My version of Ma long serve

[Siva Schopenhauer]

Hi guys and girls,
I am completely new to the community and found out that this site is huge with so many intermediate and professional players.
I am beginner who practices usually in the garage with different kind of serve techniques.

Lately, I am trying to imitate the pendulum serve of Ma long. This is what I got in this moment. I have shared my video along with this post. Please provide me a feedback on what elements of the serves should i further work on and also suggest me any improvements in the serve motion.

BTW, I ll replace the crappy net soon.

Thanks,
Siva

 

[Ilia Minkin]

I think that the serve jumps too high, especially comparing to the net you have on the table

 

[CroneOne]

Nice video Siva. I've actually done the same thing and tried to duplicate Ma's serve.
What I really like about yours is the acceleration and snap you get into the contact.
I'm going to try that next.

You may want to try his follow through footwork to his ready position as it is
built into the whole motion.

 

[LethalForehand]

Those serves look good! What I noticed is that your wrist looks stiff, it should be relaxed and you should do a whip-like motion with the forearm+wrist to get more delicate contact but the same acceleration.

Hi guys and girls,
I am completely new to the community and found out that this site is huge with so many intermediate and professional players.
I am beginner who practices usually in the garage with different kind of serve techniques.

Lately, I am trying to imitate the pendulum serve of Ma long. This is what I got in this moment. I have shared my video along with this post. Please provide me a feedback on what elements of the serves should i further work on and also suggest me any improvements in the serve motion.

BTW, I ll replace the crappy net soon.

Thanks,
Siva

 

[VicVoc32]

A little to high bounch but good lenght. It's good that the ball bounces two times on the opponents side with the second bounch close to the edge. It's good if you relax your wrist a little more.

 

[Suga D]

Firstly: Welcome to the site, siva. Plenty of great vids and valuable information can be gained from here.
From seeing your serve you don't look like a total beginner to me.
We have beginners at our club that look totally different to what you've been showing.
I think the previous posters are quite right. To get more acceleration you could relax the wrist a little more.
I think your contact point is a little high above the table and results in that high bounce. So if you could try to contact the ball a little lower, like about net level, it would result in a lower bounce and more dangerous serve. You should post another vid when your net is fixed.
Hard to tell how good it really is...But for a beginner you're doing pretty good.

Good job, keep it up.

BTW: is that tiny window really the fire escape or is that just deco?

Nice one.

 

[GiorgosTT]

Definitely doesn't look like a beginner's serve to me! Your stance looks good, you have a nice, fluid motion from your serving hand, and a good length in your serves. Some of them look actually pretty good, so in my opinion you should work on consistently producing some of the better serves from that video.

As others have pointed out, you can also improve by relaxing your wrist a bit, and contacting the ball just a little lower.

To get your serve to the next level, you can then start using your whole body, transitioning your weight from your right to your left foot, just as Ma Long does! You can see this feature of his serve technique clearly in this video.

Overall, I quite like your serve, and it would be interesting to see follow up videos of your progression, and even a tutorial explaining how you made it work for you!

 

[NextLevel]

Let's just say that whatever the flaws in your serve, the practical results are outstanding and you have a talent for this. What I can't tell though is how significantly you are varying either the spin or the amount. But I can't read spin either...

 

[Hamasaki_Fanz]

elements of the serves should i further work on : I think your weight shifting is still not enough, ma long shifts his weight from (idk how to explain it, but he uses his body to generate power, not just from his arm)

and also suggest me any improvements in the serve : ma long is able to create both underspin and topspin, while yours is just topspin, you should vary the spin more

 

[slimjimmii]

hey @all!

hey Siva, very good serves! but the Net is really crappy can´t say if the serve is too high or even too low. but you inspired me to practise serve by myself.

here is a short video of my trainingssession with Ma Long stylers and reverse pendulum and fast long serves, all from behind and front. i think sometimes my serve is too high, so i have to practise serves more and more, it was the first serve training since i was 17 years old (13 years ago) but it was fun

 

[Siva Schopenhauer]

I think that the serve jumps too high, especially comparing to the net you have on the table

Hi llia,Thanks for reminding about it. I tried fixing it. I think I'll replace it asap

 

[Siva Schopenhauer]

Hi voc, Thanks for the feedback. Point noted. I didn't really notice that my serves were bouncing too high whole serving.

 

[Ilia Minkin]

I didn't really notice that my serves were bouncing too high whole serving.

Nobody notices that until playing someone who flip kills or loop kills their serves

 

[Tinykin]

Dodgy serves

hey @all!

hey Siva, very good serves! but the Net is really crappy can´t say if the serve is too high or even too low. but you inspired me to practise serve by myself.

here is a short video of my trainingssession with Ma Long stylers and reverse pendulum and fast long serves, all from behind and front. i think sometimes my serve is too high, so i have to practise serves more and more, it was the first serve training since i was 17 years old (13 years ago) but it was fun

Siva, You need to remove that left hand much earlier in the sequence. Leaving the left arm dangling like that is inviting a 'fault' from the umpire even if all else was legal.
Look again at the serve at 1:23. A keen umpire would certainly fault it.

