Check out this awesome video showcasing various Chinese serves in slow motion.

If you’re at the point as an amateur player where you can annihilate most of your friends, but suffer severe embarrassment against any decent player, it might have something to do with that awesome power serve you throw down.

To get power on a serve in table tennis, top spin becomes essential. However, top spin also has kick on the last bounce that pops the ball up into the air, making it easy for any above-average player to throw it back in your face before you’ve even finished your exaggerated follow-through.

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Here’s a few points you’ll want to check into to improve your serve.

An important factor in your serve has to do with the speed of your wrist movement. To maximize your backspin you want to snap your wrist like a whip. You don’t want to follow through.

The quicker the wrist movement upon contact with the ball, the more spin.

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No-Spin Serve

No-Spin serves are the smashing play that comes fast and straight.

A well mastered no-spin or flat-spin serve can catch an opponent off guard when mixed up with a medley of spinning serves. This serve can be tuned to be very accurate because technically, if it is hit properly, it should fly straight and true.

Also, a very fast, long, no-spin serve can often be most effective when your adversary is too far on one side of the table.

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Back-Spin Serve

The back-spin serve is often also referred to as the under-spin serve. This serve can be highly effective against aggressive players eager to attack your serve and it can be useful against less experienced ones as well.

One critical component to remember for all spinning serves is that the stronger the spin, the tougher it is for the opponent to negotiate a strong return.

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Any player who has played at a higher level will tell you that the most important shot in table tennis is the serve. The serve is the beginning to every rally.

However, many players don’t realize the importance of a good serve. These players normally just keep hitting balls without regard to its importance.

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