Double serve like in tennis

[Atas Newton]

What do you guys think about replacing the current two serves with two sets of double serve? I.e., if there's a fault on the first serve a player would serve again. What does it do to the game: it encourages players to go for extreme, high risk high reward first serves potentially sparking up the game from the very start of a point. Come on, don't you like ridiculous bullet speed, or 9000rpm serves?

 

[drunix80]

What do you guys think about replacing the current two serves with two sets of double serve? I.e., if there's a fault on the first serve a player would serve again. What does it do to the game: it encourages players to go for extreme, high risk high reward first serves potentially sparking up the game from the very start of a point. Come on, don't you like ridiculous bullet speed, or 9000rpm serves?

To make it more interesting how about making first serve one bounce like tennis ??

 

[NDH]

Terrible idea! lol

Who would want to watch a match of "extreme serve" followed by a 3rd ball kill or even a missed service return.

If anything, make the ball cross the net 3 times before the point can count! Haha - That would get some rallies going.

But no.... I don't think anything needs to be changed to the service rules.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Yeah. This sounds like something someone who doesn't actually play TT might suggest. But I like drunix's response. That is pretty funny. Might as well make the first serve overhead and only have to bounce on the opponent's side, like tennis, to ensure that there are never any rallies at all in TT.

 

[sderyke2002]

Why not make the net the same height as in Tennis - that would make the rallies longer. LOL

 

[Atas Newton]

What is there to risk? Rallies becoming shorter is certainly not something I'm after. What this changes is that it allows club players to serve better by removing some pressure. Nearly everyone serves with caution in mind, which simply results in not so good serves. Surely in practice everyone can serve like a pro 1 out 10 times, why not have that chance in a match? At the top level nothing much will change at all. I appreciate the irony, but so far no one gave any real reasons for their disapproval.

 

[James Krassowski]

Surely if your serve is so poor and inconsistent that you can only get 1 good serve out of 10 in i think you should start doing more service practice

 

[brimbaz]

make a table the size of a tennis court and play with air fans instead of bats

 

[jawien]

Actually it's not a too good idea imho - introduces even more randomness into the game.
Funny thing, there is a discussion in Tennis to have just one service rule ... : )

Why not make the net the same height as in Tennis - that would make the rallies longer. LOL

Hey, don't laugh. Many people say 1 cm or so higher net would not be that stupid ...

 

[Atas Newton]

Surely if your serve is so poor and inconsistent that you can only get 1 good serve out of 10 in i think you should start doing more service practice

thanks mate, this advice is what I've needed for my whole life. You saved me!

Hey, don't laugh. Many people say 1 cm or so higher net would not be that stupid ...

almost everyone is against any change. I was there for the introduction of 11 points per game and no one liked it.

 

[James Krassowski]

thanks mate, this advice is what I've needed for my whole life. You saved me!

I sense quite a lot of sarcasm is in this reply but you can’t use the excuse that only the pros can do good serves because it’s one of the easiest things to practice. If you genuinely can only get 1 out of 10 good serves you need to work on that

 

[Atas Newton]

I sense quite a lot of sarcasm is in this reply but you can’t use the excuse that only the pros can do good serves because it’s one of the easiest things to practice. If you genuinely can only get 1 out of 10 good serves you need to work on that

I've no idea why you thought you need to point it out twice, but since you did I encourage you to read what I actually typed instead of attacking a strawman. Maybe you can serve like a pro 2 times out of 10, good for you then. I can not.

 

[jawien]

I sense quite a lot of sarcasm is in this reply but you can’t use the excuse that only the pros can do good serves because it’s one of the easiest things to practice. If you genuinely can only get 1 out of 10 good serves you need to work on that

Good serves are not easy too, but I agree 1 to 10 ratio is pretty low ... ; ))

@So Atas, you would be a proponent of a bit higher net?

 

[tropical]

I think it is not a good idea, either. TT is a too fast sport. It is the 2nd fastest and definitely faster than tennis. Such bullet serve will create a lot of problem to receiver whose reaction can't meet the speed of the lightning coming ball. I understand the OP intention but such serve may cause more harm than good to the already increasingly boring sport. However, we could have a few tournaments to try out the concept, and who knows if the audience would be more amused!

 

[James Krassowski]

I've no idea why you thought you need to point it out twice, but since you did I encourage you to read what I actually typed instead of attacking a strawman. Maybe you can serve like a pro 2 times out of 10, good for you then. I can not.

Ok, I’m sorry because I did say the same thing twice. But your idea still isn’t great. Firstly matches would be twice as long. Secondly, one of the best things about table tennis is the complexity of the sport and how long it takes to master it in comparison to others, take shooting for an example. If you allowed people multiple chances at doing more amazing serves, people would practically give up on learning anything other than serves.

 

[Atas Newton]

Good serves are not easy too, but I agree 1 to 10 ration is pretty low ... ; ))

@So Atas, you would be a proponent of a bit higher net?

the point of a higher net would be to increase the spin/speed ratio, to that end I believe returning to the 38mm ball would be a better approach because it is an already thoroughly tested environment without unknown side-effects.

 

[jawien]

the point of a higher net would be to increase the spin/speed ratio, to that end I believe returning to the 38mm ball would be a better approach because it is an already thoroughly tested environment without unknown side-effects.

I just lost yesterday to a "just a forehand" guy ; ) He was an engaged player during 38 ball era, he said they didn't really needed backhands back then. I wouldn't want to loose those bh now ...

 

[sderyke2002]

What is there to risk? Rallies becoming shorter is certainly not something I'm after. What this changes is that it allows club players to serve better by removing some pressure. Nearly everyone serves with caution in mind, which simply results in not so good serves. Surely in practice everyone can serve like a pro 1 out 10 times, why not have that chance in a match? At the top level nothing much will change at all. I appreciate the irony, but so far no one gave any real reasons for their disapproval.

I think if you have a free serve on each turn to throw away so to speak then I disagree that nothing much will change at the top level. The Pros produce incredible serves right now but even they are not the best they can do. Ma Lin has his ghost serve which never leaves the table and in fact backs up before it get to the end. Others have equally difficult serves. And if they knew they could always get a free serve if they failed they would push them even further to the edge.

Think of it this way. Would you rather give me (a rank amateur) two chance to get my best serve in against you or would you rather let Ma Long get two against you? I assure you you would not be returning any serves in the second case.

I played on my schools tennis team in high school and even then my first serve was 80-90% at best and if it didn't go in the second dropped even further. So the passive conservative approach exists even in a two serve system. I would contend that is true for the Pro's as well. But it might be fun to see the kind of serves they could unleash in a system where one was a throw away.

To put it simply. I don't think the two serve system does anything to close the gap between the amateurs and the Pros than already exists between them in the one serve system.

 

[jawien]

Make the rubbers sponges to be only 1,5 mm allowed ... ; ))

 

[Atas Newton]

I just lost yesterday to a "just a forehand" guy ; ) He was an engaged player during 38 ball era, he said they didn't really needed backhands back then. I wouldn't want to loose those bh now ...

I'm more of a "just backhand" guy myself lol. There's gotta be more to his observation, for example the banana flick or rpb weren't around - and there was a lot more penholders.