Short and spinny serves

Table Tennis Serving

Last updated 2 years ago

Murfin Riewluang

Murfin Riewluang Asked 2 years ago

Hi! I’ve been trying to add more spin on my serves by using my wrist more. My long serves are quite spinny because of this.

However, I find that most of my short serves have little to no spin, or end up accidentally turning into long serves. Is there a way to add more spin to my short serves so that they are more effective? Thanks!


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 2 years ago

Hi Murfin,

This is something that you will be able to develop in your game with some practice and guidance.

When you are doing the long serves you are utilising your wrist correctly and freely.  The key to then getting those serves to be shorter is to get the contact finer.  This is the difficult part skills wise.  The finer contact means that initially you will miss the ball sometimes and sometimes the contact will be thicker and the ball will go long.  

Also think about tilting your racket further back so that you are contacting the base of the ball rather than the back so that it doesn't have as much forward momentum.

Therefore this is a skill that takes time and effort to get right and then even more time and work to get it consistent in a match situation.

It is well worth the effort because having a short and spinny serve is something that can take you game to a new level.


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