Ridiculous reverse pendulum serve secrets

says Leave the righteousness to me.
says Leave the righteousness to me.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Nov 2020
1,611
1,467
6,999
Lately I struggle with bringing good backspin on the RP serve and I had it in the back of my mind for some time... Side and top-spin is no problem... I even tried to contact the ball like from bottom up on the further side, before I watched this, but still not there... So this is like for me ;-)
 
  • Like
Reactions: blahness
says Leave the righteousness to me.
says Leave the righteousness to me.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Nov 2020
1,611
1,467
6,999
same motion for back spin - let the ball roll for top spin
it takes quite a bit to practice but it works!

I know, but can't achieve yet... In the meantime I realized that I keep my elbow too high, and then I simply can't achieve the "horizontal" bat, so I lower it now for backspin, which gives a chance for recognition... Also it matters where is the ball relative to my body at the contact - if it is more front, I can more easily make backspin or side-backspin, if it is less front (far from table rel. speaking), it is hard to try backspin for me... So I need to advance in steps ;-)
 
Last edited:
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Oct 2010
2,860
2,798
10,530
same motion for back spin - let the ball roll for top spin
it takes quite a bit to practice but it works!
Yes and also almost the same blade angle! I didnt realize it was possible to disguise reverse pendulum like this.

For me the major takeaway is to scoop it upwards. This makes the spin a lot stronger for the sideunderspin serve (i suspect if forward momentum was reduced it would actually be a ghost serve). Also the upwards movement can easily be used to generate sidetopspin. And this seems quite easy to keep short.

Previously i felt like hook serves were way better than reverse pendulum because I could do very different spins with same blade angle and movement, but this video kinda changed my mind.

Also, look at how Yuya just does a heavy chop dropshot casually off a heavy topspin ball served to him, that was crazy touch like Fang Bo. On another video he demonstrates how he adds heavy underspin to a short push which was super interesting which I only dared to do against sidetopspin, never against underspin (that extra brushing will just lead to me pushing to the base of the net). So apparently he also scoops the ball from underneath and rubs it hard upwards and to the right side to achieve this additional brush without netting the receive.
 
Last edited:
  • Wow
Reactions: NetProphet
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Active Member
Apr 2013
710
603
1,587
Read 1 reviews
I will definitely give the scooping technique a try. I have been abusing the reverse pendulum lately. Even though my regular pendulum serves are much better when it comes to spin and variation. So many people seem to not know how to deal with the reverse. Especially the fast long one, they don’t see it coming.
 
  • Like
Reactions: blahness
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Oct 2010
2,860
2,798
10,530
I will definitely give the scooping technique a try. I have been abusing the reverse pendulum lately. Even though my regular pendulum serves are much better when it comes to spin and variation. So many people seem to not know how to deal with the reverse. Especially the fast long one, they don’t see it coming.
Yeah most ppl are quite bad at receiving hook or reverse pendulum serves. For me just abusing short FH, fast long to BH/middle already gains a huge amount of easy points, it is also quite unsolvable because a lot of players dont have the correct footwork to cover these areas. Also it is not so easy to receive it with FH because it is the unnatural angle (unless they have trained against it specifically before).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amayzde
Top