Serving
Hi Coach,
For some time I have been trying to do sidespin(pendulum) serve. I noticed that when try to contact the ball on the side, contact the lower area of the bat, use a lot of wrist, and have arm acceleration, I get little sidespin and sometimes good heavy backspin. I'm only looking for a good sidespin serve that bounces off my opponents racket when their racket is flat with no angle. Is there a way to fix this spin issue?
Hi Toby,
the type of spin depends totally on the angle of your bat at the point of contact. To generate the sidespin you need to have your bat more vertical, with the end of your bat pointing to the ground.
Really focus on this position. I would advise taking a short video of your serve and watching it to see what is actually happening. Often our perception of where our bat and hand is isn't quite right. Seeing it on a video will really help this.
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Want to take your table tennis serves to the next level? In this episode, we break down how to master spin serves to gain the upper hand in every match.
✅ The Fundamentals of Spin Serves – How to generate and control spin for maximum effectiveness.
✅ Common Mistakes – The biggest serve errors players make and how to fix them fast.
✅ Viewer Q&A – Your top questions about serving, answered!
✅ Train Smarter – Drills to help you develop spin, deception, and consistency.
Adding spin to your serves can completely change your game. Which spin serve do you struggle with the most? Let us know in the comments!
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toby kim Posted 5 years ago
I still generate barely any sidespin and heavy backspin. I will take a look at your tutorial, I think this will help.
toby kim Posted 5 years ago
I took a video of myself doing it and everything looked okay: contact point, wrist, speed. I figured out that it was the table tennis racket. A controlled racket seems better for sidespin, while the speed and spin racket is for backspin and topspin. I think I will practice sidespin serves with the control racket, then I will move to the speed and spin racket.
toby kim Posted 5 years ago
The sidespin serve(pendulum) has been working, but I hit my chest too hard for extra spin. Is there a way to fix this issue?
You can put a towel under your shirt while doing serve practice.
toby kim Posted 5 years ago
I tried the towel, but it didn’t work. Is there any recommendations for a chest accessory made for table tennis?
I haven't heard of one. Maybe someone else has seen something.