Serves

Serving

JinMeng Lai
JinMeng Lai Asked 12 years ago

What is the movement and technical different in a forehand topspin pendulum serve and a backhand topspin serve? Could you explain to me which exact movement causes the topspin or backspin? Many thanks.

Alois Rosario
Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago

Hi JinMeng,

This can be a little tricky to understand.  

For both the Pendulum serve and the Backhand serve,the bat is moving in a pendulum like motion.  So it starts by going down in the swing gets to the bottom and then starts to go up again.  If you hit the ball in the later part of the swing when it is going up and hit the back of the ball you will get topspin.

If you hit the ball when the swing is going down, it will get backspin as the bat is contacting the ball downwards. 

In our DVD Serving Secrets Revealed we show you examples of these serves and show in great detail how to do them. 

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Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 12 years ago

Jing Meng then commented:

Thank you. With regards to my last question, am I right to say it is just a matter of time of contacting the ball? Does the bat angle change when executing both serves? Many thanks.

Yes it is a matter of timing.  The bat angle doesn't need to change just the timing of hitting the ball.  Hope this helps. 

JinMeng Lai

JinMeng Lai Posted 12 years ago

Ok thank you. Could I just enquire for the forehand backspin pendulum, which part of the ball do I hit at while it is swinging down? Many thanks.
Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 12 years ago

You can hit down the back of the ball and a little under if you can as well without making it too obvious it is backspin.
JinMeng Lai

JinMeng Lai Posted 12 years ago

Ok thank you. Is there a difference in the part of the ball I hit between the topspin serve and backhand serve?
Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 12 years ago

The topspin you can hit a little closer to the top, but if you hit them both in about the same spot it is harder for the opponent to tell which serve it is.

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