doing and returning the hammer serve

Receiving

cp garciaa
cp garciaa Asked 14 years ago

hey guys,

i always have trouble returning a heavy "hammer serve" if u ever heard of it. its because it seems that the spin is either a side spin or a backspin or sometimes both so i have a hard time returning cause most of the time it goes to the net . i found this serve effective but when i do it, i dont seem to generate a heavy spin. thanks in advance

 

 


Jeff Plumb
Member Badge Jeff Plumb Answered 14 years ago

Hi Cp,

I've never heard of the hammer serve. But if you are having trouble lifting the ball over the net then you need to angle your bat upwards to counter the backspin.

To generate more spin, you need 2 things. You need to have a fast swing and have a brushing contact. You can practice doing this away from the table to start with and try to get as much spin as you can. Once you are confident in generating a lot of spin, then come back to the table and work on it there.

Hope this helps! 


Recommended Video

How to Return Spin Serves in Table Tennis (and Stop Misreading Them!)

Struggling to return spin serves? You're not alone! In this video, we break down how to read spin, adjust your bat angle, and return serves effectively—so you stop giving away easy points.

What You'll Learn:

🔹 Skill Breakdown: How to identify different types of spin and adjust your return technique.
🔹 Common Mistakes: The biggest errors players make when returning spin serves—and how to fix them fast!
🔹 Viewer Q&A: Answering your top questions about handling tricky spin serves.
🔹 Train Smarter: Drills to help you practice and improve your serve returns.

Mastering serve returns is one of the fastest ways to level up your table tennis game. Try these tips and let us know in the comments: What’s the toughest spin serve you face?

Watch Now

Thoughts on this question


gian crispino

gian crispino Posted 14 years ago

I think this hammer serve is actually the tomahawk serve

cp garciaa

cp garciaa Posted 14 years ago

the hammer serve i was referring to was the service that ovtcharov have.

Sam Quek

Sam Quek Posted 14 years ago

Interesting name. I wonder is it a variation of the Tomahawk Serve? I think the player who do this "hammer serve" copied Kanta's Tomahawk Serve. Because the motion of Kenta's serve looks like a "hammer" hitting the ball.

Become a free member to post a comment about this question.