Amazing Ma Lin Serve

[John_Pish]

Im assuming most of the people here have seen this. For those who haven't... You're welcome

but this serve not only amazes me, but intrigues me. its obviously a mix of backspin and side spin

but i dont understand how there could have been enough spin to stop the ball dead in its tracks on the second bounce, at least not going as fast as it was.

and also, how did he hide it? or deceive it rather.
because zhang jikes stoke did not appear as if he was expecting alot of backspin

any insight on this serve would be great.

 

[Ben Larcombe]

Hi John,

I hadn't seen that before but here's what I think...

Ma Lin does a serve of almost perfect length (the second bounce is right on the end line of the table) and ZJK thinks it's going long and decides to topspin. However, the ball bounces just before dropping off the end of ZJK slightly pulls out of his topspin (having realised he misread the length and to avoid smashing his bat into the table) but very very finely brushes the ball as his bat moves up. The touch on the ball is so fine that it doesn't bounce off the bat but instead just drops off giving the impression the ball stopped dead.

From my experience and what I can see in the video, this is my best guess.

Does anybody else agree?

 

[Dan]

Hi John and Ben. Yeah I think your right here Ben, we had some discussions a while ago about this phenomena found in this link: http://www.tabletennisdaily.co.uk/f...555-Ma-lin-unbelievable-serve&highlight=serve

Sent from my S2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Ben Larcombe]

Hadn't seen that one. Cheers Dan

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Sorry guys, but that is a topspin serve, the ball goes off the end of the table. Zhang Jike actually brushes the ball but misses the contact slightly and the rubber does not grab the ball. The ball falls off his racket back onto the table. No underspin. Watch closely. Anyone who loops has had this happen to a ball where your contact is a little off and your rubber does not grab the ball and the ball just falls because you almost missed the ball. That is all that happened.

If you watch the slow motion on a big enough screen you can see that ZJK's racket actually touches the ball and it falls mostly down, a little forward and a little to the left.

If you watch the bounce of the serve you can tell it kicks forward so it is topspin.

I could see how some people might be fooled but the ball definitely passes the end line and Zhang Jike definitely touches it, and it falls down, a tiny bit forward and a little to the left onto the table.

If you watch the slow motion on a large enough screen, you can see it. You can pause when ZJK's racket is just under the ball and see that the ball has passed the end line. You can pause just after the contact and see that the ball has stopped and is falling. You can see that Zhang Jike's contact is several in inches higher than the end line. The serve isn't such a great serve. It is just that Zhang Jike barely missed the contact.

 

[John_Pish]

I know exactly what you mean when you brush it too little, and it does make sense, But i cant say i necessarily agree with you by looking at it.

give that it was topspin, any touch of the ball at all would affect the trajectory of the balls arc, even slightly, but the arc looks perfectly natural going through the whole thing.

i believe it, just because physically its the only thing that makes sense and now my hopes and dreams are crushed learning that this serve actually isnt that great at all ((((((((((((

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

The magic serve that stops in mid air. Lol.

On my computer, on the slow motion, you can basically see the point before the contact and the point after contact. You can pause it in both spots and you can see that, as the racket swipes past the ball, the ball is hidden by the racket but that is where the ball falls. You can basically see that the racket stops the ball's movement.