Reverse Pendulum Backspin Serve

coach alois you told us the why in this video but not the how(getting your arm around the side of the ball)

can you please suggest anything? i have the same problem as ian here..

Hi Shripathi,

Try getting away from the table so you don't have the pressure of having to serve the ball. Then just experiment with getting your bat in the right position. I find this is a good way to develop a feel for the serve. See if you can replicate the action that Alois demonstrates. Remember that it takes a lot of practice to develop a good serve so don't give up too early. 

Whenever i try it the ball always starts rolling. Can you please give me a tip. Also is this serve any different to the inside-out serve?

Hi Ram,

If the ball is rolling you may be hitting it from too low.  Try getting your bat up higher and making contact when the ball is higher.

I don't know the inside out serve.

the inside out serve is the same serve, just another name for it.

Thanks for clearing that up Andrew.

the inside out serve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXKR97DWEr0

Yes that is definitely the Reverse Pendulum serve by another name.

i tried it but when i did it i just got lodes of side spin and a little top spin

But what about disguising the ball? I can NEVER disguise the reverse from the normal any tips?

ps. i really like the pingskills music

What I think is wrong was also getting the correct brushing action because now since I can get the bat to have the right angle of attack and then when I try to brush the ball, it either goes nowhere forward or the brush causes the bat to tilt and get topspin.

Also thanks for the video on how to get the bat under the ball on the contact. :]

Thanks.. I didn't know how to do the pendulum serve neither...

I've been training my reverse pendulum exclusively for almost a year. And without any coach to guide me, it's very difficult to learn this technique. I hope I can share some of my thoughts....

To add backspin in reverse pendulum, brushing the ball on the lower part of the ball isn't suffice. I think that the swing of reverse pendulum generally consist of 2 phases: the descending phase (where the bat swings downward) and the ascending phase (where the bat swings upward). So if I brush the ball in lower part in ascending phase, I won't produce much backspin. In the contrary, if I brush the ball in lower part in descending, I can produce more backspin.

One more thing. To put pure backspin on the ball (almost unlikely, but at least put less sidespin), try to angle the bat horizontally, and have the tip of the bat pointing sideways (body) on contact.

Hi fellow table tennis players. I think this sereve needs loads of practice as it is very hard to do. I am constantly trying to get this serve right but i only get 1 out of five correct. ! is very good 2 is average and my other three are rubbish so yes i have had a bit of trouble. I guess we just have to keep practicing.

sir when i do the revere pendulum serve(with sidespin), sometimes it just goes to low and spins around my side of the table. any tips?

THX in advance

Hi Dunni,

Yes, I see this a lot.  Try to hit the ball from a higher point.  To do this you will need to keep your shoulder and elbow up high to get the hitting spot higher.

Then aim to get the first bounce on your side of the table, quite close to you.  This will help the ball to bounce higher and over the net.

I didn't understand your explanation of the contact point and action in the video. Please can you explain it more clearly?

Try watching it again.  I am not sure how to explain it more.

Oh thanks. I have now understood it correctly.

Please Mr. Rosario, could you explain if there are any advantages between this serve and the traditional backhand or forehand underspin serves?

They are just different serves. It always depends on whether the opponent likes it or not.  Each opponent will be different.

Pendulum serve and reverse pendulum serve has the same spin. Then what is the difference between them just action or anything else?