Pendulum Serve

trilochan singh Asked 16 years ago

Hi Coach,

One of my friend use pendulum serve, before i watched your pingskill site i am unaware that what kind of serve he is using. thanks to you all members of site.

My question is that how to give a solid return of pendulum serve. i usually push it but it is not effective, return is little bit high then he uses smash to earn point. if i try to give faster return, most of the time it goes off the table.

Please suggest me. if possible tell me how to give faster spinning return to that serve.

Alois Rosario Answered 16 years ago

Hi Trilochan,

If you topspin the ball you still need to adjust for the type of spin he is using.

Remember he can get a lot of different types of spin on the serve.  It is important to learn the effect the spin is having before you can truly master the return.

However, to take a little short cut, the faster you contact the ball with your topspin the less effect his spin will have.  By spinning the ball fast yourself, it takes away the spin that he has placed on the ball.  So if you imaging his sreve putting a certain type of spin where the ball is rotating in one direction.  When you put your own spin on the ball the ball starts to rtate in the direction you have given it.

So, simply, try to use topspin or push with a lot of backspin, where the ball is staying on the bat for as short amount of time as possible.

In the long run though, you need to understand what is happening to the ball on his srev so that you can really master the skill of returning serve.