Michael Maze\'s serves

Mike Ivanov Asked 15 years ago

Hi Alois, can you please watch this on youtube and then tell me how do you do the last serve in the video? It looks pretty complicated because of the deception, even with the side view. I'd like to learn that serve, but I'm not sure how to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCsMalKeh6I

Alois Rosario Answered 15 years ago

Hi Mike,

This is a serve where the contact point is very close to the change in direction from coming in to going out.

You will see that he sometimes contacts the ball as his bat is still moving in and sometimes as the bat starts to move out.

This gives very different spin. The deception is because he hits the ball very close to the time his bat changes direction.

← sidespin serve Speed and Swiftness →

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Ji-Soo Woo Posted 15 years ago

I love Maze's serves.

I actually think his serves looked more cool when he was a young lad.

In the past I used to try and emulate Maze's serves but I found he had a style that is very hard to copy, so I've pretty much given up.

Carlo Unknown Posted 15 years ago

An old man once said this to me

Your serves dictate the kind of player you are.

Andrew T Posted 15 years ago

I understand, and can do to a lesser extent, the pendulum serve with a fake reverse after. Is it possible to do it the other way; that is to say, have it curve like a reverse pendulum but look like you are hitting a pendulum serve?

Mike Ivanov Posted 15 years ago

Ji-Soo, deception is a very important part of a serve, say for example Ovtcharov's backhand one. He goes under the table and then comes up with an element of surprise. Even Kenta Matsudaira's serve only works because of the deception of which spin he's going to do. When it comes to the pendulum serve most times the spin by itself isn't enough to fool the opponent, so even proffesionals(Ma Lin, J.O. Waldner, Persson and many others) use deception in their pendulums. When you can't read the spin or misread it, it's really hard to return it. By the way you can fake a reverse, I do it myself. You have to contact the ball, then bring the racket towards yourself like you're doing the normal one.