OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Watching Wu Yang in the German Open final, it seemed she always serves inverted with her backhand, then twiddles the racket back to the regular position (i.e. pips to backhand)

My question is: why does she bother to serve backhand at all? If she had an equivalent forehand serve, she could remove the twiddle (surely simplifying the third ball shot). I didn't notice her twiddling during the rallies, so why bother on the serve? Is it easier for defensive players to set up after a backhand serve, or is that her personal preference?

As a player who does the exact same thing, hopefully my answer will suit why she does it. A FH serve tends to not leave me in the best position to use the pips on the return and I get a better spin outcome from the BH serve swipe anyway. If I get a pop-up from my serve by the time I am smashing the ball my twiddle is finished and my FH rubber is there for the put away. I FH serve from the BH side very occasionally for variation when I feel the opponent is handling all my BH variations too well, but I have somany variations this is not required often. Now I do have a bad knee which restricts my speed of movement, so this also comes into the positioning consideration, not sure if it would for a fit young girl.

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Two things for me - firstly the backhand serve's natural sidespin tends to give me more returns to my forehand, and secondly it means I'm in a much better position to play my next shot than any of the serves which require me to stand at the side of the table.

Some players can also be incredibly deceptive with their backhand serves, and some players find it the easiest serve to really load up the spin.

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I use this a lot too.
Womens defenders in general use this type of serve cause they dont attack a lot like mens,
So they are in the POsition to chopp Fh or BH.

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Yep, natural spin (it just may be her best serve since she started out), positioning for 3rd ball attack, and/or defence could be the reasons.

I noticed Han Ying does the same thing (although she sometimes serves FH for a changeup). as does Ruwen Filus. Other defenders, such as Chtchetinine and JSH seem to almost always serve FH.

It must be something to do with defensive play, however; I can't think of an offensive player who serves mainly BH (unlike say, the 1970s and 1980s where it was far more common). Ovcharov does have a strong BH serve, but even he probably uses it a minority of points.

Dan Seemiller mostly serves backhand. A lot of female choppers do it.

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Funnily enough, when I played 2x inverted I used to serve almost exclusively from the FH side with FH rubber, with only an occasional BH serve. Over time with pips, I transitioned.

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

With Seemiller it is likely to be a generational thing - in the 70s (Seemiller's peak) it was common for most attackers to serve backhand. If you look at the (literally) world beating HUngarians of 1979, both Jonyer and Gergely mainly served BH. Before that, I remember the heroes of my youth, such as Bengston and Johansson, also serving mostly BH

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... k0ObhZJ62M

All of this begs the question: why did BH serves for attackers fall out of favour? I can't see how it was equipment, so I assume techniques for pendulum serves in particular just become more advanced. I had more than 30 years out of the game (from around 1982 to 2014), so it was a big change I noticed when I came back. Pendulum serves where everywhere, where BH serves were uncommon (except for choppers)

Fh is better and more deceptive due to hidding. I know its not allowed but surely u can hide some part of racket. From fh serve can generate more spin because u have room for bigger arm, whrist swing and body rotation.
Position isnt a problem whil serving fh. U have enough time to rotate body and stand neutral position as with bh serve.
Ma long said abt bh serve in his instructional that this kind of serve is more safe.

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Koji Matsush ita also served almost exclusively on the backhand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNowKhP1rCo

Then you've got someone like Mattias Karlsson who serves forehand with inverted and then twiddles to use pips on the forehand afterward.

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I think it's because of what happened in the 1990s - hidden serves. Most hidden serves were done in front of the body on the forehand side, though a few people did a backhand serve hidden by the forearm/elbow. I didn't actually encounter one until the very late 90s, and was amazed - the ball would suddenly pop out in the open from under the armpit and you had absolutely no idea what the racket was doing at the point of contact. (I remember trying it myself - a lot of times my racket would get tangled up in my shirt!) Only later was this made illegal. The current day forehand serve from the backhand corner, where the right leg (for a right hander) is extended backwards is very much like those hidden serves, in fact, you can't see the racket until the point of contact.

Iskandar