Table Tennis Serves

It can be argued that table tennis serves are the most important skills in the sport. It is during the table tennis serves that many points can be won and, conversely, lost. This is why it is important to spend as much time and practice as possible mastering these play skills.

This article deals mainly with delivering table tennis serves but it is just as important that you practice returning them as well. There are some important rules concerning table tennis serves which you should familiarize yourself as well.

To decide who serves first in a game, you can use the coin toss method or you can choose the hide a ball in one hand method. The winner of the coin toss or hidden ball methods is given the choice between serving the ball or picking the side of the table he or she wants to play.

Once this is finished it is time for the first of many table tennis serves. The player serving the ball commences a point. Here are the basics of table tennis serves:

He or she must stand behind the end of the table, with the ball in the palm of one hand. The ball hand must be over the table's height with the bat (or paddle) held in the other hand.

The server tosses the ball up at least six inches. He must then hit the ball so that it bounces once on his half of the table, and then bounces at least one time on the opponent's half of the table.

Under the current rules for table tennis serves, if the ball strikes the net but does not strike the opponent's half of the table, then a point is awarded to the opponent.

Within those same table tennis serves, if the ball hits the net, but goes over and bounces on the other side, it is called a let. Play stops, and the ball must be served again with no penalty. This is a change in the old rules where a player may only commit three lets, now a player may commit any number of lets without penalty.

If the service is "good", then the opponent must then make a "good" return. This is done by returning the ball before it bounces on his or her side of the table a second time.

New players should keep in mind that returning the serve is one of the most difficult parts of the game, as the server's first move is often the least predictable and the hardest to actually see with the human eye.