Site Products
Larry Hodges

Reverse Serves

Posted on

(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame

Many players have at least one strong serving motion. Often they are forehand pendulum (racket tip down), forehand tomahawk serves (racket tip up), or standard backhand serves with a left-to-right motion (for righties). These are all excellent serves that opponents at your level will inevitably adjust to. Perhaps watch how coaches or top players do it. (Youtube is your friend.) Or just ask them to show you, and they’ll be delighted.
To make these serves more effective you should develop the reverse versions. They might never become equal in effectiveness as the regular version, but at the very least they give you a variation that the opponent isn’t used to. This makes them uncomfortable, plus they now have to guard against these serves as well as your regular versions. Plus, some players (including me!) are better against one type of sidespin serve than the other.
  • If you have a forehand pendulum serve, learn to do the reverse, where you contact the ball with the same side but going in the opposite direction. It’ll be awkward at first, but soon becomes natural.
  • If you have a forehand tomahawk serve, now you contact the ball with the opposite side, with the racket moving right to left instead of the normal left to right.
  • If you have a backhand serve, contact the ball with the same side but moving right to left instead of the normal left to right.
 Here’s a simple way of looking at it. Have you ever found a player who was happy his opponent had more serve variations? So, be perverse and do the reverse!

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more

Latest News

Chirag Pradhan – 2026 US Nationals U 13 Highlights

September 9, 2026
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Chirag Pradhan is in action at the 2026 in the… Read More

US Open Teams: Rockets Blast Off from Myrtle Beach

September 8, 2026
(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) Teams events bring a special comradery and a particular kind of pressure.  Its… Read More

The Game Between the Points by Di Liu

September 8, 2026
(Coach Di Liu) In table tennis, we often discuss techniques: Forehand, backhand, serve, receive and footwork. But there… Read More

Lingshaui Meng – Half Long Loop

September 8, 2026
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Lingshaui Meng focusing on looping a half long ball after… Read More

Practice Matches

September 7, 2026
(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame) A practice match is just that -… Read More

Showtime Table Tennis News: Ontario Summer Games Bronze Medal

September 7, 2026
(by Showtime Table Tennis/Butterfly Americas) Following our July update, the Ontario Summer Games took place locally in Waterloo… Read More

Edmarie Leon Multi Ball Random Play

September 7, 2026
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Edmarie Leon is using multi-ball to train her Forehand &… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Austin Table Tennis Club

September 6, 2026
(by Steve Hopkins) The Austin Table Tennis Club is located at 8956 Research Blvd in Austin.  They are just… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.

/* Constant Contact Universal Code */