Table tennis question
- Thread starter Rickson
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LameTennisPlayer
Professional
They don't. Only in Doubles you have to serve diagonally from the RHS.
Completely false. Most pros disguise their serves, using both sides of the racket. Spin is determined more by the rubber on the racket, as opposed to actual forehand vs backhand strokes. For instance a player may have pimpled rubber on the forehand side/inverted rubber on the backhand side. The backhand would produce alot more spin even if it's a defensive rubber.
Rickson
G.O.A.T.
Lame, I already know about the doubles serve rule which says players can only serve on the right side of the table. You misread the question. I didn't say singles players serve from the deuce side, I said they serve from the ad side and we're talking in tennis terms here. Maybe I should have said from instead of on.
He is not talking about the rules. Everyone knows you can serve from wherever in singles.
You don't get what I am saying, either.
They switch racquet sides during serving, which led to the law that rubbers must be of opposite colors. But most pros still predominantly serve off the forehand rubber - meaning that the rubber facing the opponent is what is used for the serve (which may be different from serve to serve). A backhand serve uses the other rubber once the wrist is inverted.
LameTennisPlayer
Professional
They don't. I'm unsure who you are playing but position of the server in many of the tournaments I've been to varies as the game progresses. The position of where you serve the ball is no way near as important as the placement of the service ball which is ideally short 80% of the time.
The only time this would may be true would be facing traditional penhold grip players, who based their entire game using only one side of the racquet. That went out in the 90's and you will see frequently penhold grip players serving from the backhand side, just as often.
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mdjenders
Professional
someone already correctly mentioned that this is done so the player may more easily follow up the serve with a forehand attack (third ball attack). one of the more common serves, the forehand "pendulum" has sidespin that directs the return toward the backhand corner, thus the server is naturally in the best position to attack the return with the forehand. very few professionals use backhand serves in the modern game. these are typically played from a more central location on the table because the sidespin applied tends to direct the ball to the forehand half of the table (see ovtcharov as an example of the rare high ranked bh server).
regarding variation in playing surfaces, at the highest levels of table tennis pimpled surfaces are no longer used for serving, much less trying to deceive the opponent by flipping the racket for the serve. in the top 50 male pros only 2 use pimpled surfaces and never to serve with.
regarding variation in playing surfaces, at the highest levels of table tennis pimpled surfaces are no longer used for serving, much less trying to deceive the opponent by flipping the racket for the serve. in the top 50 male pros only 2 use pimpled surfaces and never to serve with.
Rickson
G.O.A.T.
Seems like all the righties are serving from the ad side while the lefties are serving from the deuce.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei4xpbNydFM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei4xpbNydFM&feature=related
mdjenders
Professional
indeed. either way, they are serving from their backhand corners to attack the return with their forehands... conversely an interesting trend in modern table tennis is to return serve with the backhand even for balls on the forehand side. lots of sidespin flicks are useful for returning serves with a backhand!
No. I was watching China vs Rest of World recently and almost serves from shake handers are from the "forehand" (front facing with wrist not inverted) rubber.
The days in which the backhand pendulum serve was used are long gone.
thug the bunny
Professional
Holy crap. I have been playing casually since I was like 4, and always thought I was pretty darn good (never played any friends or family that could beat me consistently), but I don't understand any of this stuff.
The only game to which I devote this level of thought is golf.
The only game to which I devote this level of thought is golf.
Icedorb217
Semi-Pro
Its because of the serves you can do with that style. You can do almost any spin when you serve that way. Im assuming your talking about the way where you aren't holding the handle. You can do top spin, back spin, both types of side spin. Also the spin is not weak its very strong because the way its held allows for a lot of wrist action and it can be used to fake serves very easily. Also you have open access to the entire table as in both sides. Thats my take on it atleast. Thats how I serve anyway and thats how everyone and my club serves.
Very good analysis
Rickson
G.O.A.T.
Thug, serving in tt takes a lot of thought and effort. The irony is that an effective tt serve is the total opposite of an effective tennis serve. A good tt serve would be short, bounce low, and would have backspin. The next time I see a beginner serve in tennis, I'll let him/her know that his/her serve was not bad in table tennis terms.
thug the bunny
Professional
Yeah, I usually hit a backspin serve that often gets returned into the net, just, I don't put that much thought into it. I have to admit, I'm the same way in tennis. I never think about how my weight transfer, the angles of the wrist/elbow/shoulder, the degrees of pronation, etc, etc. I just think of what shot I want to hit, and execute. I guess the level of thought that happens during a game is dependent on the make-up of the individual. However, to paraphrase a couple pros:
"Move your feet, and watch the ball." - Andre Agassi
"I don't have swing thoughts. I just look at where I want to hit the ball, and try to make it go there." - Fred Couples
"Move your feet, and watch the ball." - Andre Agassi
"I don't have swing thoughts. I just look at where I want to hit the ball, and try to make it go there." - Fred Couples
Micky
Semi-Pro
Hola Rickson,
In TT a right hander has to stand on the "ad" side all the time. Not just for serving. The reason is that the backhand has to be taken in front of the ball. (the ball in front of your face and your arm swinging from your chest on forward or sideways) You can NOT stand in the middle at all and neither step to the right and take the backhand with your arm away from your body like you do with the forehand. Hope this helps.
