The Key Points of the Hook Serve
This is a brand-new, technique-focused column, in a Q&A format. The mystery figures answering questions are two former national team players (both senior coaches) who’d rather not have their names disclosed. They just want a peaceful life, to sleep soundly, and not to become famous.
I (Heima) feel that sharing these technical insights with everyone is quite valuable. It’s also a complement to “Heima Talks Table Tennis.”
And so, the “Scaling the Heights” column was born.
Advanced player asks: How are doubles tactics generally laid out?
Doubles tactics generally start by “assuming” how the opponent will receive your side’s serve, and then setting up tactics based on that. The principle is: prevent the opponent from returning a high-quality ball, making it easy for your partner to open up the attack aggressively.
If the opponents are a left-and-right-hand pairing, the return line is generally to the two wide angles. If the opponents are two righties or two lefties, your return placement is generally a repeated spot, so the two of them are prone to crowding together.
Flashing a hand signal when serving tells your partner what serve you’re going to make and how the opponent might return it, so your partner can prepare for the next ball.
For example, in matches between pros, one side serves the kind of ball that’s half-long, half-short, and the opponent has to open up but can’t easily loop with quality, so your partner needs to be ready to counter-loop or counter-drive. If your partner has no counterattacking ability, then you can only serve short sidespin-underspin to restrict the opponent.
The specifics still depend on studying the opponent. But against an opponent you’re facing for the first time, you can only try to bring out your partner’s strengths. That is, get your partner back into familiar patterns. Whatever serve you make should set up your partner’s attack. You yourself should understand this.
How should you practice and improve against players much weaker than you?
Fixed-spot drills: you practice defense, let them attack. Practicing defense really does call for finding an opponent slightly weaker than you, because that’s when you can fully relax (especially the arm) and experience the use of body weight transfer.
Once you can truly defend using weight transfer, then you’ll start being able to defend against players stronger than you too, as long as you fix your center of gravity in place and just retract the arm a touch faster.
Against opponents much weaker than you, you can practice your finger work, blocking gently, letting your fingers clearly feel the power and spin coming through. Gradually, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of finger control as well as power and spin.
For the hook serve, should you grip like Old Waldner with the back three fingers loose, holding the bat with only index finger and thumb? Or grip normally with all five fingers against the handle?
A normal grip is fine. The Waldner-style serve comes out spinnier because the wrist can rotate more flexibly, but it lacks deception. And the essence of the hook serve lies in deceiving the opponent; you don’t even need the wrist.
It’s not about more spin. The hand motion should be minimal, the body motion should be more. That is, at the instant of contact, the body motion should be fast enough. If only the hand motion is fast, the opponent can actually read your spin more easily.