OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I am a beginner (been playing for over 6 months) and I use the shakehands grip. I am currently learning the forehand backspin serve, but there is barely any spin (the ball does not bounce back towards the net) and instead just bounces in the same area after the second bounce. I believe this might be because of my technique? What are some common mistakes/fundamentals when learning this serve?

You really don't need a serve that bounces back towards the net. Such a serve would likely be high and slow, anyway, and is more of a novelty or change-up variation to be used sparingly (unless Ma Lin does it). Watch some games on YouTube or ITTV, you won't see any of these serves used in top level matches. Good backspin serves have 1) lots of backspin, though you should be able to vary the spin (or even put in topspin) at will without tipping off the receiver, 2) low height and fast, and 3) bounce twice on the table, or close to having a second bounce (long serves can be attacked easily). How to do all this isn't that easy, look for Brett's serving videos. It's mainly in the "whip".

Haven't posted this one in a while.. I still think the coach looks suspiciously like Vladimir Putin.



Iskandar

While the ghost serve may not be effective in actual games, it is still a good practice for getting heavy spin for short serves. I think this video is a good starting point for learning the ghost serve. Once you learn how to use your wrist and brush the ball lightly to get spin, the same principle may be applied to pendulum serve and other serves.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEhLzWUvSOA[/youtube]

(Don't know why the video is not showing )

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The biggest mistake most people make is that they hit the back of the ball rather than the bottom or the bottom front of the ball. Watch at least the first video. All the points McAfee makes in the video ring true for me, even if they have weird exceptions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coqYai89Myo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8FYyIVpjww

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