[Video] Service practice

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you seem to have pretty good control, good pace, second bounce on table, not really anything horrible going on. At the 7th minute I really like the dead ball, really hard to read with your motion. If I had to suggest something it's to incorporate 2 new serves that focus on angling a lot. By that I mean that the first bounce on opponents side is somewhere short in the middle of the table and the second bounce would be off the table but next to it, not past the base line. Depending on the level you play at it can be fun and rewarding to catch someone cheating over to the their back hand side so much that you can blow a ball like that right by them. That's not too common in 1700+ players though, which I would assume you are because of your gear and dedicated training regiment hah. Lastly, add a drill to the end of your service practice where you serve each one of your serves, but you drop into position as you would in a game. That is, don't watch the ball, care more about continuing the service motion into a ready stance or 3rd ball attack stance. This helps lower your response time to your own serve, a lot of times people can get "caught lookin" at their own serve. Anyways just my 2 cents.
 

Dan

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Dan

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Hey! :)

I like this serve practice a lot! Very good variations of serves. You have the feeling to contact the ball and get any spin which you like which is great.

I use to do serve practice like this 3 to 4 times a week.. sometimes for 1 hour intervals however one coach said to me, im doing the sequences to fast at a time. He said i need to serv practice and really focus on each one like your deuce in the fifth. And think what areas on the table to place it so you can just practice getting into the ready position after the serve.

Plus, including this more focus on each serve, you can try to make each serve look the same. You are doing that well, but it could be better. Try my the start and finish of the serve look the same but the contact is different. For example, when you do fast serves, your body seems a bit more relaxed then your other serves and your throwing the ball higher. Now if i was playing you in a match, i would spot this and no when your going to serve long like that, so making each serve very simlar to surprise your opponent would help ya out a lot

By the looks of things your doing really well, if you keep this up your serves will literally just give your loads of points and doing it under pressure is the best thing!. Even pro's serve long by mistake at 9-9 seen it so many times.

Hope i've helped you out here
 
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Yeah, just like everyone has said thus far, really great serves, a lot of different variation and good spin. You probably do this more in a game, and have improved your serves, since this is an old video, but I would definitely say that you should try to put more emphasis on disguising your serves. I don't mean covering them up with your hand or something, but just making it so that before you contact the ball, and immediately after you contact the ball, the movements are all the same. Serving is important for the how much spin it has, but it is almost just as important for the aspect of surprise it gives.

Dan in his video about playing Ma Lin talked about this. Ma Lin's serves in terms of movement look nearly all the same, its just that at the instant he contacts the ball with his paddle, his lightning fast wrist flick is doing different things. Therefore the opponents reaction time to tell what type of serve it is, and what type of spin is very small, which in turn leads to mistakes if in that short time, the opponent makes the wrong decision as to how to receive the serve. And when we are talking about the higher levels of table tennis, where the amount of spin on serves are huge, even a slight mistake can put the ball either high enough or in a position to completely turn the point in a huge favor for the server.
 
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my problem is that i'm currently having problems keeping them short again. i've lost the feeling keeping it short and still having the spin i want. i'll have to make another video to address this issue. i feel like my serves are being picked off far too easily
 

Dan

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Dan

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Yeah, just like everyone has said thus far, really great serves, a lot of different variation and good spin. You probably do this more in a game, and have improved your serves, since this is an old video, but I would definitely say that you should try to put more emphasis on disguising your serves. I don't mean covering them up with your hand or something, but just making it so that before you contact the ball, and immediately after you contact the ball, the movements are all the same. Serving is important for the how much spin it has, but it is almost just as important for the aspect of surprise it gives.

Dan in his video about playing Ma Lin talked about this. Ma Lin's serves in terms of movement look nearly all the same, its just that at the instant he contacts the ball with his paddle, his lightning fast wrist flick is doing different things. Therefore the opponents reaction time to tell what type of serve it is, and what type of spin is very small, which in turn leads to mistakes if in that short time, the opponent makes the wrong decision as to how to receive the serve. And when we are talking about the higher levels of table tennis, where the amount of spin on serves are huge, even a slight mistake can put the ball either high enough or in a position to completely turn the point in a huge favor for the server.

:)

Look how well Timo disguises his serves from start to finish, but the contact point alters for variation on spin and speed.

 
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Serves being picked off can be cause by a number of things. A short serve without enough spin is easy to pick off, and almost any serve with predictable spin can be used against you. The key thing to remember is to think about placement also, both the direction your service is going and where you are standing. A difference of 6 inches can make that backhand flick troublesome because it is closer to the forehand, causing indecision and ultimately making the returner play a safer push. I like to slowly move from left to right a few inches every service, it really throws opponents of because the ball will look similar every time, but my position alone makes the ball need a different spin or direction to mimic the previous serve. Finally, you can also practice long hanging back spin serves. you can usually jam people up with these and make them put it into the net. Just make your first bounce very close to the baseline, and the bounce the their side as deep as possible.
 
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looking back, i think i was serving too much of the same (side under/underspin) to the backhand mainly. this gave the opponent ample time to adjust and pretty much take their shots when they wanted to. the fact that they were also a bit long didn't help either =(
 
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Pictures 1-5 – service phase Timo serves with the forehand from the backhand side. The right leg is in front of the left one. The ball is at the highest point of the throw up. Timo is really fixed on it (picture 1). The bat movement (pictures 2,3) indicate a side-backspin serve. If you compare pictures 1-4 it becomes very clear that Timo moves with his whole body into the ball. It is also interesting that he moves the bat downwards (picture 4) after making contact with the ball, like you can see so often with the Chinese top players. The meaning of this is to deceive the opponent or at least confuse him when he is looking at the serve (blue arrow). The ball bounces roughly in the middle of the own half (purple arrow), which hints at a short placement. Additionally it is diagonal and very low (picture 5). At the end of the serve Timo’s whole body weight is on the front right leg. He has already lifted his left leg to take it forward for the next stroke in the transition phase.
 
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:)

Look how well Timo disguises his serves from start to finish, but the contact point alters for variation on spin and speed.


timo's serve is no the spiniest of all the pro,s but he is the most consistent of all almost every one of his serve is on the short side
 
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lol i have no idea if my serves are better back then or better now....i just think they 'try' to compliment my game. i'll try to record another session since i'm in summer school now....no one will be in the gym.
 
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