Changing the serving style over time

D K Asked 2 years ago

Greetings Alois,

I have noticed that as I get older I tend to use different serves more and more.
Do you think it is a good thing when a player changes the type of serves over time?

Over time I have trained multitude of serves and I have a limited amount of control over almost all types of serves I have seen excluding the "backhand pendulum" and  "reverse forehand plain topspin" which are both actually trick serves.
While initially starting with long aggressive crosscourt backhand serves I started using sidespin pendulum serves. Later I started using more variations of backhand serve.
In last few years I started to incorporate the tomahawk serve, windshield serve and reverse pendulum serve from many positions trying to have a very complex serving style. In last few months I am rather relying on tomahawk and backhand serves simply serves which require me to stand square-on to the table.
What do you think about this phenomenon?
Is it normal or is it desirable to change my primary serve over time?
I have to add that I do not think consciously too much about what is my main serve.
The only conscious thing was that I just want to make my serving style as unpredictable and complex as possible,with the goal to appear that I have virtually endless variation of serve.

THanks
Dan

Alois Rosario Answered 2 years ago

Hi Dan,

I think it is great that you are exploring new areas of serving.

As our games progress then think about what serves suit the rest of your game.

Over time we tend to find some serves that work for us.  Perhaps we get too stuck with these so exploring new ideas can be beneficial.

I think just having a range of serves can be useful against different opponents as well.

The one limitation is that the follow up ball off different serves are different so we also need to learn these patterns and get used to them.