Very effective backhand serve tactic

In this video I share a simple, but very effective backhand serve tactic. The tactic is serving either very wide to the forehand or deep and fast to the backhand. In the video I explain how to do both serves and how to use them effectively. The video also contains lots of footage of me using these serves successfully in a club tournament.
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[@tamasbrenyo1348]

Due to the perspective and the height of the room Tom looks like a real giant :D

[@rohitkhanna]

Tom makes the absolute BEST TT tutorial/ strategy/ technique videos here on youtube. And I've checked out quite a few !! They are concise, to the point, well laid out, carefully explained & demonstrated. No extra talking. Keep it up Tom ! I am an uncoached self taught player but have won several amateur community/ company level TT tournaments. And now, with tips & insights provided by Tom I am quickly inching my in the hierarchy of my current community which boasts of several players who have clearly been trained & played competitively elsewhere. Proud to say that now I am regarded as "the guy to beat". And its become a bragging point for anyone who does ! :D

[@georgefairweathermoonlight4]

yes agree, and ping skills

[@TomLodziak]

Nice one. Great you are making such excellent progress. I'm sure the vast majority of all you improvement is down to the hard work you are putting in, rather than the videos. Keep it going!

[@kadowaluna1]

Very nice a calm explanation, thank you…

[@DanielAbasolo]

This is the technique I use in eleven table tennis vr and it's super effective. The backhand serve is best in vr because the tracking is best with the racket and ball or front, and it's also hardest to read where the serve is going from a backhand in vr

[@DirkDiggler100]

Hiya Tom. Played last night, in the St Louis league(I’m from Manchester, and recently started playing again, after a 40 year break). I narrowly lost 9-11, after leading 5-0, in the decider, against a very good, much younger player. He used this serve to great effect, and I just couldn’t come to terms with it. This is a cracking tutorial, because I needed to see the mechanics of that kicker. Thank you.

[@TomLodziak]

That's a frustrating defeat. But I've been there as well. Hopefully next time you will be able to return the serve better and get the victory. How are you finding playing again after such a long break? What changes have you noticed in the way people play?

[@bhloop]

Excellent video by Tom. If you watch Dan Seemiller from the U. S. his backhand serves are extraordinary. No wonder he was U. S. Men's champ 5 times. His motion on side/top and side/chop are very similar. Top players will often misread it completely and miss return or hit a pop up that Dan crushes. I've copied his serve for few years and it resulted in some big wins. My recommendation for returning it is to ignore the serve motion if they deceive well. Trust your instincts the way the ball is traveling towards you. Topspin is going to move faster and hug the table while the chop seems to have a slight float to it. One other thing. Other variation that is almost corkscrew appears as chop, but is topspin if server moves elbow in upward motion. Paddle appears VERY open like a chop serve (almost parallel to table) but upward motion causes top. Very deceiving. Last, do not count on serve to cause errors (even though it will). I recommend using it from your backhand corner to set up 3rd ball attack with forehand. Sorry for lengthy response. Best of luck!!

[@atifsultan_mech]

I use this technique quite often in tournaments and it really helps. Try mixing top spin and underspins with exactly the same style. Once the opponent makes one or two mistakes they would loose the whole game. It's hard to recover from the damages of this serve

[@wonderwang1585]

Smart tactic, thank you. One thing about backhand serve do a test, if he can back the ball, change the drop point. Do not change the spin too early.

[@takahom8151]

I serve with my backhand as well. I was looking for a video which can give some advices YESTERDAY ! You read in my head Tom ! Great tips, I'm gonna try to implement that in the next practise.

[@henningkutzner3353]

Great video! I think the backhand serve should be used more often by a lot of players. Especially backhand focused players like myself can benefit from these backhand serves since it is way easier to cover the whole table with your backhand.

[@TomLodziak]

Yes absolutely. If you serve from the FH corner, or even the middle, you will maximise the space to use your BH for the 3rd ball.

[@pitthefrit6292]

I am going to try these serves in training this evening. I already know yet, that this will cause funny receives!