 

[Siva Schopenhauer]

Hi croneOne,
Thanks for the reply.

"What I really like about yours is the acceleration and snap you get into the contact.
I'm going to try that next."

You should defenitely try to bring some fluidity in serving. In my opinion, it adds a lot to deception and can be useful against inexperienced players. If you are interested in creating a video with your experience, please do share it in the thread.

"You may want to try his follow through footwork to his ready position as it is
built into the whole motion."

I was thinking about it lately about how to add a follow up, thanks a lot for the positive feedback!

 

[Siva Schopenhauer]

Firstly: Welcome to the site, siva. Plenty of great vids and valuable information can be gained from here.
From seeing your serve you don't look like a total beginner to me.
We have beginners at our club that look totally different to what you've been showing.
I think the previous posters are quite right. To get more acceleration you could relax the wrist a little more.
I think your contact point is a little high above the table and results in that high bounce. So if you could try to contact the ball a little lower, like about net level, it would result in a lower bounce and more dangerous serve. You should post another vid when your net is fixed.
Hard to tell how good it really is...But for a beginner you're doing pretty good.

Good job, keep it up.

BTW: is that tiny window really the fire escape or is that just deco?

Nice one.

Hi Suga, Thanks for inviting me into the community and also for the valuable feedback.

I went back into the garage thinking about how to loosen my wrist and decrease the height of the serve. I will make a follow up video hopefully with some improvements based on your recommendations.

Yes, It is a fire escape window. I am living in Hamburg, Germany and as you know everything in a German apartment is meant for a purpose and utility

BTW, How to like a post in a thread? couldn't find any like icon in the interface.

How

 

[Siva Schopenhauer]

Yes, Once I played a guy from 3rd divison and he did that exactly to me. But, I thought well, he should be really good enough and didn't realise that it has something to do with serve than skills at that point of time

 

[Siva Schopenhauer]

Definitely doesn't look like a beginner's serve to me! Your stance looks good, you have a nice, fluid motion from your serving hand, and a good length in your serves. Some of them look actually pretty good, so in my opinion you should work on consistently producing some of the better serves from that video.

As others have pointed out, you can also improve by relaxing your wrist a bit, and contacting the ball just a little lower.

To get your serve to the next level, you can then start using your whole body, transitioning your weight from your right to your left foot, just as Ma Long does! You can see this feature of his serve technique clearly in this video.

Overall, I quite like your serve, and it would be interesting to see follow up videos of your progression, and even a tutorial explaining how you made it work for you!

Hi Giorgos, Your name is quite exotic. I am a fan of greek culture, knew only a little bit through history books and movies.

Thanks for your feedback and appreciation. I had seen a video in ITTF explaining to make a high contact combined with the first pitch near the edge of table which could produce serves close to the net of the height. But, due to lack of experience, it is quite clear that the serves are quite high. Reality is always bitter than expectations.

I am preparing a follow through video incorporating the feedback from community especially with loose wrist and weight shifting into the process.

I will post it back to the thread awaiting a feedback. You guys had been so nice and gave valuable insights for improvements. Thanks a lot for that.

I am also editing a video of the serve which you have embedded into the thread. Awaiting to receive your feedback.

And as you said, I will soon make a video explaining my thought processes in a way to serve like Ma long. I used the youtube video from jagged translate to study the motion keenly. I think I could have spent possibly more than 150 hours practicing the serve. And it feels really good when the work yields fruition.

 

[Siva Schopenhauer]

Let's just say that whatever the flaws in your serve, the practical results are outstanding and you have a talent for this. What I can't tell though is how significantly you are varying either the spin or the amount. But I can't read spin either...

Hi Next level,

Thanks for the appreciation. From the videos on youtube, I do think that how Ma long serves with unprecitable variations is difficult to comprehent. But for most of the part, I have been serving with side and back spin. But, I am once in a while I am able to produce top spin with little change in the motion. In the follow-up video i will explain my way of producing the spin variations.

 

[Siva Schopenhauer]

elements of the serves should i further work on : I think your weight shifting is still not enough, ma long shifts his weight from (idk how to explain it, but he uses his body to generate power, not just from his arm)

and also suggest me any improvements in the serve : ma long is able to create both underspin and topspin, while yours is just topspin, you should vary the spin more

Hi Hamasaki,

Thanks for providing feedback.

Yeah it was difficult to understand how to shift the weight from one leg to another. But, I took it to the garage to experiment with it. I will post my results soon.

Thanks for pointing about the variation in the serve. I am still working on it.