Serving plays a vital rule in table tennis. A strong serve will measure the longevity of your game. There is no substitute for a strong serve to be a professional player. A strong serve differentiates a player between beginner to intermediate and brings 50 percent of a point to you. So, I will show you 4 legal ping pong serves and serving tips to make your game remarkable.
Importance of Legal Serve
As we all know that table tennis has a variety of illegal serve that makes it easy for you to defeat any opponent. But you cannot do this in a professional tournament. You can impress the people around you showing your illegal serve. But you cannot impress of a tournament’s audience.
The International Table Tennis (ITTF) has five rules about a legal serve that must follow. Otherwise, you will lose the point.
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Let’s see the five rules.
- You have to toss the ball at least 16cm.
- Maintain a vertical line while tossing.
- The ball must be visible to your opponent before serving.
- You cannot cross the start line while serving.
- You must heat the ball while falling down from up not the going up.
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4 Legal Ping Pong Serve and Serving tips
The Ghost
this is the most tricky and terrible serve in table tennis. This serve is known as Ma Line signature serve in table tennis. When you make the serve, the ball makes 3 to 4 bounce on your opponent’s side and bounce it back. That’s why your opponent doesn’t get chance to beat the ball to pass your side.
To make this serve, hold your racket as flat and toss the ball. Then contact the ball with underneath of your racket that makes backspin. And turn slightly up the underneath of your racket to create the ball bounce back.
Super Wide Sidespin
the super wide sidespin is the most interesting serve in table tennis. The serve can make your opponent confused. When you serve the super wide sidespin, the ball will fall down from table sideline before reaching your opponent’s racket. And if your run to heating the ball to table sideline, he will lose his balance to pass the ball on your side. Then you will get enough space of his side to heat out the ball.
To make the super wide sidespin serve, hold your racket as a flat position. Then toss the ball up and contact the ball with your racket. It will not only make your ball sidespin but also backspin.
The Kicker
The kicker is the most effective serve in table tennis. When you take the serve, the ball will kick up on your opponent’s side.
To make the kicker serve toss the ball and contact the ball with the top of your racket. Then flick your wrist to create spin and make your racket flat after kick the ball. See the video below.
Fast Down Line
This is another effective serve in table tennis. Take this serve at targeting the position of your opponent. If your opponent stands the left of the table, try to serve close to the right side, and if the opponent stands the right side of table goes as a left sideline.
To make the fast down line serve, toss the ball a little up, hold the ball close to your body and keep your fingers and wrist relaxed. Then make your racket horizontally align and heat the ball underneath of the racket targeting sideline of the table.
Final Verdict
keep in mind that you cannot be a professional table tennis player at overnight. And you would not win a match by some different serves. You have to know to face your opponent’s serve. To make this happen, you have to practice more and more. Identify your weakness and work on them.