[@vmmadge]

Thanks for the video, Tom. I think you already have a video on backhand serves by Brian I suppose. Yes these serves are very useful if done in the manner shown by Brian and now you. I'm 75 and recently beat my 40 year old son with the tactical use of these backhand serves.

[@TomLodziak]

Nice one on beating your son! I bet he wasn't too pleased!

[@yoho5114]

Thanks for the tips🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@ianmcfegan4071]

Great video Tom, so helpful, thank you

[@masood6827]

Thank you. The training was excellent

[@user-cl8qw1tc5b]

Love your tutorials!

[@pohhocktan3184]

Thanks for the tips.They are very effective!

[@gmusic2549]

Very good tutorial. Thank you

[@jeankevin3260]

A serve I love using at my low amateur level, because despite my very bad technic it is very easy to create variation. Heavy-Backspin then float variation to, short forehand with second-bounce on the table is surprisingly effective, the backspin one give me a lot of free point without too much risk. Another one but harder is half-long sidespin to forehand, because it almost force player to attack cross-court to the forehand. Either way backhand serve is very intersting, and has the very underestimated edge at low amateur of quick recovery

[@MarceloGonzalez-is3pu]

Great video! Very useful

[@XMcNealX]

I like these serves as well and also the variations. And then i add the same played with the forehand but from the backhand side. Here you can do the same variations. Biggest difference is that you can play short serves that leaves the table on the opponents backhand side. Furthermore you can bring in a kicker now and then. Finally if you feel, your opponent got confused enough i play one or to with no spin at all what gives me usually another easy third ball attack.

[@alexmendelev]

Thanks Tom! Interesting idea. I'm using backhand serve but only one variation, So I'm going to try mixing! Thanks again!

[@electro02100]

excelente video demostrativo de saque de réves, los saque que has mostrado son muy efectivos, porque yo los utilizo en mi juego muchas gracias

[@juancarloshernandez7509]

Tom thanks for good vídeos excelent tactic

[@PaoPaoBrB]

simple but effective, thank you

[@Bomamatabon]

Great video. Will try this in about an hour when I'm at the club.

[@nnamdichrisume9384]

This is extremely effective even against pros especially if you constantly vary the serves. I use these backhand serves as my main serves

[@truberthefighter9256]

That's a very good idea I should highly consider trying. I currently have some issues adapting my (very bad, but safe) backhand serve to my more aggressive material. But I maybe should really make that step into the forehand side. This would fit, and it would not be a downside of it, that I would tend to end up playing the third ball, standing not exactly far in the backhand side - because my backhand is just better for most purposes. Thank you!

[@goggy6850]

Great video mate. Serving my weakness but the only serve I create good or heavy spin in the sidespin service from backhand. I have good control and placement too. This tactics will greatly improve my service. Greatly appreciated

[@michaellevi2930]

Super video. Most useful. M

[@voberle]

The backhand serve has the extra benefit that the recovery following the serve is much easier than the pendulum one for example. In my personal experience, it's the reason my backhand serves are more effective against stronger players : The serves get returned but I am more ready to attack the third ball than with the pendulum serve. It also seems to me that many players struggle more to read the backhand serve. Maybe it's because the movements are similar for each variation, more than with the pendulum serve.

[@gab5012]

If the pendulum serve is done well, coming back into the table and following up with a strong loop is really not a problem at all and is also much harder to read. But backhand serve is easier to do and both serves can be deceptive so each too their own I guess

[@ehisaigbe8363]

Thanks a lot

[@montagdp]

I tried this out against my dad today (just a casual player like me), and it was surprisingly easy and effective. I had him off-balance the whole match and maybe a bit frustrated by the end. I like how easy it is to switch spin and speed without it being obvious.

[@TomLodziak]

Good work! At some point you Dad may get wise to the tactic. So be careful not to over use it. Or come up with some alternative service tactics you can mix in with this one.

[@ttconselve]

Hi Tom! I use this same back hand serves! 😉 They are very effective for me , because my game is based on back hand long pips.

