OOAK Table Tennis Forum

This came up a while ago: viewtopic.php?t=14780&p=159463

Probably once per playing evening, my doubles serve is called "out" (i.e., wrong side) when I am sure it's in. The centre line is treated as part of the receiver's right-side court, so a line ball should also be in.

I mix in some right-handed pendulum serves which tend to move towards the centre line after crossing the net. But even when they land just to the right of the line, and I can see the landing clearly, the receiver often calls it out. I always back down if the receiver is adamant (and probably half the time it's replayed as a let), but considering that my view of the line is clear, and the receiver's view of the line is obscured by the ball, I kind of feel that it's rough justice. If my serve lands on the centre line, it is almost always deemed bad.

Do others feel that doubles receivers tend to wrongly assess that the serve is on the wrong side?

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

happens to me all the time... i tend to just go with what they say because at times even my mate saw it as wrong either... really want to wear head-cam and show them all, but I guess not really worth it. i just try not to make it to close to the line as possible...

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Happens a fair bit here too. Almost always called let when in dispute. Whats more annoying is when server serves landing ball on left half of table on his side. Most never see this part and so they usually get away with it,

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This usually ends up as a 'let' when I play with my friends or if I'm feeling confident (and I think that we could still win the set with them getting the point) I just let them have the point just so everyone's happy.

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I honestly believe that due to the ball being round, it can appear either side of the line, depending on which side you are standing. You'll also notice that the umpire is affected the same way and often sides with the the player closest to them whether server or receiver. There's some kind of optical illusion at work here, not sure what it is but seems to happen too often to be coincidence. Of course curving balls don't help as the receivers brain is already telling them out.

By the way, I think tennis line judges and cricket umpires are unreal. Hawkeye has just confirmed how good they are.....usually.

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Happened again last Saturday during an informal match. I saw the ball land about 1cm in, but the receiver looked doubtful and messed up the return, so we replayed it. Luckily we won (just)!

It would be nice if the various Hawkeye-like systems for table tennis became more refined and widespread. (OK, they're not really Hawkeye-like since AFAIK they're vibrational and not optically based.)

At the moment the close-to-centreline doubles serve is a legitimate tactic that essentially cannot be used, at least at club level.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible