Reading serve length

Table Tennis Service Return

Last updated 7 years ago

Noah Clayborne

Noah Clayborne Asked 7 years ago

What is a good way to predict if a serve will go short or long?


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 7 years ago

Hi Noah,

Rather than predict, try to watch the flight of the ball all the way through.

You will pick up a few cues from the backswing of the server and also then you will see the bounce and flight of the ball.

By putting all of this information together we get a picture of where the ball is likely to land on the second bounce.

It takes all of that information and then  lot of practice to get this to a stage where you are confidently judging the length of the ball.


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Thoughts on this question

Marius Darian

Marius Darian Posted 7 years ago

A big backswing means a longer serve and a short backswing means a shorter serve, most of the time.



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