[@yantos.324]

Yes thankyou 💪💪

[@assassinvishal007]

m a lefty , i use similar side-top b.hand to opponents b.hand or wide short forhand , with forhand tomahawk ,lastly heavy backspin in the middle works quite well for me.

[@alisuperb]

Thanks

[@janbalompie9844]

Tom, great video! iam very much looking forward on the video how to return these serves, to be honnest iam queit desperate!!! 🙃😝

[@5pp000]

I love to serve backhand. Here's another variation I find effective. Start the same way, but at the peak of the backswing, lift the bat tip so it's pointing up and back, then make contact with the ball (still using the backhand side of your bat) on its lower _left_ side (for a right-hander), aiming for your opponent's short, wide _backhand_ -- the mirror image of the short, wide back-sidespin serve Tom shows here. By rotating the wrist through the contact, you can get surprisingly good spin.

[@chellmartin]

it verry nice🎉

[@markgebo197]

Thanks for sharing. I’m a lefty and used this technique on my forehand serve. I finally was able to defeat a player in my club for the first time! 👍❤️😎

[@TomLodziak]

Well played. Great victory.

[@Spinspiel]

Evolve the contact to more of a tomahawk upside down approach. You have a more 45 degree angle on contact, try 90 degrees. Hit the ball at bottom of racket curve under with sidespin (furthest away from handle) - for a change then hit in middle and then at handle. Then change motion of stroke to go up the side of the ball producing topspin instead of side / under or straight sidespin or side / topspin. Hold the racket totally upside down to achieve these different effects. Even start the motion upside down with racket and do a quick flip over to produce topspin at moment of contact. All evolving from what you have shown.

[@user-cc8rs4my7b]

good!

[@kristianaaberg7882]

I use backhand serves a lot. BH side with chop, top or straight side, down the line and cross court. I like a short side down the line that will bounce a 2nd time on the corner of the table.

[@idrivearttabletennis]

Yes, I use backhand serves and try to do about what you were talking about. Your videos was great and timely since I need to continue to improve those serves. Being left-handed, I tend to use backhand serves more when playing doubles. Overall, especially in singles, I try to use a lot of different serves. One mistake is that I sometimes keep varying serves even when I'm easily winning points with one particular serve.

[@TomLodziak]

As a lefty, you will get the same effect serving FH pendulum from the BH corner (if playing a right handed player). This is also really awkward to deal with.

[@idrivearttabletennis]

@@TomLodziak thanks

[@adilharis2001]

I use a back hand serve as my primary and agreed the backspin to the forehand is effective in winning cheap points. One thing I've not managed to learn is getting to cross the side of the table. I can try serving from the forehand side, but some of the folks I play with are skilled enough to forehand loop it to my exposed backhand.

[@vmmadge]

Sorry Tom. The video I referred to has Craig in it and not Brian. His full name is Craig Bryant, I think and is a British national player and coach, right?

[@Brozi]

Great video Tom (as always, duh!), however, I wonder what kind of backhand serve tactic would you recommend for a backhand dominant player (at least at the moment). Because I win most of my points with the backhand, and I'm looking for a serve that would set me up for the 3rd ball backhand attack. Thanks for any suggestions, and again, great video. Keep it up!

[@TomLodziak]

Well this could help set up your backhand attack, as your position after the serve is either in the forehand side of the table or the middle. This gives you a lot of space to use your backhand. Or you could use the forehand pendulum serve, as this is very often returned to the backhand corner. Here's my video on this... kzbin.info/www/bejne/faWQnIaHoN2Mmac

[@adamszabo2139]

It is an additional joy to see those disappointed opponent faces and gestures, when a demonstrated tactic element succeeds :D I enjoyed this very much despite two of my practice partners just found out recently, that I have hard time dealing with these kind of serves. In a few occasions, I can topspin them with success, but I really need to work on my receives. Another question: what is your opinion about the usability of forehand tomahawk serves?

