Short Serve Strategy Question?

Hi All,

I have a question about short serve strategy that I would like to discuss it with you.

Particularly about short serve and where you mainly put it. Let say both players are right handed and play at medium level, the question is: what are the benefits of mainly serving short into opponent's BH?

Other than just for variation, or serving to a weaker zone, I can't think
any other benefit of mainly serving short to opponent's BH.

Of course, in a game, you will try to vary the location where you put the ball i.e. fh, bh or middle with short or long combination but I think there is probably a particular location where you serve more than any other location to your opponents.

I tend to think that mainly serving short to opponent's FH has more benefits than mainly serving short to opponent's BH.

2. In the long haul, the opponent will be 'probably' more unsettled to which position he needs to cover depend on how good you play but definitely more tired because he/she has to constantly move in and out quickly to cover his position.

3. FH flip is harder to learn and generally weaker compared to BH flick/loop in the table, so again this is a safer zone I think.

Short serve to opponent's BH does not have the advantage of moving the opponent in and out.

Furthermore, what I've found is that when I serve FH pendulum to opponent's BH, more than often the opponent
receives with his FH and return it deep or short into my FH forcing me to move.. In terms of position,  I have been disadvantage. so why would you mainly serve short to opponent's BH?

I've watched professional videos lately, I notice that they tend to serve short more into opponent's FH. Am I right? WLQ, Wang Hao. Liu She Wen, Ma long etc... 

Please give me your opinion and correct me if I am not right.

Thank you..

Thanks for your input, tpgh2k. But I still don't quite get it. Is chasing the ball cross court is harder than down the line?

I thought the amount of distance that I have to cover is about the same. In this situation i.e. return is deep into my FH (cross court or down the line), will it be more advantage to have my opponent also move into an out of position i.e. into his FH side.. rather than him not moving much controlling me to move right and left. What do you think?

About the pendulum short serve into opponent's BH, if my opponent successfully return the ball short in my FH, than I am forced to move in... I can either flick, deep push or return short... but in anyway I have been disadvantaged because firstly I have to move in and secondly I can't execute my strongest stroke e.g. loop or hit.. I am forced to do a passive return or a flick which is a weaker shot compared to loop or hit.

In the same scenario, if my opponent successfully return deep into my FH (down the line), then again I am forced to move into my FH where my opponent does not really need to move much...

In both cases, my opponent is controlling me rather than me control him. Is like why do you serve by giving the ball come to him, why not him come to the ball?

Do you get what I mean?

Please give me your input so that I can learn and understand more.

Thank you...

As tpgh2k said, it is a game of angles. Typically when serving with your forehand you want to serve from your backhand corner so you can immediately step into the correct ready position on the table. So your position for the majority of FH service is already fixed. Serving down the line gives you a shorter distance to work with both to the net and to the other end of the table. This smaller distance means you have put less into your serves, i.e. spin and speed, while still bouncing twice on the opponents side. So you are serving an inherently weaker shot that will be easier to flip/fast push/drop shot. At the same time you are stepping around from your BH corner and your FH side is exposed. A crosscourt return is going to be safer and easier (because of the longer distance crosscourt) than going down the line so you are giving your opponent the safe shot. That is not going to set you up to receive a ball you can easily kill or play as you wish and will put you on the defensive.

In general when I play other lefties I like to serve down the line occasionally with super fast dead balls if they think they have pro level footwork and stand deep in their backhand corner. That takes a good deception though so they don't see it till it's too late.

Thanks for the input guys... keep it coming...

So as explain by Bmonkey, another advantage of serving serve to opponent's BH is that we have more room for double bounce and hence can applied more spin and speed. Probably, more suit for a 3rd ball attack type of play?

Any other input?

The positioning of the serve is most important because you are dictating the 'angle of play' the reason pendulum serves are often from the b/hand corner to the opponents b/hand corner is because you can dictate where the opponent CAN'T put the ball, ie wide of your f/hand beyond the side of the table (or an extention of) so you can ignore a major area of court that he cannot play the ball into, this allows you to comitt to an attacking stroke with yr f/hand within a smaller zone.

picture this...a down the line return (from a serve to the  bh) is just that...down the white edge line of the table. a serve to the fh, when attacked by the receiver and sent WIDE to YOUR fh, will have a ball bounce at about halfway distance of the table on your side and on the line (this ball travels even further away from you.

so instead of traveling 1 table length to chase down a ball, you're going to have to travel 1.5 to 2 table lengths.

if you have quick feet, then i see no problem following up with a monster loop. i can maybe do it on a really good day with no slipping. but most days...not a chance in my life.

