OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi guys,

just looking for some tips on how to better develop a very fast/bullet surprise serve.

I currently do not have an express serve at best I could describe it as medium/fast but consistent. I would like to make it faster and therefore add even more variety to my serves but hopefully it also gives me a weapon to punish opponents ( especially penholder & left handers) that edge too far over to 1 side of the table to receive my serves, this would be a useful way to keep them honest and more importantly stay a step ahead of them mentally.

My main issue is that once I try to speed up & flatten out the serve it tends to go long. I realize the margin for error on this serve is low and it needs lots of practice.
I also acknowledge that speed alone is not the only issue here so please feel free to talk about deception, ball toss, contact points etc I want to know what works for other people and then assess it for myself.

thanks in advance

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Blade Stiga Hybrid Wood FH Butterfly Dignics 05 BH Butterfly Tenergy 05 FX

Hi Mars,
One basic rule for a bullet fast serve, go as close to your end and then the other end as possible. You want the longest possible "runway" so to speak. I concentrate more on where it hits my side than I do the other. I try to have the ball hit within three inches of my corner. When you get it hitting your side where you want it, then watch where it hits the other. At first, I bet they will be hitting 12 to 18 inches in from the other end. That says, Go Faster! your not using the whole runway.
I have two ways to do this serve. One is an open blade and not alot of spin. you can still make it pretty fast.
Second is a VERY closed blade. Contact the ball almost on top. The bat will travel almost level with the table. Use all the wrist and forarm you can muster. This is best described as a brush loop serve. It can be made VERY fast and it carries tons of topspin. It does not bounce very high on the other side. You can do a shorter Fast version of this for a half long. For this "brush type" I do not use a high toss. Too much timing problem. If your bat is coming up, you are not doing it right. It should be going almost flat to the table.
Three places to aim. Corner to corner cross court or corner to corner down the line. Third, at the crossover of a shake hand player. I do these with backhand serves. Fast ones can also be done with a pendulum and the same points apply.

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

Yep, I had a nasty taste of these fast serves when he visited the garage.

thanks for the tips Hookshot & speedplay,

Nothing totally new but I will try these tips and focus on which works for me.
Hookshot the fast heavy topspin serve you mentioned is what I really what to achieve. I play a tall skinny Asian guys who has this serve and the topspin he generates is harder than most peoples loops its just amazing and really puts me & other on the back foot even when we know its coming. I asked him how he does it but he was very protective and the best I could get out of him was that he uses pure timing, snap of a very relaxed wrist and fast back to front weight transfer.

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Blade Stiga Hybrid Wood FH Butterfly Dignics 05 BH Butterfly Tenergy 05 FX

I don't think I tried out any of these in my last round of match vids, but I try for a fast topspin surprise serve in three directions. I use the same toss and service motion from FH corner. I hit the ball kinda close to the body and use an open blade at impact and hit through, then pull racket back. My first bounce is very close to the corner. I aim for 1) down the FH line. (Gotta hit that one with a little more spin or slow it down a tad.) 2) Cross corner right at the playing elbow. 3) Cross corner, but angled out towards BH of opponent. On that serve, I try to do a "Juan King Carlos" variation where I make it break sharply to the BH side by putting on some side and corkscrew spin. Heck, lets get JKC to comment. He has some fast and consistant tricky fast topspin serves. He made a vid including them a year or so ago.

Aside form the stated question, I like to use a severely angled slow/strong side/top/corkscrew serve that has second bounce close to the net and sideline, directed away from the opponent's BH. This serve REALLY takes a bite and kicks out even further from the BH. It gets those who don't read it. They commit to what they think is their limit, then the "kick" makes them extend even more for a low percentage return. I think there ws a "Serves that Kick" thread a while back on that.

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

I have a fast side/top serve.....I come in like I am doing my side/under serve and pull back and up......Gets cheap points out of people who are not expecting a change. Its a pretty good mix and sidespin.......it usually is an outright point or easy kill.

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Stiga OC CR
FH: Nittaku H2 NEO
BH: VEGA PRO MAX

Yasaka YEO
FH : Nittaku H3 Neo
BH : VEGA PRO MAX
Go Chicago White Sox!

