Partner skipped today, so no hitting video, but I managed to film some serving.
Had to throw most of it away due to people in frame or other issues, but here's what I could get:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6siawTA1xQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWGs40h5V4s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0A4c_ZbmUc
Not really happy with any of it, but it is what it is. At least the half-long ones were mostly low, but spin quality is very low.
And some reverse. I still don't really have it down or know what I'm doing at all. Feel free to critique if you think you see my major issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYE4VLfjvX8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PPl4vPwgTI
yes it sucks; but my own pendulum has sucked forever, i almost never do it in match, i mostly use my deadly BH serve.
But I've not given up. I've been practicing serves more seriously again since the end of summer holidays while in 1st half of year i've almost totally stopped it due to injuries notably (not that i couldn't serve but as soon as i recovered from one injury after one other, i wanted to have fun and practicing serves is not so fun for me)
I really want a "normal" spin serve, because i use mostly BH and my other serve i use most is YG (= reverse pendulum). But I'm practicing now also the Alexis Lebrun wipeshield serve which i find easier to do that pendulum and its much more easy to recover as well. as not many people do it, it may be more confusing for the opponent too.
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why can't i serve pendulum ? its mostly because for some reason i cannot fully explain, my racket tends to slow down at contact. i think its because i want to use (too much) wrist but it makes timing more difficult, same if swing is big . sometimes im not even hitting the ball. Also in match, i want to recover quickly but that makes my body move while the serve is not entirely finished cleanly, so im adding random movement to serve execution which makes it uncontrollable.
When i do BH serve which is my best serve; i don't use much wrist so i don't slow down my swing. its also possible because toss is lower than with pendulum.
So now, i'm trying to change my approach. focusing on putting quality first and height, not paying too much attention on putting max spin, and replacement at the moment also i accept not to use much wrist. but i want to be able to throw the ball reasonably high and get more confident at it, and hit the ball lower with a FAST swing. that will make for the absence or little use of wrist. i try not to change the angle of the racket either. pulling up a little bit at contact for topspin but thats all. Even if its not recommended im trying to learn a variation with a flatter bat angle, parallel to table would be master. i feel its possible to make a lower and higher quality serve and the swing is more like pulling the racket towards me rather than forward. it will generate more extreme side spin and keep ball low. Net error or first bounce error risk is high though. thats why it needs a high toss.
important tip: my coach says that when learning this serve its better to practice to the short FH first, because if one can do it, all the other placements are easier.
When i get more confident, ill try to control length and think of recovery.
Anyway i will not be using it much in competition, like only 20% but in practice match i try to use it 50% or more sometimes
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as for you Arch, id say its a bit the same, serve is low quality because a) its too high, you contact the ball a bit too early, wait a split second more b) you must have max speed/acceleration at contact.
