OOAK Table Tennis Forum

An effective service return is vital as you get into the higher levels... but how do you practice it when everyone's serve is different?

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I try to make some variations, but mostly
I return to the middle of the table or BH side,
flipping on short service with my LP.
When I play lefties I often play with my
LP in FH on service returns.As they
often serves to my FH. It works for me

But I also think double inverted players maybe
do it in another way so looking forward
to hear there opinion.

Cheers
Geddk

I do it with the Newgy robot. Whichever way the head is twisted is the same as the angle of the bat at contact. Not as good as taking real serves, but I can do it as long as I want and it does help.

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My mistake.
I forgot it was in practice,
I thought it was when playing live.

Cheers
Geddk

While it's good to get a practice partner and just have them serve you a bunch of different serves, I think the best way is to play a lot of practice matches. If you're not returning serve in a match, I think the level of pressure is a lot less, therefore you don't get as effective of practice, because you're not concerned about third ball attacks. By playing a lot of practice matches against a wide variety of players you see many different serves, which will help prepare you for tournament or league play.

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i find the best technique for me is to try to not look at the opponents racket and read the serve specifically based after the first bounce....the most deceptive part of a serve is the opponents movement, and in a moment of pressure you do not know if it moved the same or slightly different, so in practice I tell my opponents to really hide their serve

i try to read the spin before it crosses the net. if i can't do it, i'll either push it to the middle of the table, really getting under the ball, or wait for it to drop under the table and do a little topspin. if it's a long serve i'll just attack it.

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Usually in the heat of battle. I find that most serves are backspin (underspin), so returning with a good push is usually not a problem. If it's got sidespin as well, then I have to have my wits about me a little more. Service return is critical often just to stay alive, but occasionally I'm able to return with a smash or speedy flick. I think outside of competition (including practice games), I just practice 'touch' and control, so that when it is 'battle time' I have a better chance of returning serve well.

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I find the most potent server I can find (usually my coach) and I practice returning the same serves over and over while he practices his 3 and 5 ball attack.

If he has an unusual serve I ask him to keep serving it and attacking me... we normally play the point out as we would in a game.

Also I follow suit and serve my best serves and practice my 3 and 5 ball attack.

If there is a serve I don't understand my practice partners aren't shy to exchange knowledge because I am the first to teach someone how to return a particular serve.

Also for reading serves I try to use several cues.
1. My first cue is the contact of the ball and the set of serves the opponent is using.
2. take that back... kinda... people have tells when they are going to serve occasionally unless they are awesome at serves so if you miss one think to see if they did something different before doing the doozy of a serve. ( also think how you missed).
3. the last cue is the one leather back mentioned ( hearing contact in combination with watching the bounces).
If it floats it is not topspin.... If it skips it is a top or side .... If you can see the label it's dead.

All common sense yet the last one took me 3 years before someone explained it to me.

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