Serving Deep

By Larry Hodges, USATT Certified National Coach

Serving deep has two major advantages and one major disadvantage.  The main advantages are that it forces an opponent to contact the ball as far from his/her target (your side of the table) as possible, and allows a fast serve.  The disadvantage is that it allows an opponent to attack more readily, especially with a loop drive. (Note – a short serve is a serve that, if given the chance, would bounce twice on the opponent’s side of the table.)

Before deciding whether to serve long or short, know the advantages of each, and match them up with both you and your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.  For example, if your opponent does not attack deep serves well, and you are a strong counter-driver, you might want to serve deep topspin.

There are four basic types of deep serves that are effective. They are 1) fast and flat (spinless) 2) deep and spinny 3) fast down-the-line 4) just off the end. For the purposes of this article, it’s assumed both players are right-handed.

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