Tomahawk Variations
Serving
Joe Bailey Asked 10 years ago
Hi Jeff and Alois,
One of the serves I like most is the pendulum serve, because with a slight flick of the wrist, you can change the spin from backspin, to sidespin, to topspin, and those variations get me a lot of points with my main tactic, attacking on my forehand on a third ball. However, I also quite like the tomahawk serve, and I am capable of getting a lot of spin with it. The problem with this is the only variations I can do with it are to serve with my antispin, or to out some backspin on it. Unfortunately, these changes are blatantly obvious to my opponents and it can cost me many points. So, my question to you is: are there any more subtle variations in the Tomahawk serve, possibly with topspin? I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks and warm regards,
Joe.
Alois Rosario Answered 10 years ago
Hi Joe,
When using the Tomahawk serve you can get some more subtle variations but not the great variations and amount of spin as you can on the Pendulum serve.
You can get some topspin on the serve and also backspin so it is a matter of just making slight changes to the amount and type of spin on the tomahawk serve.
There is also the Tomahawk and Reverse Tomahawk serves like Kenta and Ding Ning do it where they really swing hard at the ball.
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Joe Bailey Posted 10 years ago
Thanks for the quick reply Alois. I used to to the revers tomahawk a fair bit, but when I got my antispin I kept forgetting to twiddle the bat, and so I missed a lot of serves and changed to the pendulum!With the topspin, should I make an early contact with the ball, or just come up with my bat towards the contact?
Thanks,
Joe.
For the topspin serve, hit the ball on the way up in the swing.
With the anti spin you can still do the tomahawk and reverse serves. If you get it right, it will add more complications for you opponent, especially if you only use it as a surprise.
Joe Bailey Posted 10 years ago
Ah! I see how to do it now...
Thanks for your eternal wisdom Alois.