How To Improve Your Serve in Table Tennis/ Ping-Pong - Practical Advice

Here's How:

1. A few excellent serves are better than a lot of mediocre serves. Concentrate on mastering four serves to begin with: the forehand topspin serve, the forehand backspin serve, the backhand topspin serve, and the backhand backspin serve. Keep the spin on each serve the same until you can perform each serve consistently (if you can regularly hit a piece of Letter sized paper on the first bounce on the opponent's side of the court 8 times of of 10 (without any faults), that is pretty consistent.
2. Once you have mastered these serves, begin to vary the amount of spin on the ball. Keep practicing until you can serve the basic four serves consistently with any amount of spin, from heavy to virtually no spin. Once you can do this, you will actually have added two more types of serves, the forehand no spin serve, and the backhand no spin serve. And you will have a wide range of serves available just by varying the amount of spin on your four basic serves.
3. There are several ways to vary the spin on the ball, and you can use any one or combination to do so. Ways to vary the spin include:
   • brushing or skimming the ball different amounts
   • using more or less wrist snap
   • hitting the ball down into the table at different angles (the more you hit the ball straight down on the table, the more the spin is reduced)
   • using faster or slower arm speed
   • using the tip of the bat (which moves faster than the rest of the bat if the wrist is snapped).
4. In order to practice serving with different spins, start with one of the serves you have mastered. Try increasing the amount of spin you put on the ball by skimming the ball a little more at contact. Notice the difference in the way the ball moves - topspin should kick forward a little more than your normal serve, and the backspin ball should hold up on the table a little more. Keep increasing the spin until the ball does not bounce on the other side of the table. This is your upper limit.
5. Next, try reducing the amount of spin from your normal serve. This should have the opposite effect of increasing the spin, the topspin serve will kick forward less, and the backspin serve will slow down less. Keep reducing the spin until you can see the marking on the ball is not moving much when you serve. This is your no spin serve, and your bottom limit.
6. Now, as mentioned earlier, try aiming at the piece of paper on the table again for each type of serve, but vary the amount of spin on the ball. Keep practicing until you can vary the spin but still hit the piece of paper 8 times out of 10 attempts (with no faults). When you have achieved this, you will have mastered the basic serves you need to play table tennis well.
7. The above suggestions sound simple, but what do you do when your serve isn't working as well as it should? When it's going too high or low, too long, without enough spin or with no deception. That's when you start troubleshooting your serve.
8. How to Troubleshoot Your Serve