Keeping Serves Short With Spin

Jason Zhang Asked 10 years ago

Hi PingSkills!

In my recent serving sessions, I've been focusing more on the pendulum serve (I usually serve tomahawk, but I need variety). According to my coach, tomahawks are ridiculously hard to keep short, so I usually use them to ace with heavy spin, while using pendulum as a setup, or to stop an attack. However, I've been having a problem with keeping the pendulum short with spin, for I usually just touch the ball, not brushing to get spin.

How do I get spin, but keep the serve short?

Also, any tips on getting lots of spin on the "Punch Serve"?

Happy New Year (from the U.S. East Coast)!

Jason

P.S. Any tips on keeping the tomahawk short are welcome :).

Alois Rosario Answered 10 years ago

Hi Jason,

The finer you brush the ball the shorter it will go.  You still need to move your racket through fast on the contact to generate the spin, but the thin contact is what will keep the serve short.

If you hit the ball flat and fast the ball will go long.

With the Punch serve you can utilise your wrist to generate more spin.  It is more difficult to generate spin because the use of the wrist is limited by the action.

To get the tomahawk short, give it a bit more air before it bounces on your side.  You can get the serve short by brushing finely again, similar to the other serves.