Serve variation in a match

Here's a match where I made good serve choices, so I made a highlight video with some commentary here on a very snowy day in Northeast USA. Besides, I need to redeem myself from how poorly I played in my recent posting of a match vs Rich DeWitt. This match took place when I grounded the British Royal Air Force at the 2014 NA teams. Serve variation is a good thing, but should also have a purpose in the context of the match. 

Your serves are very good! Lots of spin, great mixups! I hope some day to serve that well :D

I like your FH grip block on ball looped at your body. You are expecting and ready for the ball to go to your FH, but it goes at your body, all you can do is swing the bat with your FH rubber facing at and meet the ball... and it is very effective, almost like a Seemiller grip block.

Wow, the gent in red would beat me easily... 

The gent in red is over 2000. Shoulda coulda woulda beaten him...

Very nice services and backhand and forehand blocks

Maybe I should post my match with Sanga so that people get a more realistic view of his abilities. I played Matt Faulkner as well. They played as a British RAF team.

kakapo wrote: Very nice services and backhand and forehand blocks But there is something I have more and more noticed when I watch videos from American players on this forum. I wonder why, in these videos, there are almost never short services. However, I know a lot of you can make very short spiny services (especially you, heavyspin)..... Is this a "frequent" coincidence, or because you absolutely want to give the initiative to the opponent in order to block his shot ? Because you like boum boum style :)))

I don't think that is true - it is more about levels and the kind of opponent you are facing.

heavyspin wrote: NextLevel wrote: Heavyspin, At the risk of giving away trade secrets, does one repeat the same variation of a serve over and over until the opponent solves it, or does one throw in the variant to keep the opponent honest before he realizes you have one? I tend to go with one that works until it stops working, then mix it up but not always. Either approach works, imo. I don't have a scripted game plan for my serves, the choice of serves just comes to me instinctively after 25+ years of tournament play. I doubt my thoughts in the Sanga match were on the same conscious level as my commentary would imply, but most of it was with conscious thought. After reviewing the match, I interpreted what instincts came to me. I certainly note when a special serve is handled well by my opponent.  Also keep in mind that from July thru September prior to the teams, I was doing nothing but practicing the Ma Lin serve for my video, so my serve touch was very sharp.

My rule of thumb is always start with long serves. Unless my opp can rip them, i keep going long 90% of the time, using short only when I see him wait too far from table.
The nice thing about long serve is that your opponent can't push is short, so  unless he attacks it, the return will be a loopable ball. Honestly unless as variation, i don't see the point of serving short vs a blocker, push-blocker, chopper or any other kind of defender.
The problem is that most folks over 2000 are loopers and will not let a long serve go unpunished. Even then it can work if it is really well disguised as a short serve. you have to be careful not to do a big back swing. Theres one guy in my club who always reads my long serve motion and steps around and just tees off serve.
But this guy's got complete game, not just serve. He's got superb touch, superb timing, i really want to see what he could do if he were fit.


Edited by Victor_the_cleaner - 01/28/2015 at 12:11pm

kakapo wrote: Very nice services and backhand and forehand blocks But there is something I have more and more noticed when I watch videos from American players on this forum. I wonder why, in these videos, there are almost never short services. However, I know a lot of you can make very short spiny services (especially you, heavyspin)..... Is this a "frequent" coincidence, or because you absolutely want to give the initiative to the opponent in order to block his shot ? Because you like boum boum style :)))

In my recent Open final matchvid, my opponnet was around HeavySpin's level and he used mostly short serves, myself, I relied on short serves too, but served halflong to get errors and sometimes sudden long too.

BH-Man wrote: In my recent Open final matchvid, my opponnet was around HeavySpin's level and he used mostly short serves, myself, I relied on short serves too, but served halflong to get errors and sometimes sudden long too.   it depends on what you are feeling and what opponent can do or has shown you what he has not yet done.

Hey NL, Ur game 1 vs Samba, luv how you earned 6-7 points from your underspins he was either eating strawberry jam or not quite seeing the spin. Too bad you made your own errors on FH, and a few on BH. Your two deep/fast serves were so effective - a very point that even at your 2000+ level and vs Samba's level, you don't have to stay short all the time.

NL, thanks for both the vids, vs Sanga and vs Matt. Good quality recordings. Probably I would not like the lighting. You are still young... have a really nice backhand, and overall great potential. In my club at your rating level we have just two LP defenders, and quite a few natural loopers, most are progressing nicely. In lieu of our little bet on rating we have with you (JGM vs NL-1000), I need to begin to work hard once I get over the current sinusitis/bronchitis that has kept me in bed for the last two weeks.

JacekGM wrote: NL, thanks for both the vids, vs Sanga and vs Matt. Good quality recordings. Probably I would not like the lighting. You are still young... have a really nice backhand, and overall great potential. In my club at your rating level we have just two LP defenders, and quite a few natural loopers, most are progressing nicely. In lieu of our little bet on rating we have with you (JGM vs NL-1000), I need to begin to work hard once I get over the current sinusitis/bronchitis that has kept me in bed for the last two weeks. In the two matches, on a few occasions you did indeed nicely win points by very surprising serve variation. In the Sanga match you could have done better, it looked to me like you did get a little upset by the end, who wouldn't. That guy has got some defensive note to his game, that can be pissing people off, I don't know...

JacekGM wrote: NextLevel wrote: To just win the bet, all you have to do is work on a specific aspect of your game for a month or two.  Just one aspect, probably the best aspect.  If you get that more consistent, 200 pts at your level tends to be easy to come by. Sorry about your arthritis; that should be largely treatable, I hope. As for the 200 points... well, thanks, but I have been trying for a long time. I got a tripod, will eventually record some new matches.

Thanks - the arthritis treatment has not gone as well as I would have liked so I just play until whatever happens happens.