Increasing consistency of serve

Duncan Wraight Asked 12 years ago

Hi all,

I'm just in to my third week of playing table tennis.

I've been shown most of the shots, and have used your website effectively, to the point where I can compete in forehand rallies and receive serve reasonably well.

However, my serve is a sticking point. Rather than worrying about learning 8 different serves, I've decided to pick the Pendulum serve and work on it until I can be completely confident with it and rely upon it.

Currently, when my back/sidespin (can't manage the topspin version) lands, it seems to be a difficult serve for opponents (at my level and just above) to return.

However, in tonight's game - my first ever competitive game - I gave away 13 points across 3 games just from mucking up my serve. For the second and third matches I switched to a really basic forehand backspin serve which was far too high and allowed my opponents to attack on the second ball.

When it goes wrong, I'm either serving in to the net or missing the ball entirely.

So, my question is: other than practicing regularly (it's difficult to practice in a club environment where everyone wants to play and missing serves repeatedly must get really frustrating/boring to be on the end of), are there any steps I can take to improve the consistency of my serve?

I'm thinking in terms of, putting my hand on the table (like Zhang Jike) when serving to get consistency of action.. or the way I place my feet, or anything like that?

Thanks in advance, 

Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago

Hi Duncan,

Sounds like you are progressing quickly just 3 weeks in.

Serving is such a fine skill, meaning it requires fine motor skills.  This will always take a bit more time to get right.  The fact that you can do the serve after 3 weeks is fantastic.  Getting it right on matches will take longer.

Try at home getting the contact right on the bat.  You can hit it onto any table at home or even onto the floor just so you are practicing the contact.  One common error I see when learning this serve is that players land the first bounce too close to the net.  The first bounce needs to land close to you so that the ball has enough time to take off again and clear the net.

If you can get down to the club early with a few balls and just practice hitting some serves that would also be useful.

So practicing these two things, contact and then placement on your side, should get you more consistency of the serve.  However remember it will just take time...