Question about the reverse pendulum

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hey forum. it has been a while..
anyway id like to ask a question about the reverse pendulum serve we all well know.
timo boll uses it, as well as zhang jike and many other players in the world.

my question is: why? what are the advantages and disadvantages of this high technique serve and how much would you recommend having it in your arsenal of serves?

thanks to all, appreciate your time and answer! :)
 
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The advantage (if you can call it an advantage, it is really just a variation) is that is sudden, deceptive change of sidespin, can still produce all the different types of spin, pace, and depth. The number 1 thing (already said) is sometimes you want the ball to break that way and you will not do that with a regular FH pendulum serve. It is just another one of the serves you have ready for variety and purpose.
 
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Shortly, RPS(Reverse Pendulum Serve) is more harder to read,grasp than Pendulum serve and It also can change spin serve sudden as backspin or sidespin.

Disadvantage..well, It is difficult to serve perfectly..?:)
 
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It's just a service variation, like Der_Echte pointed out, but one that is rather rare to find in basic/intermediate level. So your opponents are less likely to be able to cope with it well. This serve usually has a mix of side spin, even when you try to do pure backspin and when your opponent fails to compensate that side spin, the ball usually comes back to your forehand.
 
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I practiced it a lot to have just the basics of it and when I went to the national tournament I got to play with really strong people. One of them (number 8 seed or so) against who I used RPS had a really bad time in reading it for the first few times and the ball eventually raised on my FH side allowing me to smash it. After a few times though he understood it and started flicking it without any problem.
 
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The first reason to do it is to have a serve with that sidespin while serving from your forehand side rather than a backhand serve. The second reason is, it is a good serve to use to set up certain attacks. The third reason is that, with a very small motion you can really get a lot of acceleration from your wrist so you can get a ton of spin from that serve when you get the touch of it.
 
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its been 4 months and i m still not be able to get perfect in it !!

Hey malaidaar, I serve pretty well, way better than my level, they all setup my attacks or control receivers' options, but I gotta let you in on a secret.

I practiced serves EVERY damned day for 4 months before I was able to consistently land a short short 90% of the time in practice, then it took another 6 months to a year of match play just to get that percentage in real tourney matches to a respectable 80%.

Serves are easy (maybe should say easier) after you practice enough, but I gotta tell you, NO ONE just picks up the bat and becomes a master in the first month.
 
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Hey malaidaar, I serve pretty well, way better than my level, they all setup my attacks or control receivers' options, but I gotta let you in on a secret.

I practiced serves EVERY damned day for 4 months before I was able to consistently land a short short 90% of the time in practice, then it took another 6 months to a year of match play just to get that percentage in real tourney matches to a respectable 80%.

Serves are easy (maybe should say easier) after you practice enough, but I gotta tell you, NO ONE just picks up the bat and becomes a master in the first month.

Yep. You can say that again.

I have a friend who is a pro USATT rating of about 2550. He practices serves for a few hours every day, every day.
 
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RPS is very deceptive, especially if you can vary the pace and the spin, not to mention if it is served long or short. Most players I have encountered are more accustomed to the usual pendulum serve (especially if both of us are right-handed) so they have easier way of returning the ball. RPS surprises them VERY MUCH, especially DOWN-THE-LINE RPS, although that is very hard to do and when I do it, it hurts my wrist but it is very effective to win an ace serve or setup a third ball kill!
 
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Can somebody explain how to do a backspin RPS?

I have been working since the league finished to add RPS to my repertoire. In practice I can reliably serve topspin double bouncers to centre and diagonal. In a match it is still quite unreliable because I get tensed up and am only serving one in a row. However I really don't have a clue about how to get backspin - someone told me you have to swing your arm downwards through the shot?

By the way I will vouch for the fact it confuses some opponents. One old guy just stood and watched it without moving an inch - point won!
 
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Can somebody explain how to do a backspin RPS?

I have been working since the league finished to add RPS to my repertoire. In practice I can reliably serve topspin double bouncers to centre and diagonal. In a match it is still quite unreliable because I get tensed up and am only serving one in a row. However I really don't have a clue about how to get backspin - someone told me you have to swing your arm downwards through the shot?

By the way I will vouch for the fact it confuses some opponents. One old guy just stood and watched it without moving an inch - point won!

Assuming you are right-handed and serve from the left corner:
Try beginning the serve by snapping your wrist away from your body and almost parallel to the table as opposed to towards the body and upwards. Then uncoil the wrist towards the net again almost parallel to the table and brush under the ball.

Adrien Mattenet and Kamal Achanta often do the back-spin version of RPS that way - so find some youtube videos and practice!
 
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