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Blade Stiga Hybrid Wood FH Butterfly Dignics 05 BH Butterfly Tenergy 05 FX

I also want to thank Hookshot and Speedy for their pointers. Tonight at the club between matches I started playing with a fast, topspin serve just as described and, while it is not ready for a game yet (too inconsistent) it is definitely good enough to keep practicing!

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Currently playing classic defensive style (a la Chtchetinine)
American Hinoki Single Ply 9mm Bald Cypress
Palio CJ8000/1.2mm Dawei Butter
Saviga V 0.6

Mike, just it with the LP on the forehand side, use a direct slap on the back of the ball (3 o'clock) from forehand corner to forehand corner. It is fast dead/u-spin ball. Now, try it with the same corner to corner, instead of punching, stroke the top of the ball like looping, the faster you stroke, the more weir bounce is the ball, with some under spin. Coupled these from the invert side put your opponent guessing and start standing closer to the middle. Then you can do the same to their back hand corner, but this needs a little careful due to the shorter distance.

These are some of the serves I have been practicing, hope you like them.

If you are playing in a high level, unless you can disguise your serve, I find that it's quite easy for the opponent to smash a fast topspin ball. Especially youngsters, as they are more flexible and tend to stand a little farther away from the table.

My fast serve from FH to FH, has nothing but topspin. I don't aim from my FH endline (from where I serve) to the other FH endline. I aim the ball to bounce a little before the endline but more to my opponent BH side (for a right-hander). That way I force them to either block or if they smash, there are higher chances of them to smash it to the net. That's my experience.

My fast serve from FH to BH, I do it with sidespin going away from the table + some topspin. I normally do this serve only after a set up. Maybe 3 short serves to their BH and then do this serve. But I don't disguise my serve at all, so for good players they would easily recognize what I'm doing . The return or the smash that the opponent is gonna do, is normally to your FH side... so be prepare for that.

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Blade: testing...
BH rubber: testing...
FH rubber: testing...

I am left handed and it is the high level players that fall prey to my fast corner to corner serves. They tend to stand Way over to their backhand side. They don't smash, they are just trying to get to the ball. Like you say though, set it up with a short one or two to the backhand. Doesn't work on people that stand closer to the center.

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

I would sacrefice pace for deception initially, until you get your action, timing and depth right. for an effective surprize serve to catch a player on the back foot, it needs to be combined with a short serve, delivered with the same approach and action so the opponent can't 'read' when it is going to be delivered. I personally favour a short reverse pendulum to the f/hand, combined with a deep fast rv/pendulum to the b/hand, because the action is the same, and you are delivering the ball into the two extremes of the table that are hardest for a receiver to cover competently. You can devastate some players with just these two serves if they are well disguised.

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the covers blown, mission over

The main problem with a fast serve is that you are giving pace to your opponent - this means they have less time, but they also have to do less work as they can play a return with a lot shorter stroke or a block. I would recomend serving fast serves mainly to the opponents crossover - this makes it more difficult for them to get a clean return and use your pace against you - using this approach you still get the 'suprise' element and also you don't need to get as much pace on the ball making it a more reliable shot. I would also add that serves on their own are not useful, you have to plan for the returns you are most likely to get - from a fast serve its nearly impossible for the returner to keep the ball short or get the ball too wide [assuming his crossover is close to the middle of the table] - knowing this, you can practice your third ball with some confidence.

Bolls is right on in his placement suggestion. I've found that a very fast serve, either with inverted or long pips, into the crossover point can really catch someone off-guard, especially if you opened the game with a bunch of short serves. It's easy to catch them leaning in. I've also found that a serve like that to open the match works very well too, most people aren't expecting to be challenged like that right away.

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"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

So would I, bearing in mind, you've probably got one or two chances to gain anything by it in a game of 11pts, I've also been preaching for years, that serves are not an entity, they are only effective in a decent standard, if they limit the opponents options, and make him worry about what is coming next.

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the covers blown, mission over