Different serves: Pros and Cons

William Butler Denby Asked 12 years ago

Please could you give me a brief pro and con list of these types of serves. A. The tomahawk. B. The pendulum. C the reverse pendulum. And D. The backhand serve. Thanks!

Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago

Hi William,

They are all effective serves. Out of all of them you can generate the most spin with the Pendulum and Reverse Pendulum because of the way you are using your wrist. The Tomahawk is easier to place short. The Backhand serve can't generate as much spin because of the wrist position on the serve but it can also be accurate.

Any serve can be good if your opponent finds it awkward. It is a matter of finding a serve that your particular opponent doesn't like.

← Slow spinny serve Using LP in doubles →

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Ji-Soo Woo Posted 12 years ago

Just wanted to echo Alois' comment about the accuracy of the backhand serve. In particular, it is the easiest (at least for me) serve where you can hit to basically anyway on the opponent's side...short to FH, short to BH, short to middle, long to FH, BH and middle...with very similar service motion. I often cause more problems with the placement of my BH serves than with the spin. In contrast, with the pendulum serve I find some locations easier to serve to than others (like crosscourt).

William Butler Denby Posted 12 years ago

Thanks to both of you this really helped :) I currently find reverse pendulum quite hard though, because every so often I miss the ball which is kind of... Awkward