The Topspin Serve

The Topspin serve is what you’ll need if you want to be able to serve REALLY FAST, and also when your opponent tries to return it the ball will go flying of the racket and hopefully out so that you get the point. To get the topspin serve right you need a lot of practice with you toss, swing of the racket and getting the timing of both perfect.

First lets get the starting position, hold the ball in front of you and your paddle or racket behind you, the ball should be in the palm of your cupped hand like when you try to hold water. From there you toss the ball upwards. In the beginning try tossing the ball extra high (two to three foot) as the ball will be moving faster as it comes back down causing extra spin when you hit it.

If you throw the ball this high and then hit it strait on, you’ll already be putting topspin on it because the ball is moving down as the bat is moving across, so the ball spins forward as it comes off the bat. Now that you’ve got some basic topspin start slicing the ball in an upwards motion at the same time by holding the paddle low, then swinging upwards across your left shoulder.

You’ll find that if you get this right you’ll start to notice a big difference. Try experimenting with different degrees of the angle, you’ll get different outcomes depending on this, some angles will give you a really high bounce where others will only just get it over the net. If you can get good at a few then you’ll be able to mix it up and make it harder for your opponent.

Later on when you get used to the topspin serve you can start putting more writs motion into your swing which will enable you to swing the paddle faster across your body and spin the ball even faster. You’ll find that you can get a lot of side spin as well as topspin when using your wrist, yes so you’ll be able to get it going fast as well as curving off to the side which will really get your opponent scared of your serve…

Return from Topspin Serve to Playing Table Tennis Reload Page