You Need at Least Three Serve Sets
This is a brand-new, technique-focused column in a question-and-answer format. The mystery figures answering are two former national team members, both now veteran coaches, who would rather keep a quiet, peaceful life and a good night’s sleep than become famous. I think sharing these technical insights is quite valuable, and a good complement to this account. So the “Reaching the Summit” column was born.
As a kid I started on shakehand, but at the serving stage my wrist was not flexible enough and my serves were not spinny enough. So my coach had me switch to penhold. Is that workable?
No need to switch to penhold — find a method. By playing difficulty, the ranking from hardest to easiest is: penhold chopping, then shakehand chopping, then penhold, then shakehand. Shakehand has the lowest demands. Look — penhold chopping has died out, shakehand chopping is nearly gone, professional penhold is rare, and only a uniform field of shakehand remains.
To add: why does chopping look simple but is actually the hardest? Chopping relies heavily on the center of gravity to adjust the stroke; the forward force and the downward force all come from the body, while the hand is very relaxed — only this way can you feel the opponent’s spin and have room to adjust. For chopping and pushing, the bat should be close to the head for a better feel; do not reach with the arm.
I use shakehand with inverted rubber on both sides, usually relying on the forehand pivot, rarely using the backhand. But now against slightly higher-level opponents, who all control well, if I pivot to loop with spin, I get counter-looped or strongly pushed. I do not know how to balance the forehand-backhand ratio — should I use the backhand more, or keep pivoting a lot?
You should raise the backhand usage. If you are still very young, of course I suggest mainly forehand. But you are over 30, your level is decent, and the opponents you meet are also strong; if your pivot is not in position, one shot cannot kill the opponent, and when he pushes back to your forehand, you have no ball.
Using the backhand is different — you can lift it up first, let the opponent push, turn underspin into topspin, and on the second ball you can fire. You can pin the opponent’s backhand, suppressing it across the whole table; after all, you are the attacker and he is the defender. As long as you do not err, and your level is close to his, your win probability is high.
But on that backhand opening shot, mind the angle and spin — do not just hang it up, or the opponent puts it away in one push. It can have no power, but it must have angle and spin; if you can add speed, even better.
The backhand underspin-loop preparation does not need to be very low — the wrist just slightly below the ball is enough. Use a flinging motion to accelerate, and the body must brace to generate power; the ball that goes over will not lack quality. If the incoming ball is quite spinny, keep the bat a touch more upright; if it is not very spinny, just loop normally.
I am considering whether to give up forehand serves, because I have practiced them for two years, but against strong opponents the effect is worse than my backhand serves. They are not fast enough, not spinny enough, and too one-dimensional. Should I make my backhand serves richer instead?
You need at least three serve sets. Otherwise, once people get used to your one or two serves, you are stuck, and your serve-and-attack will suffer badly.
You do not have to serve so spinny, so tricky, so good, but you must have variety. Just try to keep the opponent uncomfortable. Once your serve variation grows, the opponent has more to consider, and the quality of his receive will drop.
It is like how many people defend against ripped loops very well, but the moment they meet a high-hanging loop, they panic inside. The main reason is the rhythm changed — power decreased, spin increased — and they cannot borrow the pace.