3 Reasons to Actively Use Long Serves and How to Use Them Effectively👍

Recently, I have been balancing my own training with giving lessons, and it has been very fulfilling.

Lately, I have really come to love practicing.

Partly because I genuinely want to get stronger, and also because sharing my own experiences and how I improved makes my lessons much easier to understand.

Now, onto today's main topic.

When I was in high school, there was a trend that said, "Just use short serves!!" How about you!?

The reason for that trend back then was the deeply rooted concept that "long serves get smashed."

But honestly, I have thought since back then that long serves are actually incredibly powerful.

So, today's theme is about the reasons why you should actively use long serves.

I would like to explain that now.

(1) You should use long serves more actively

I believe that you should use long serves actively without fearing that they will be smashed.

This is because relying only on short serves tends to make your tactical development monotonous.

In fact, letting your opponent hit it and then blocking is a fantastic tactic, and depending on the opponent, some are bad at long serves and will only return them safely.

Actually, long serves have many advantages.

In this article, I would like to introduce the advantages of long serves as I see them, focusing on three key points.

♦Advantage of Long Serves 1: Aggressiveness with the potential to win with a single serve

First, there is the simple advantage that long serves make it easier to aim for a service ace.

Long serves specialized in spin or speed are simply powerful.

This is because you can apply maximum spin or speed without worrying about adjusting the length, making it a formidable first-ball attack.

▣For opponents who have a weakness against long serves, you can break them down with this alone, so in such cases, you can win easily by using long serves frequently without hesitation.

If you can win with just your serve, you should be attacking from the very first ball.

★ It is a good idea to check in the first set whether long serves are effective against your opponent.

♦ Benefit 2 of Long Serves: Neutralizing Receive Attacks

As you likely know, long serves are effective as a countermeasure against the Chiquita.

However, they are not only effective against the Chiquita.

For opponents who step around to receive, delivering a fast long serve to their forehand side makes it harder for them to confidently step around when you deliver a long serve later.

Conversely, for opponents who handle receives with their backhand instead of stepping around, deliver the long serve to the middle.

By doing this, the opponent will try to handle the middle ball with their backhand, which often causes them to slightly lose their balance and return a weak ball.

▣ Using long serves to disrupt your opponent's receive and keep them guessing is a very effective tactic.

By being able to confidently deliver long serves to various placements, you will be able to employ effective tactics against a wide range of opponents.

★ Even if your long serve is attacked, observe how your opponent tends to return the ball.

♦ Benefit 3 of Long Serves: Making Short Spin Serves More Effective

If you use high-quality long serves, your opponent will naturally become wary of them.

What happens then?

Because they are wary of long serves, their reaction to short spin serves, such as short backspin, will be slightly delayed.

This makes it easier for you to take the initiative and attack.

▣ When I face players who are good at table techniques, such as those who can cleanly stop short serves, I create sets where I use long serves a bit more frequently.

By doing this, spin-based short serves become more effective at crucial moments, and it prevents you from narrowing your tactical options, such as thinking, 'I have no serves to use at the decisive moment...'

★ Players who use short spin serves as a weapon should practice long serves even more.

♣ Summary

So, have you understood that long serves are incredibly useful!?

It is easy to end up relying only on the serves you are good at, but it is very important to have many serves you can use with confidence, for example, when the flow of the match is not going your way.

Serves are also extremely important when you want to change the momentum.

Don't just focus on long serves; try to practice your serves while thinking about what situations in a match you would use them in.

By the way, table tennis is almost entirely about serves and receives. I am someone who practiced only serves for a few months and ended up being able to beat many more opponents.

You won't lose anything by practicing your serves with that level of motivation.

Next time, I would like to introduce why you should actively train your backhand, since 70% of the balls in a match come to your backhand side.