Ma Long service and rubbing hand

Hi Alois,

I was watching a video titled '2012 Men's World Cup Final: Ma Long v Timo Boll. It is about 40 minutes. I noticed a couple of things that sparked my curiosity. 1: At many times between services, either player would sort of rub their side of the table. Is their a purpose for doing this? If so please tell me. 2: Before Ma Long would serve, he would rotate his wrist so that his red backhand rubber would show instead of the black forehand rubber. this would only be for the serve. In fact, once he tossed the ball up, he would rotate his wrist back. I would appreciate you looking at the video. Not all 40 minutes, just enough to see what I'm asking you about. 

Thanks again, Devin

Hi Devin,

The players rub their hands on the table to get rid of the sweat off their hands.  Sometimes it does become a bit of a ritual however.

The service action is just a routine of his serve.  It doesn’t add anything to the serve but is just Ma Long’s way of doing it.