What Is The Hardest Serve In Table Tennis?
Are you wondering what the hardest serve is to master in table tennis? Table tennis is a fast-paced and tricky game, and there are many serve styles to choose from. But which serve is the hardest to learn in table tennis?
Most table tennis players agree that the most difficult serve to learn, master, and return is the reverse pendulum serve. It combines sidespin with backspin or topspin and is challenging to get right at the beginning. But if you master the reverse pendulum, you’ll have a good chance of winning.
Of course, once you know what the hardest serve is in table tennis, you’ll want to know how to perform it. This is why we’ll discuss table tennis’s hardest serve in detail and explain how to do this serve step-by-step.
What Is The Most Difficult Serve In Table Tennis?
The most difficult serve in table tennis to master is the reverse pendulum serve. This serve takes a lot of practice and perfect timing, but it is also excellent at making it more difficult for your opponent to return the ball.
There are three variations on the reverse pendulum serve. You can serve this with sidespin only, with sidespin and topspin, and with sidespin and backspin. The reverse pendulum serve is one of only a few that generate multi-directional spins, making it more difficult for your opponent to read and return.
Of course, since the reverse pendulum serve is one of the most challenging serves to learn and master in table tennis, it requires tons of practice. First, you must know how to hold the racket and move your hand when serving the ball. So, let’s consider how to do a reverse pendulum serve in table tennis.
How To Do A Reverse Pendulum Serve In Table Tennis
There are several steps to doing a reverse pendulum serve in table tennis. You don’t hold the racket like you usually would for other serve types. So how do you hold the racket when serving a reverse pendulum serve?
You grip the racket by the base of the rubber instead of on the handle/blade. Let go of the blade and move your hand up, clutching the racket almost like a pizza box.
Your thumb is on the front of the racket (which faces you when you serve), while your other fingers are gripping the bottom of the racket. Push your index finger slightly up towards the middle of the racket for a firmer grip.
Then, you can let the blade of the racket come above or below your wrist, whichever feels more comfortable. Having the blade below your wrist adds more spin to the ball, but it is harder to time and execute the reverse pendulum serve with your hand in this position.
When you move to serve the ball in the reverse pendulum style, you will move the racket almost like throwing a frisbee. Turn your hand towards your body and flick your wrist outwards for the serve. Exactly how your hold and move the racket when making the serve depends on what spin you want to create.
Reverse Pendulum Serve With A Sidespin
If you want your ball to have sidespin when serving a reverse pendulum serve, hold the racket like we explained above and flick your wrist outwards to connect with the ball at a 45° angle. The ball should hit the front part of the racket to create sidespin and let it move in the direction you want it to go.
Reverse Pendulum Serve With A Topspin
When you want to create topspin on your reverse pendulum serve, you will hold the racket in the same way as explained above. The difference comes with how you move the racket. You must hit the ball at a 90° angle to create topspin. You’re almost hitting the ball from the side rather than the top or bottom.
Ideally, the ball should connect with the front top section of the racket for the most accurate and powerful topspin.
Reverse Pendulum Serve With A Backspin
Finally, if you want your ball to have a backspin with the reverse pendulum serve, you must flick your wrist to the outside. Hold the racket flat to the table’s surface and hit the ball from below. The ball should also connect with the lower front part of the racket for an ideal spin.
This video demonstrates the different reverse pendulum serves for topspin, backspin, and sidespin. These techniques may sound complicated, and they’ll likely feel unnatural while you’re holding the racket. However, with some practice, you will get used to the movement. You should deliver a fast and efficient reverse pendulum serve with time.
What Is The Easiest Serve In Table Tennis?
If you’re a beginner at table tennis, the reverse pendulum serve is not the serve for you. This serve requires skill and practice, and you should have some racket skills before attempting the reverse pendulum. Fortunately, other serves in table tennis are much easier and don’t require as much skill as the reverse pendulum.
The basic forward and reverse serve are best for beginner table tennis players. These serves are much easier to master than the reverse pendulum and allow you to focus more on playing the game and less on practicing your serving technique.
Of course, practicing your serving technique is essential, but you can spend more time on this once you have covered the basic skills required for table tennis. You must also be more familiar with the racket’s feel and the ball’s movement.
How Do You Serve A Ball In Table Tennis?
When you first start playing table tennis, you must know how the serve works. The order of the serve is important; you should first learn this when playing table tennis. You must serve the ball diagonally across the table when it is your turn to serve it.
This means that if you serve the ball from the left corner, it must land in your opponent’s left corner too. The ball may only hop once on your opponent’s side of the table before they return it. The same is true when you receive the serve.
If the ball hops on the wrong side of the table, your opponent will score a point. The same is true when playing doubles in table tennis, so practice your serve to ensure it lands in the right corner each time.
Conclusion
The hardest serve to learn in table tennis is the reverse pendulum serve, which requires the most skill. A reverse pendulum serve can have a topspin, backspin, or sidespin, making it a superior serve and more challenging to return.
