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A good illustration of basic serves from Alex Horscroft
Posted: September 25th, 2026, 2:16 am
by Wayton23
Re: A good illustration of basic serves from Alex Horscroft
Posted: September 25th, 2026, 2:19 am
by Shach
Nice
Maybe Alex can create YouTube videos for each serve or add links to existing videos
Most should be available
Re: A good illustration of basic serves from Alex Horscroft
Posted: September 25th, 2026, 2:44 am
by James Z
Some quick notes
1. Unless it is a no spin serve , every back spin or top spin serve should ideally have another component > heavy side spin , breaking either to the left or or right. This side pin component is usually one of the most neglected aspects at lower levels
2. In general , for a back spin serve , drop the ball as close to the net as possible on your side of the table (farthest away from the end line on your sides). For a top spin serve , yes , you guessed it , drop it as close to the end line as possible (farthest away from the net) .
3. For any serve if you bounce the ball too higher above the table level on your side of the table it is likely to bounce high on your opponent's as well & can be attacked easier if not easily. So, to keep the ball as low as possible so it won't be attacked , contact the ball as low as possible. This is almost but not quiet the level of the table. Keep in mind that it is an illegal serve if you contact a serve below the level of the table. So it is also a balancing act.
4. Item 3 applies only for serves using spinny inverted rubbers. Opposite applies for serving using ITTF slim pips ass wipes or non-ITTF long pips. In general, the same exact serve using the spinny inverted side & slim or long pips rubbers will have different but not always necessarily opposite effects
Click link below for additional details
Advanced serve and serve return tactics
Re: A good illustration of basic serves from Alex Horscroft
Posted: September 25th, 2026, 2:55 am
by Pedarx
There are few other serves such as hook sere , sword serve and so on.
May be Alex can do a Part Deux
Personally I would like to see a full detailed tutorial from none other than Waldner (for European grip) & from the likes of Liu Guoliang, Ryu Seung-min & He Zhiwen (for Asian grip). Maybe they already exist & I have not seen them
Re: A good illustration of basic serves from Alex Horscroft
Posted: September 25th, 2026, 3:07 am
by Nikki&
Pedarx wrote: ↑September 25th, 2026, 2:55 am
There are few other serves such as hook sere , sword serve and so on.
May be Alex can do a Part Deux
Personally I would like to see a full detailed tutorial from none other than Waldner (for European grip) & from the likes of Liu Guoliang, Ryu Seung-min & He Zhiwen (for Asian grip). Maybe they already exist & I have not seen them
If I am not mistaken , Waldner stated that Ryu Seung-min's serves gave him problems in his loss to him at the 2004 Olympic semi finals (preventing Waldner from getting a second Gold. Ryu Seung-min went on to win the gold giving Wang Hao the second of his three Olympic final losses.
Asian grip serves are probably better than European grip serves at every level of the sport. The amount of spins one can create with the wrist in addition t disguised high levels of variation is insane using Asian grip. This is also probably one of the many reasons why the Asian grip is better than the European grip definitely after Liu Guoliang made hybrid Asian grip style popular with his addition of reverse penhold to his traditional penhold. Of course not everyone can play Asian grip unless it is their natural style & the destiny of other players is the curse of European grip if one cannot play Asian grip LOL
Re: A good illustration of basic serves from Alex Horscroft
Posted: September 25th, 2026, 3:13 am
by Donatos
Nikki& wrote: ↑September 25th, 2026, 3:07 am
Asian grip serves are probably better than European grip serves at every level of the sport. The amount of spins one can create with the wrist in addition t disguised high levels of variation is insane using Asian grip.
This is why I have seen a few European grip players at all levels actually use the Asian grip to serve
Re: A good illustration of basic serves from Alex Horscroft
Posted: September 25th, 2026, 2:08 pm
by James Z
James Z wrote: ↑September 25th, 2026, 2:44 am
Some quick notes
1. Unless it is a no spin serve , every back spin or top spin serve should ideally have another component > heavy side spin , breaking either to the left or or right. This side pin component is usually one of the most neglected aspects at lower levels
2. In general , for a back spin serve , drop the ball as close to the net as possible on your side of the table (farthest away from the end line on your sides). For a top spin serve , yes , you guessed it , drop it as close to the end line as possible (farthest away from the net) .
3. For any serve if you bounce the ball too higher above the table level on your side of the table it is likely to bounce high on your opponent's as well & can be attacked easier if not easily. So, to keep the ball as low as possible so it won't be attacked , contact the ball as low as possible. This is almost but not quiet the level of the table. Keep in mind that it is an illegal serve if you contact a serve below the level of the table. So it is also a balancing act.
4. Item 3 applies only for serves using spinny inverted rubbers. Opposite applies for serving using ITTF slim pips ass wipes or non-ITTF long pips. In general, the same exact serve using the spinny inverted side & slim or long pips rubbers will have different but not always necessarily opposite effects
Click link below for additional details
Advanced serve and serve return tactics
5. If you do not play in tournaments this does not matter but if do play (or plan to play in the near future) in tournaments this applies to you > Always practice to serve legally in practice sessions etc. Because serves are very difficult to correct at a tournamnet & if you had practice to serve illegally, it becomes a habit and hard to correct at the tournament