Want to learn a really spinny pendulum serve? Not just a get-the-ball-in-play one that anyone can return, but one with great spin? One with so much spin that the backspin serves will come back into the net and sidespin ones will break sideways as if yanked by a string? Here's how. (The instructions assume you are right-handed; lefties adjust - sorry.)

Step One: Go to YouTube and put "pendulum serve" in the search box. Lots of videos will come up - study them! Study them. You want to have a good idea of what you are aiming to do.

Step Two: Hold the racket out in front of you, forehand side pointing up. (You don't need a table for this.) Toss a ball up, and on the drop spin the bottom of the ball with a right-to-left motion. The ball will jump some to your left. Now tilt your racket slightly so the left side rises (i.e. clockwise). Now repeat, this time contacting the ball on the bottom-left. Now you should be able to spin the ball so that it goes straight up. Catch it and do it again. Do this over and over until you can really spin the ball, and so that it goes straight up. This is how you learn both to spin the ball and to control it. Make sure to just graze the ball - the goal is to make the ball spin. If you do this exercise regularly, pretty soon you be putting tremendous amounts of spin on the ball.

Step Three: Repeat step two, except now go back to spinning the very bottom of the ball. The ball will jump to your left some; catch it. Again, the goal here is to both spin the ball and control it. You need to be able to control how far the ball jumps to your left before you go to the next step.

Step Four: Now you are ready to try this on a table. Repeat step three, except don't catch the ball - let it go. You should now be able to spin the ball and control it, and so should be able to control where it bounces on the table. Practice this until you can spin the ball and control it so it bounces over the net after one bounce, a legal backspin serve. Remember that the contact point is nearly the very bottom of the ball. Don't worry about the height of the serve; focus on great spin and control. When you get good at this, the ball will come to a stop on the far side, and even bounce backwards. Top players can put so much backspin on the ball that it practically jumps back into the net.  

Step Five: Now focus on contacting the ball very low to the table, perhaps six inches high, and keeping the ball low to the net. The lower your contact point, and the finer your grazing (i.e. more spin, less speed), the lower it will tend to bounce.

Step Six: Go back to YouTube and again put "pendulum serve" in the search box. Study them! The above is a great way to learn to put backspin on the ball and control it. Now learn to contact the ball with a sideways motion for sidespin-backspin and sidespin. As you get better at it, you'll learn to contact it on the upswing of the pendulum swing for sidespin-topspin. Once you can serve with heavy backspin and control it, it's not that hard to learn the same with other spins.

Step Seven: Now it's time to learn the Reverse Pendulum Serve. As above, start by going to YouTube and put "reverse pendulum serve" in the search box. Repeat the steps above, except now the racket tip points toward you - but otherwise it's exactly the same each step of the way. Good luck!

A few key points to remember:

1. Serving is a violent motion. If you want the ball to have lots of spin, you need your racket to move at high speed. That means using your service motion to drive the wrist into the serve, with the wrist snapping into the ball just before contact.
2. Graze the ball near the bottom. (Contact more toward the back of the ball only if you are serving longer and faster.) However, until you learn to really graze the ball very finely you'll end up serving high when you do this. To compensate, contact the ball slightly toward the back of the ball.
3. To keep the ball short, the first bounce on your side of the table should be near the net. However, if you want the ball to go half-long, so second bounce is near the opponent's end-line, the first bounce should be more in the middle of your side of the table (depth-wise). 

How high should you toss the ball when you serve? At all levels there's a huge range, from tosses that challenge the six-inch rule to ones that go up to the rafters. And yet most top players toss the ball up to perhaps head-high. What are the advantages of these different tosses, and how high should you toss?

Let's start with the rules. You must throw the ball up at least six inches (that's the height of the net for perspective), and contact it on the drop. There's no limit to how high you can toss it.

You can divide tosses into three types: very short tosses, medium-high tosses (the most common), and high tosses.

The purpose of a short-toss serve is to rush the opponent. So these serves should be as short as possible, probably in the 7"-8" range, and often challenging the 6" rule. Many players push this to the limit, and often toss it up less than six inches. (If you do, prepare to be faulted on it sometimes, and for opponents to complain. Ideally, learn to consistently toss it just over six inches.) Short-toss serves are usually done on backhand serves (since higher tosses are tricky to control on that side), though it can be done on other serves. Ironically, since players are so used to higher tosses on forehand serves, a short-toss on that side often appears lower than the same serve on the backhand side, and so a short toss on the forehand side is more likely to rush an opponent - or to have him (often erroneously) complain that the toss is too low. Another advantage of a short-toss serve is the ball is traveling slower at contact, giving great control, especially on height and depth, once the server masters the faster timing required. The disadvantage of a short-toss serve: the server is somewhat rushed.

