Racket hits table when doing a reverse pendulum serve

martin k Asked 7 years ago

Ok, this is quite annoying. I practice some reverse backspin/sidespin pendulum serves. In order to get the racket properly under the ball to get a nice brushing contact, I try to finish the stroke by accelerating my wrist and pointing it forward. Usually this goes fine, but then suddenly you hear a bang and the front of my precious multihundred dollar racket hits the edge of the table :( Yes, the racket itself deserves a 10 times better player, but I like the feeling of it.

I can already see through the edge tape that the top is split in half, and I am pretty sure I did the same with my last one... Sometimes I can avoid hitting the edge, but rather get some nice skidmarks on the rubber instead. You get the idea.

This cannot be right. Currently I am a bit too scared to move the racket head forward, and I also try to hit the ball a bit higher over the table. However, this results in poor serves without proper brushing contact and no chance at keeping them low.

What to do?

Alois Rosario Answered 7 years ago

Hi Martin,

Try getting the bat to finish more upwards.  You can also hit the ball closer to your right hip and flick your wrist forward but not so much with your forearm.