Illegal serves

Hello Alois, Jeff,

It is very often that illegal serves are used, mainly hiding the ball with the other hand or with the body and it is very difficult for the umpire to spot, however for the oponent  the contact with the bat is not visible and it makes it really hard to read the spin. What I try to do is determine the spin by the type of bounce of the ball and the speed (a bit slower and lower is more likely to be backspin and a bit higher and faster-a top spin). Do you recommend any other ways? Also, if not sure about the service spin at all, what is the safest stroke to play-a long push or a top spin drive?

I would really enjoy your analysis on some of the top players game, what makes them champions and some comments on their play and tactics during some great matches they had 

Regards,

Georgi

Hi Georgi,

You are right a lot of players hide the serve on contact.  It is good that you are also watching the flight of the ball because this can give you a lot in information as well.

If the serve is long then use a topspin stroke making sure you get a lot of spin on your topspin to counteract the spa on the ball already.  If it is short then you need to control the ball with a push to start with.  The key here is to get the angle of your bat correct to ensure the abel goes back onto the table.