Serve & Receive

Learning the strokes in Table Tennis is important. But a lot of new players to Table Tennis traditionally neglect serve and serve return and how important they are. They just put the ball in play when serving and just pop the ball back on return. When you realise that the average length of rallies in Table Tennis is 4-5 strokes then you realise how important serve and serve return is. Yes 2 equally matched beginners may end up with longer rallies as neither have potent shots to end a rally, or an excellent defender may prolong rallies but 4-5 remains the average. So what does this mean? It means if you can get awesome serves and effective returns you get ahead in the rally and should often use that advantage it to finish it in your favour. If you spend your practice time, your learning time on these 2 aspects and accelerate these then your game and performances will progress so much quicker. You can have great rally strokes but if your opponent forces you into mistakes by having great serves and serve returns you just will not get to use that great top-spin stroke you spent ages practicing. You will see similar in Tennis, especially on a grass court, where they are many aces and short rallies. Remember serve is the only shot in Table Tennis you completely control! Serve and return are games within the game, so learn them.

So PERFECT SOME DEVASTATING SERVES, practice them and learn variations! Also focus on effective returning!