Backspin - Nospin Serve

[VinceG]

Hi People.

I was playing a friend in the table tennis club yesterday. He's a much better player than me and gives me 4 start per game. I did OK winning probably about a third of the games we played (with my start obviously)

Anyway, he has got some good serves which I can't read, however, I can read when he put's "no spin" on with a what looks like a chopping action. A backspin - no spin serve.

The annoying thing for me was that even though I saw it, I reacted as predicted and played a push as if it was loaded with backspin, he of course then smashed it past me.

I suppose I should get a coach multi-balling no spin serves at me for me to smash past him… is that how you should deal with it?

 

[vvk1]

Hi Vince,
no spin serves are tricky. Here is a nice tutorial on serve receive by top north american player. At 4:26, he shows how to effectively return a no-spin serve. Check it out, you'll find it useful.

 

[Der_Echte]

Those are the growing pains of coping with serve receive.

One must first understand how the different spins are generated, what they do, how they fly and bounce, and what clues are there to process.

One must not only process the data, but be subconsciously ready to do the "right thing" to the serve, whatever that is... a safe return, a short, flick, hit or loop...

Even if one learns the "how" part of serve spin generation, that doesn't automatically translate into a player being able to correctly read the ball and use all his receive options correctly.

It is easy to be lulled or tricked into processing the fake follow through, instead of the other clues in the early going. You just gotta accept that it will be so for a while until you get more reps and improve a lot. This will improve as your ability to read spin improves, which overall, will improve your playing level.

I use that no-spin serve often and it is easily my best serve. I set it up by showing I can serve heavy and medium under spin short, half long, or deep. I then simply pull away the carpet from under the receiver by taking away a lot or all of the under spin. If the receiver is expecting a heavy cut serve and gets a light serve, I got some easy offense to open up on. If the receiver thinks it is light cut and it is knuckle, then I get a nice long ball or something just high enough to make the first strong decisive offensive shot, often for a winner or a ball that directly leads to it.

There is an art to doing this fake cut serve. Whatever method the server uses to fake his spin, there is always the element of the serve using what appears to be exactly the same service motion as the real cut serve. The difference is in the bat angle and the kind of impact given, then how the server makes his fake follow through. All the successful ones find a way to make the fake follow through look like a natural part of the fake serve. They make it look smooth and easy.

It takes a lot of practice to get that smooth, but many lower level players can come up with some surprisingly deceptive serves if the practice effectively and get inspired.

 

[Der_Echte]

Forget to talk about how to learn to cope with that fake underspin serve.

Multiball is not the way of the weasel in this case.

You need to find several players who can do that serve and be willing to give you that serve and a few variations of cut serve. A robot or ball feeder will not replicate what a human does. You need to train vs a few humans who can do both cut serve variations and a no-spin fake cut serve. You need to practice with several players who can do this as different players make their bat angle and fake follow through and impact different.

Now why would anyone be willing to let you know and TRAIN vs their best serves??? You had damned well hope they are nice blokes or that you can provide some kind of value to them in some kind of way. Otherwise, there is nothing in it for the deceptive server other than getting practice. Heck they can just do that on an empty table, they don't need a live person. Only difference with a live person who cannot receive the serve well is the server gets bored practicing by self and has LULZ when watching people struggle vs his serves!

Myself, In Korea, I always showed club mates how to read my serves, how I swung and impacted the ball, and how I faked the spin. Why? I WANTED my club mates to be able to handle my serves at least minimal effectively so I would not have to rely on my serves to win points, which forced me to grow other areas of my game. That was the value for me, it wasn't like I was gunna win the award of "Most Generous Player", I am myself one grouchy motor scooter in person.