OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I can't remember any match where he doesn't use it exclusively - he might do a pendulum serve when he is completely out of it, but that's about it.

I've been waiting impatiently for him to upload more footage... that's a serve that I have always wanted to adopt but have never been able to fully understand the deception element. I did it better when I was 1400, I think...

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Yes, he uses the same serve over and over again, however there are a lot of variations involved. For example, if he wants short backspin/sidespin, he has at least 2 slightly different swings for getting that result. That is one way the confusion is created.

I'm on his case to add more to the series on ttEDGE.com An episode was due Sunday, though something strange got in the way. It will happen this week...I hope!

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I don't remember Klampar for his straight armed loop (though he did have one) - rather, he had this close-to-the-table style with an amazing backhand block and flick. The one with the thundering straight-armed forehand loop was Jonyer. That was something to behold.

Watching these old videos, rallies tended to be a lot shorter back then, with lots and lots of what look like unforced errors. I think the new ball is better. Note how spartan everything was - no fancy table with lights in the legs, no fancy red floor, towels went into baskets under the table.

Iskandar

All he has to do is use the Wang Liqin match as an ad for that serve - he will sign up 100 users on ttedge...

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Haha, the marketing material just writes itself..."Learn how to serve off a 3 times World Singles Champion with a serve that looks like something your mum would do."

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NextLevel, William has confirmed that the next part of his Tomahawk series will be online on Saturday. I want to see the series too as this is one serve I have no idea about. I've tried it a few times without any feeling for what I'm doing.

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What did you do to poor William? Bottles of water??? He almost felt embarrassed saying it.

I actually spent a bit of time doing serve practice yesterday as I haven't had time to do so and I was trying out Will's serve before seeing his video.

I think you should do a video tutorial on floor serve patterns for various spins. I can't tell the difference between corkscrew and sidespin serve patterns. Moreover, my side topspin tends to go in a straight line and I am not sure if that is what is supposed to happen or whether I am just doing something wrong...

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

NextLevel,

I laughed when I saw the water bottle training aid and I had nothing to do with it. I can't say that I've pulled out my own bottle and tried it yet, although I have visualized using it and it helped me to get a feeling for what he is doing on the serve. I mainly serve Pär Gerell type serves these days (does that serve have an official name btw anyone?) and it has a bit of a water bottle feel to it as well.

In relation to floor serve patterns, do you mean serving a bunch of balls on the floor and showing the reaction?

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For the different major spins, sure. I know I should be able to figure this out, but I'm not trying to solve too many math problems when enjoying table tennis. Obviously, backspin comes back to you, topspin goes forward, sidespin goes left or right. Side topspin ends up going forward and to the side, side backspin ends up going backward and to the side or at right angles to the direction of travel at some point. Are there any other patterns of interest? Any other evil spins that good players serve and what are the floor patterns for those?

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Brett,

Did Will have a tough fortnight with friends or family? I'm waiting for the $1 million dollar lesson on the actual serve and deception - this week felt like a dragging episode of a TV series before the season finale where the conclusion is known and inevitable but nothing interesting is happening on the way there.

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

I know!!! I felt the same as you and mentioned it to him. The common mistakes were good to see and I think there was a lot to learn, although I agree with you regarding the first part. He is going to put together spin variation etc in upcoming videos.

He may even contact you about you entering the series and having your Tomahawk analysed. Would you be interested?

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Would any serious TT player in their right mind be uninterested? I mean, all I have to do is dream of WLQ putting my serve in the net...

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Speaking of WLQ dreams, I once had a WLQ nightmare in Japan. I was playing doubles with a Japanese national team player vs WLQ and Yan Sen. We got destroy in front of a few thousand very disappointed and angry Japanese spectators. I sure needed the tomahawk serve and a place to hide that day.

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Wow, you played against Yan Sen? I have never heard that name from someone other than a guy in my club who likes to tell stories. I don't know whether this story was true or not. The story was about a match (possibly in the WTTC) where Yan Sen is playing Waldner and Waldner is having trouble returning Yan's serve and avoiding the third ball (the person never told me Yan was a leftie penholder but I guessed how to spell Yan Sen's name on Google and looking for a guy who played Waldner with a similar sounding name to what I imagined). Then Waldner figures out how to touch and return the serve after being way down in the first set and wins in straight sets. Unfortunately, the whole WTTC match and matches featuring Yan Sen in general are impossible to find on youtube.

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

That's Yan Sen. One of the best backspin and nospin serves of all time. It's not a good thing either when WLQ is playing the 3rd ball after Yan Sen is serving. I was frightened.

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