The purpose of a high-toss serve is to maximize spin as well as throw off the opponent's timing. By throwing the ball high into the air it maximizes the speed of the dropping ball. A good server can use this to increase spin. To do so, he must still accelerate his racket into the ball at full speed and just graze the ball - not an easy thing to do with a fast-dropping ball. Below the elite levels most high-toss serves are more for show than actually improving the serve - the player often simply doesn't yet have the timing or skill to graze the ball; it takes lots of practice. (But it might still be a good variation if not overused.) By throwing the ball high into the air you also throw off the opponent's timing as he has to stand there, waiting for the ball to come down. It also means he may take his eye off your racket as he watches the ball, and so miss the actual contact when the ball finally reaches it. (Suggestion for receivers - watch the ball only far enough up so as to see how high it'll go, then focus on the server's racket so you don't miss contact.) You can actually divide high-toss serves into two types - high tosses, and super-high tosses. Some throw the ball up perhaps five feet over their head; some throw the ball high up into the rafters, making the receivers crane their necks to follow it. The disadvantage of a high-toss serve: loss of control on spin, speed, height, and depth.

The purpose of a medium-high serve is to maximize control. This means tossing the ball perhaps up to perhaps eye level or just above. This allows the server to serve without rushing, and maximizes the overall control of spin, speed, height, and depth. At higher levels, where depth control is so important, this is the most common serve. (Why is depth so important at the higher levels? Because they usually want the serve to be as deep as possible and still be "short," i.e. second bounce right at the end line, or the related version where the second bounce is just barely past the end line.) Another advantage of a medium-high toss is that it allows you more time to do deceptive motions as the ball reaches the contact point. With a short toss, you don't have as much time to do this; with a high-toss serve, the ball goes by so fast you also don't have as much time to do this. With a medium toss, you can do all sorts of racket movements as the ball goes by to deceive your opponent. The disadvantage of a medium-high toss serve is you aren't rushing your opponent, nor are you throwing off his timing or maximizing spin.

My recommendation is to focus on medium-high tosses at first, until you have great spin on your serves as well as excellent control. Then you can begin experimenting with shorter and higher tosses. By varying the height of your toss, you can throw off an opponent's timing. At the higher levels, high-toss serves are especially effective, but don't make the mistake of doing them for show; learn to do them effectively. And that takes lots and lots of practice. As do all great serves. 

Where should you contact the ball when serving? This is one of those subtle things that many players spend their entire playing lives or careers never realizing they are giving their opponents an advantage. Where you contact the ball makes a significant difference on how your serve goes out and how it is returned. Here are three things to consider when serving.

First, your contact point should be low. The higher you contact the ball, the higher it'll tend to bounce on the other side. At minimum, try to contact the ball no more than nine inches or so high, but ideally even lower, even lower than the six-inch net. The lower you contact the ball, the easier it is to keep the ball low. And keeping the ball low when serving is one of the most under-rated parts of serving. It's not just that slightly high serves are easier to attack - they are - but also that super-low serves have to be lifted over the net, forcing weaker and less consistent returns. They also cut off most aggressively angled returns.

Second, contact should be as close to the table's end line as possible. If you contact the ball a foot behind the end-line, you give your opponent that much extra time to react to your serve. Why give him that time? Some players do toss the ball backwards when serving, since this allows them to essentially throw the ball back into their racket, which can give extra spin. (It also makes it easier to illegally hide the serve.) The rules state that the ball must be thrown up "near vertical," so there is some leeway here. In general, however, you want to give the opponent as little time to react as possible, so even if you throw the ball back some (within the confines of "near vertical"), you should balance this against the extra time the opponent has to read your serve.

Third, for fast serves that go deep on the table, move the contact point back. To maximize the speed on your serve, you want the ball to travel over the table for the maximum time between bounces so that gravity (and topspin, if you served with that) has the most time to pull the ball down, thereby maximizing how fast you can potentially serve. This means the first bounce should be as close to your end-line as possible, with the second bounce very deep on the opponent's side. To do this, you need to contact the ball a little behind the end-line, perhaps a foot back. The contact point should be very low to the table, no more than a few inches higher than table height, allowing you to serve the ball mostly forward and very low to the net, to maximize the speed you can put on the ball and still keep the ball on the table.

So focus on the position and height of the contact point on your serves, and take your service game to new heights!

