Harimoto's serve

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I have been wanting to ask this question for a long time but keep forgetting.

After watching Harimoto's game over the last few months, I noticed his serve was poorly returned by ML, ZJK and even XX. That led to quite a significant amount of quick points.

His usual serve involves a left-ward brush of the ball. It seems very simple but I wonder why it is extremely difficult for the best players to return it properly?

Can someone shine some light on this so I can learn some tricks?
 
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says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
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He worked on it after getting trashed by Calderano at the Qatar Open.

Look up and compare his matches before and after that tournament.
 
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I have been wanting to ask this question for a long time but keep forgetting.

After watching Harimoto's game over the last few months, I noticed his serve was poorly returned by ML, ZJK and even XX. That led to quite a significant amount of quick points.

His usual serve involves a left-ward brush of the ball. It seems very simple but I wonder why it is extremely difficult for the best players to return it properly?

Can someone shine some light on this so I can learn some tricks?


deception, deception and then some more deception. his serve motion seems to be the same, as a top server's serve should be but it isnt. Its the subtle changes on timing and contact point on the paddle/ball
 
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I think it to hard to win with spin when servering with the new ball. More important to get a good return, a ball that is good for your kind of play.
 
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Most often what kind of spin is on the ball is something one can read, it's more difficult to quickly figure out how much spin is on the ball. A little misread/mishandle and the point is probably lost.

Timo said something like it's difficult to completely fool opponents on the serve that his tactic is to get a return that creates an advantage for him.
 
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