OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Are there 2-3 serves I could learn to level up my game? Also, would it help to upgrade or swap out my rubbers?

Inspiration for this post:
I've done some experimenting mainly with three serves to far:
-Timo Boll's reverse topspin sidespin serve over the last few months. A few of the club players who usually beat me have trouble returning this one. I learned this from Timo Boll's book and like it.
-Ding Ning's reverse tomahawk serve which I learned from watching Ding Ning's ITTF In My Mind video. Just tried this one out the past few days and I really like the hook pattern resulting from the heavy spin on it. https://tv.ittf.com/video/inside-my-min ... ps/1473235
-An variable underspin serve where I just try to hit the ball from underneath with lots of wrist motion or with a high to low arm motion and some wrist motion at the end to get good spin.

In case it helps:
I feel like my serve is something I can spend a lot of time on at home, 30 minutes a day or more. I have a home table and have play at a local club a few times week or month (sometimes it is a challenge to find people who are willing to play someone like me who is still coming up). I took lessons twice a week for a couple of months played in the bottom tier of a very competitive league twice (currently taking a break after having my ego bruised by not winning a single game, hence wanting to improve my serve and level up generally speaking). I have a decent backhand and forehand loop as well as blocking capability.

I use a Butterly Petr Korbel Offensive blade with Rozena rubbers. I briefly used a Butterfly beginner bat with pre-glued rubbers, but it was too slow for playing at the club, so I this one has logged a lot of hours without rubbers being replaced (maybe its time).

A no (or reduced) spin serve that's disguised as heavy spin.
Scoop serve (Par Garell, Mima Ito, and Miu Hirano use it effectively).