I vary my direction, I mean, I can serve short to the forehand or backhand to keep my opponent guessing. Also, you will need to come to some kind of a decision based on your opponent. Hookshot once wrote about a girl he played in China and anything to her backhand was returned like a torpedo that went past him and end of point. He actually managed to win by playing to her forehand or by moving her around.
So some players will make easy work of great serves because they are just good at a certain shot that just happens to be the best shot for that specific serve, and others will mess up fairly simple serves.
Every opponent is different, hence you cannot come to a decision about forehand side or backhand side until you have gauged your opponents strengths. After that, variation is the key. Also, short serves need to be low, otherwise short and high is a kill. And if it is much too short, some players will just flip it back over the net, if they are fast that is.
If your opponent is slow to move, and standing close to the table then a fast underspin serve right into his elbow could actually cramp him up more than a short underspin serve. And then if he stands a bit further back, serve him the very short one and force him to move forward.
Variation and keep him moving.

One thing about serving short to the forehand is there is less margin of error-- serves can float just a bit longer than you would like and then you are inviting an attack if your opponent has a good forehand and is always looking to exploit a weak serve--in other words, anyone good. Especially with pendulum serves. I find that is less likely to occur with the little "hook" serves used by Wang Hao and Liu Shiwen, it is really easy to keep those low and tight and to vary the spin in ways that are not easy to see.

Anyway, it is good to be able to serve all over the table for the reason mentioned by Ranger-man.  All kinds of players out there have something they do really well and it is good to feel confident in being able to play "keep away" right from the beginning of the point.

I think most players would return to their bh side. At least the fh dominant players. Watch my video, I don't eeven use my bh

Instead of trying to pump the forum for information, you should try it out for yourself and learn what you can/cant do and what each opponent can/cant do. Actual in game service strategy is much more complicated than just a percentage forehand, percentage center, percentage backhand.

Good input from APW about the explanation of angle, of what we are trying to do or in this case try to limit the opponent...

yes, addoydude.. I am not saying that I am not doing a serve deception. I am doing it and definitely a surprise serve... because I need my opponent to be honest against the spot that I am mainly serving to...

addoydude wrote: i think you gotta have serve deception or at least surprise. if your serves are easy to read or predict, then you're giving your opponent all the initiative. you cannot win this way unless you're playing against someone with much lower skill level.

 You can, I know quite a few players who have very readable and predictable serves, very easy to return too, the problem is they are very polished and difficult to do anything with that has not been covered by them for the third ball. If you only have one serve but it is quality, you can exel in attacking every permutation for a return and construct a considerable game around it. There is more than one way to skin a cat you know.

addoydude wrote: APW46 wrote: addoydude wrote: i think you gotta have serve deception or at least surprise. if your serves are easy to read or predict, then you're giving your opponent all the initiative. you cannot win this way unless you're playing against someone with much lower skill level.  You can, I know quite a few players who have very readable and predictable serves, very easy to return too, the problem is they are very polished and difficult to do anything with that has not been covered by them for the third ball. If you only have one serve but it is quality, you can exel in attacking every permutation for a return and construct a considerable game around it. There is more than one way to skin a cat you know. i think if somebody is using only 1 easy serve against you, he's probably doing it just to make the game competitive. :)

 No, some players play that way, against everyone, most have other serves admittedly, some don't though, you can build a serious game around one serve.

mhnh007 wrote: APW46 wrote: addoydude wrote: APW46 wrote: addoydude wrote: i think you gotta have serve deception or at least surprise. if your serves are easy to read or predict, then you're giving your opponent all the initiative. you cannot win this way unless you're playing against someone with much lower skill level.  You can, I know quite a few players who have very readable and predictable serves, very easy to return too, the problem is they are very polished and difficult to do anything with that has not been covered by them for the third ball. If you only have one serve but it is quality, you can exel in attacking every permutation for a return and construct a considerable game around it. There is more than one way to skin a cat you know. i think if somebody is using only 1 easy serve against you, he's probably doing it just to make the game competitive. :)  No, some players play that way, against everyone, most have other serves admittedly, some don't though, you can build a serious game around one serve. Most of defensive player has only 1 or 2 serves.  They just need to serve well enough so you don't get the ball pass them before they are ready.

 Exactly, could not have put it better.