Serving

Dennis Unknown Asked 16 years ago

Well you see. I have a major problem. I can do great back spins and so. BUT when I am serving, I just can't make it spin.

Whats the problem?

Alois Rosario Answered 16 years ago

Hi Dennis,

There are a few basics that you need to think about when trying to put spin on your serves.  The first is the contact of the bat on the ball.  You seem to have an understanding of that if you can spin the ball for your backspin shots.  

However if you are not generating spin during your serve you may not be doing this correctly for the serve.

The other factor is how fast your bat is travelling when you contact the ball.  If the bat is moving too slowly you will not generate much spin.

Think about your contact for now and make sure you get the same feeling as when you are doing your backspin stroke.  Don't worry initially where the ball is going.  That can be adjusted later.  You can even do this away from a table so that you can just concentrate on the spin you are generating rather than where the ball is going.  Once you have got this right you can get to a table and give it a go but make sure you are still maintaining the same contact.

You can do this with any serve you are comfortable with initially.  Probably it would be best if you do it with your favourite serve.

Give this a try first and then let us know how it works out.  We can take it further from there.