve could be a long sidespin/backspin serve down-the-line.

Mixing up your services like this is crucial to having a good service game. By having at least 4-5 different serves that you can deliver from the same basic starting position, you can keep your opponent guessing what serve you will use next. Always vary the spin, speed, and/or placement of the ball from one serve to the next.

Lesson 28: Forehand Left Sidespin Serve

The last serve to learn is the forehand left sidespin serve. Your stance and position to the table are the same as for the forehand backspin serve (see Photo 23, above). This time, however, instead of placing the racket directly behind the ball, start with the racket to the right of the ball. It will also help if you hold the racket mainly with your thumb and forefinger and allow your other three fingers to slip off the handle as shown in Image 1 of Photo 27. Toss the ball up, and as it descends, pull the right elbow to your side causing the racket to slash across the back of the ball on its lower surface in a sideways direction.

As with the backhand right sidespin service, you may combine topspin or backspin with the left sidespin. Photo 27 shows the sidespin/backspin serve. Sidespin/topspin, as shown in Photo 28, is produced by pulling the forearm up just as contact is made. This may feel a little awkward and cramped when you first do it. Practice until you can do 25 in a row when you serve long or 15 in a row when you serve short.

You should also practice this serve from your backhand corner if you have a good forehand. This sidespin will tend to make the serve return go toward your backhand and if you're already there waiting to use your forehand, you'll often gain the advantage early in the point.

In a real game, the type of serve you use depends a lot on the kind of return you would like to get. If you like to play a fast paced game with quick exchanges, use mainly a fast backhand topspin serve. If you like to smash the ball, use short sidespin/topspin serves in an attempt to get the opponent to pop up the ball. If you like a slow paced game and/or you have a good push, serve mostly the short forehand backspin serve or short sidespin/backspin serves. Of course, if you discover a serve that the opponent has trouble with, use that serve more often, but not so much that the opponent gets used to it .