One of the biggest differences between players at any level and players a little below them are their blocking skills. When watching two attackers of about the same level play, often the quickest way to judge who is the stronger player is by whoever handles the other's attack better, i.e. who blocks better. Or watch the best players in the world, especially the Chinese, and when they aren't counterlooping, watch how proficient and consistent they are blocking. Spectators often see the flashy attack shots, but often the biggest difference between these top players and those a level weaker are their blocking games. Here are twelve tips on improving your blocking game. (These are primarily for inverted and short pips players.)

1. Be quick and decisive when blocking. Blocking is not for the weak of heart, and is not a passive shot. Even soft blocks should be aggressively soft, i.e. a change of pace, not just a weak block.
2. Block aggressively against loops that land short and against slow loops. If you block these passively, you'll face the consequences. Loops that land short are easy to attack (with aggressive block, smashes, or counterloops), while if you return a spinny loop passively the spin takes on your racket more, making you less consistent.
3. Keep your blocks deep unless you are dead blocking. Deep blocks force the opponent off the table, cut off their angles, and give yourself more time to react to their next shot. Shorter blocks are usually easy putaways for opponents who are in position.
4. Block to all three spots - wide corners and opponent's middle, where they have to decide whether to use forehand or backhand. Avoid blocking anywhere else. Why would you?
5. Often change directions at the last second. This is especially easy and effective on the backhand, in particular by aiming wide to the backhand, then blocking aggressively to the wide forehand at the last second.
6. Against faster loops use the opponent's own speed to redirect the ball back aggressively. Think of it as a video or pinball game.
7. Blocking at the higher levels requires just as much footwork as attacking. Be light on your feet, and step to the ball; don't reach except as a last resort.
8. Master the forehand down-the-line block. Many players are handicapped by only being able to block forehands crosscourt. This turns them into punching bags for opponents who know where your next shot is each time.
9. Learn to change the pace with dead blocks, and perhaps chop and sidespin blocks. But if you are going to use these shots, practice them both in drills and practice matches.
10. Consider learning to topspin your blocks, essentially mini-loops. Many players don't realize that many or most top players block with topspin off the bounce, almost mini-loops.
11. Study opponents to see how soon you can pick up where they are placing their attacks. If you do this, your subconscious will pick up on it, it'll become second nature, and you'll begin to react sooner. You don't need fast reflexes to have fast reactions; fast reactions come from proper training over a period of time.
12. When you force a weak ball with your blocks, change from a blocking mentality to attack mode. Far too many players force an opponent into making a weak return - and then continue blocking. Your blocking has done its job; now's the time to attack!!!

One of the biggest changes in our sport at the higher levels since I started playing in the late 1970s is the development of what I call the "topspinny backhand." (I should trademark that term.) When I started, most players had relatively flat backhands, with only a little topspin. The idea was to hit or block aggressively. A few players backed up and backhand looped, but few players played close to the table and tried to topspin heavily with their backhands. Part of this was the equipment - modern sponges are much bouncier and better for this.

At first glance, a good, hard, flat backhand is a better shot. After all, it tends to come out faster, and it's easier to time, as opposed to trying to take a bigger swing and spin the ball off the bounce. There were many big backhand hitters and great blockers back in those days, but only a few really spun their backhands off the bounce over and over. (Tibor Klampar and Anton Stipancic are two that did.)

These days nearly everyone at the higher levels topspins off the bounce. There's a terminology problem - it's not quite a backhand loop (usually), but it's more than a regular backhand. Hence my term, "topspinny backhand."

What are the advantages of these topspinny backhands?

1. The topspin pulls the ball down, just as it does for a loop, and so you effectively have a larger target.
2. The topspin jumps off the table, messing up the opponent's timing. When a player hits a ball flat, it travels at roughly the same speed to the opponent, so it's easy for the opponent to time it. When a player hits the ball with topspin, it starts out at one speed, then jumps when it hits the table, making it harder to react to and time.
3. The topspin jumps off the opponent's paddle, further messing up his timing.
4. Against a flatter ball, an opponent can take a step off the table to give himself more time to react, but against a ball with a lot of topspin, he has to take it relatively quick off the bounce when blocking or counter-hitting or he'll likely hit a weak or erratic shot, meaning he has less time to react.

One of the tougher questions for coaches is when to start players with topspinny backhands. Some say around 1800 (roughly advanced intermediate level). Others teach it almost from the start. I've seen it successfully learned both ways. But it does help to develop this shot somewhat early or you may get ingrained in your habits. I developed a flatter backhand early in my development, and while I can demonstrate a topspinny backhand, I'd have to spend a lot of practice time if I wanted to incorporate it into my game - and there's no guarantee that I'd be able to do so successfully after 37 years of flat backhands.

It's your choice - go flat or go topspinny!