Table Tennis Serves

One of the most important strokes in a game of table tennis is the serve. It gives an advantage to the player who serves to take control of where and how you would play the ball. Before you learn proper table tennis serves, you need to get the table tennis grip and the four strokes - the forehand push, backhand drive, forehand drive, backhand push, in the proper order. If you want to win a game of table tennis, it's important to learn the different serving techniques like spin, top spin and no-spin serve. You need to watch out which way the ball spins so that you can return the ball efficiently. You should try to keep your opponent unbalanced through your returns and serves.

How to Serve in Table Tennis

When you begin learning table tennis serves, you should try to follow the exercise mentioned below so that you know the basic technique of serving.

• Stand at the side of the table, on the backhand side.
• While holding the racket, you should hold it in such a position that it's in an open angle. It should seem as if you are playing a backhand push. With the other hand grip the ball with the help of the first finger and thumb at about 30cm in height above the racket.
• Loosen your grip over the ball and let it fall, and then hit it with your racket.
• While hitting, make sure that the ball bounces on your side first and then bounces on the opponent's side after crossing the net.
• Repeat this exercise several times till you are successful consistently.
• After you have got used to this technique, you can stand away from the net and then practice the same exercise.

Types of Table Tennis Serves

You can opt to serve hard and fast, or you can spin the ball by changing its pace while serving. Usually, new players serve flat with no spin, but better players spin the ball thereby affecting the curve and bounce which they get. Some of the most common serves in table tennis include back spin, side spin, top spin and no spin, which you can learn over time. Let's take a look at each of them.

Top Spin
In a top spin serve, while hitting the ball, the paddle slides over it. If you hit the ball with enough force and in the proper order, the ball would curve downwards and after hitting the table it would skip forward. If you can master hitting the ball in such a way that it lands near the end, it better as it would make returning the ball all the more difficult.

Side-spin Serve
In this type of serve, the paddle is brought across the body so as to give the ball the required spin. If you are a right hander, the ball would spin clockwise, while on the other hand a counter-clockwise spin would be created when you serve with your backhand.

Back-spin Serve
Also called under-spin serve, this serve can be used effectively while playing against inexperienced and attacking players. If you are able to back-spin heavily, there are chances that your opponent would lose a point. Moreover, it's very difficult to attack such serves.

No-spin Serve
This kind of serves can be used effectively if you want to confuse your opponent. This particular serve should be used in tandem with spinning serves, i.e. after you have used either of the spinning serves; you should use the no-spin serve. Moreover, a long and fast no spin serve can come in handy if your opponent is at a certain distance from the table.

Table Tennis Serving Rules

A game of table tennis starts when a player starts serving. The serving player holds racket with one hand and the ball on the palms of the other, and this hand is called the free hand. The free hand should be behind the table's endline and higher than its surface. While serving, the player should toss the ball up and should be at least 16cm higher than the table's surface. As the ball descends, the striker hits the ball. The ball should always be above the table's height and behind the endline while serving. While serving you can't use your body to block the ball from being seen by the opposing player.

Once you have struck the ball, you need to make sure that the ball bounces at your end once, crosses the net, and then bounces at least once on the opponents' side. In case the ball strikes the net without crossing to the other side, your opponent would be awarded the point. However, if the ball touches the net, crosses over and bounces on the opponent's side, the serve is declared a 'let', and in such a case the serving player should re-serve. If the serve is legal, then the receiver must hit the ball in return. While returning the ball, you should make sure that the ball crosses the net without bouncing on your side.

Thus, table tennis serves play an important part in deciding the outcome of the game. Hope the above information on the techniques have given you an idea of the necessity of a good serve in the game of table tennis.