[@TomLodziak]

Thanks! Forehand tomahawk serves can cause all kinds of problems. There is a real skill to getting the very spinny contact and doing either side-top or side-back spin. I don't do this serve particularly well, so I'm not the best person to advise. But I have been on the receiving end of some excellent tomahawk serves and they do trouble me. I remember on league match many years ago, when one of my opponent's had a very spinny tomahawk serve and I was dreading playing him. So when it was my turn to play, I decided to go for a big topspin attack the first time he did the tomahawk serve. It was an all or nothing strategy. But I absolutely blasted the ball past him. It was more luck than judgement, but he never did the serve again in this match, which I was delighted about. If he had persevered with the serve, I'm sure I would have started panicking and he would have won loads of cheap points.

[@mauricetate3571]

Tom, if you stop the arm movement somewhat just before ball contact the wrist whips through fast. This increases the spin level a lot. Your serve is more just arm movement to generate spin.

[@TomLodziak]

Fair point. Something for me to experiment with.

[@MarcelSM01]

Thanks a lot, I will give them a try.

[@MarcelSM01]

I did try them and indeed I did have some succes with these serves!, I'm gonna try and incorperate them into my game!

[@saravananjagadeesh8551]

Make a video of how to receive these to spins sir

[@RobertoCostas]

I've been using the same tactic for the last month, except that my long serve is usually sidespin-underspin so that my opponent can't attack easily, but I can when they return a long ball. I'll probably add more nospin and sidespin-topspin long serves to the same spot as a surprise factor.

[@TomLodziak]

The long side-backspin serve can be very effective too. We once had a female player at our club who used this serve a lot. She would really hack at the ball, making it hard to attack. So players would usually push back and then she would attack the third ball. It doesn't really matter which variations you use, as long as there is variation. It's the variation which causes all the problems.

[@jeankevin3260]

I do that too and I think it's better to do backspin most of the time (of course the best is variation but that's go without saying. For exemple you can see Jorgic almost always serve long with backspin in backhand from forehand serve

[@aseq2]

As a leftie, these serves are exactly what I use. But from my backhand side, using the forehand, of course. No need to walk around the return to use the forehand on the next ball.

[@jeankevin3260]

You're right to point that out since the idea is to replicate that famous left-handed serve for right-handed player. Also interseting is that Jorgic who rely a lot from this technic struggle a lot against left-handed player. A matter of symetry!

[@pingpongpaddy5753]

combining serves like this is an excellent surprise tactic. I try to ensure my stance is identical at start. It follows the excellent principle:-“Easy for me, difficult for opponent” and “the best serves give opponent at least 3 simultaneous problems EG: where? what spin? what speed?”. I think that this kind of tutorial is a welcome supplement to the craig bryant lessons.

[@KANA-rd8bz]

tactics

[@georgebenson3826]

👍

[@jytan740]

how to return back these kind of serves

[@anthonymartinez9965]

Is a wide serve legal in table tennis ? I played with some players who said the serve can’t bounce to the sides

[@TomLodziak]

Yes the ball is allowed to bounce off the sides.

[@aniketbondre6990]

Great tactics but how to implement this against the left-hand player

[@MrTinykin]

Use the forehand pendulum serve.

[@TomLodziak]

Yes, as MrTinykin says, you could try using a forehand pendulum serve, standing in the BH corner. However, left handed players are a bit more used to this tactic I find, as they face it a lot when playing right handed players. So sometimes, doing the BH serves I show in this video can still work against left handed players, but in a different way.

[@am-ba5021]

🙏🙏🙏🌹🌹🌹

[@jatonator]

Very useful tactic against beginners who dont position themselves near center for backhand serve from forehand corner or near it. If they figure out the positioning this wont be effectivr

[@rudylion1469]

I can do it without leg raises. 👍😉

[@TomLodziak]

Ha! Yes, the classic Tom Lodziak backhand serve leg raise. I'm not sure why my leg goes up so high. It looks a bit silly, but I can't seem to stop doing it!

[@rudylion1469]

Well, better leg raises than arm raises... ✋

[@heshamsharaf3053]

👏🏓🎥🎬📷💡🕯️🎨🌈🙏🏼

[@halter777]

Looks to me like you are bullying your opponents ;)

[@hasanurrahman4386]

I can't play backhand well, although I am trying to do better.