Clay lover
Legend
100% Agree with this, also with the cheating towards forehand opinion.
I would like to add that serving diagonally gives you more table to work with while still keeping the ball short.
Clay lover
Legend
Well the backspin serve is just one of the many serves and it is a defensive serve. Although the pros use it most of the time they still go to other serves to fool the opponent. Virtually ALL pros could do backspin and topspin serves with a very similar motion for disguise.
Micky
Semi-Pro
Micky
Semi-Pro
Well, pingskills is wrong. It has nothing to do with liking FH or BH. You can watch BH master Kalinikos Kreanga and see were he stands. Anyways, your question was an excellent one.
Here is a link to what I used to have in TT. http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showpost.php?p=3040604&postcount=31
Is it the side they serve from that matters, or is it the location of their serves and expecting a certain return that allows their strong side to take over the point with an aggressive smash?
Some serves are meant to solicit a weak, low return.
Some serves are meant to soicit a stronger, higher bouncing return which you can smash.
Since everyone has one stronger side, and one more consistent side, which side to you serve towards?
Some players can move out of their own way to handle body shots.
Some players move better TO the ball, than away.
Other's, the opposite.
Which serve you can do tends to cause discomfort to the opponent?
That seems to determine where you should serve from, and which serve to use.
Some serves are meant to solicit a weak, low return.
Some serves are meant to soicit a stronger, higher bouncing return which you can smash.
Since everyone has one stronger side, and one more consistent side, which side to you serve towards?
Some players can move out of their own way to handle body shots.
Some players move better TO the ball, than away.
Other's, the opposite.
Which serve you can do tends to cause discomfort to the opponent?
That seems to determine where you should serve from, and which serve to use.
Rickson
G.O.A.T.
I'm no expert, Lee, and that's why I posted the question, but from what I've seen, the righties most often serve from the left side and most of the time, toward the opponent's left. I have seen great players, such as Ma Lin, serve to the opponent's right side, but I rarely, if ever, see a righty SERVE FROM the right side (excluding doubles). Most pros go for the low bouncing, backspin serve which almost always elicits a non aggressive return. I don't think the pros would disrespect each other enough to go for rocket serves although I'd certainly try that strategy on non pros.
Power Player
Bionic Poster
I serve from the ad side because i play that side of the table. Its like serving close to the middle in tennis..you want to be there for the return. In tt, the middle of the table is not ideal..u want to be featuring your strong side since you can cover the table pretty easy.
I serve to either side but a backspin serve to the backhand is tough to attack if it stays shallow, so that is always a good place to go.
I serve to either side but a backspin serve to the backhand is tough to attack if it stays shallow, so that is always a good place to go.
Just played a few minutes yesterday with some bad players at my gym.
I notice I'm serving from the ad side (me lefty), because my backhand is more consistent than my forehand, and ad side allows my backhand to cover 80% of my table. I haven't played in 3 years, so I had to cover up my forehand a bit. Necessity is the mother of invention?
I notice I'm serving from the ad side (me lefty), because my backhand is more consistent than my forehand, and ad side allows my backhand to cover 80% of my table. I haven't played in 3 years, so I had to cover up my forehand a bit. Necessity is the mother of invention?
Depends what you mean by "master".
Both tennis and table tennis, I can be much more consistent with the backhand. But then again, I can smash and hit much harder with my forehand.
In table tennis, it's hard to find competitive players, so being consistent is plenty good to limit opponents, even using a clipboard or pocketbook.
In tennis, everyone who I want to play is equal or better than me, so I need weapons to hang just behind.
Both tennis and table tennis, I can be much more consistent with the backhand. But then again, I can smash and hit much harder with my forehand.
In table tennis, it's hard to find competitive players, so being consistent is plenty good to limit opponents, even using a clipboard or pocketbook.
In tennis, everyone who I want to play is equal or better than me, so I need weapons to hang just behind.
Micky
Semi-Pro
Hola Rick,
Why would anybody give 3/4 of the table to an opponent? You don't have time to recover to protect all that free left side.
Ma Lin is getting old but his pen holder style forehand and shakehand backhand is fantastic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cX2aV-TZB0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
One idea none of us have hit on is that serving from the left side, you open up more court to serve TO your opponent's left side, usually his backhand, which is usually more defensive, and less offensively threatening.
Like the CC shot in tennis, lower net, longer court. I don't need the longer court unless I"m going for a speed serve (vs weaker opponent's), but lower net makes a huge difference with a underspin serve meant to bounce below net heights.
Like the CC shot in tennis, lower net, longer court. I don't need the longer court unless I"m going for a speed serve (vs weaker opponent's), but lower net makes a huge difference with a underspin serve meant to bounce below net heights.
The defensive aspect, yes. Not the offensive part.
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