Keeping serves short
Serving
Simon Lewis Asked 11 years ago
Hi Pingskills,
Can you give me advice on how to keep my pendulum and reverse pendulum serves short? Consistency of the serve isn't a problem, but getting ball consistently short is!
Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago
Hi Simon,
Focus on getting a finer contact on the ball. The finer the contact the shorter it will go. So just focus on the contact each time. Try to get that consistent and the ball will go consistently short. Also make sure the ball is bouncing fairly close to you on your side of the table. About 30cm in is a good spot to land it.
Thoughts on this question
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Chris Buer Posted 11 years ago
I've been having problems serving short as well. I find it easier to serve short on the backhand but not so easy to serve on the forehand. Also, I've noticed that I can keep it short if I serve diagonally as I have more length to play with. However, serving the ball straight, I struggle to keep it short.
The only way I can keep the ball short off a straight serve is to try and side spin it, so that the spin curves into the table and gives it more chance to bounce twice.
I'll have to work on making a finer contact!
Arnab Ghosh Posted 11 years ago
Hi Alois,
A friend of mine who plays table tennis in a professional level, told me once, that to serve short one has to make the ball drop close to the net on his side of the table, so that it drops short on the opponent's side, but you are advising to drop it close to the server. Not sure what to do here.
Thanks,
Arnab
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago
If you drop it close to the net on your side you have to hit the ball slowly to get it to rise and fall quickly. If you get it to bounce closer to you the serve can be faster and still be short.
Arnab Ghosh Posted 11 years ago
Oh, you mean to say that I will be able to apply more force in my brushing and thus make the ball spin more...I see. Thanks for clearing that up.
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago
That is right Arnab.