Physical Education

Forehand pendulum serve
The racket movement required in this serve cannot be achieved with the normal shakehands grip. The paddle is held almost entirely with the index finger and thumb. The other three fingers are curled against the handle. On one side, the index finger lies flat against the rubber, sticking towards the tip of the paddle. On the other, the thumb rests on the bottom part of the rubber(note: the thumbnail is not perpendicular this time to the blade. hold the rubber with the printed part of the thumb). Rotate the paddle back a bit more backwards in your new grip without bending the wrist-something that isn't possible with the shakehands grip. Now you can rotate the paddle in a semicircle with your wrist.

Stand in the forehand(or backhand) corner of the table, with your left shoulder and foot back so your body faces away from the table. This position helps hide the ball during contact. Place the ball in the flat of your hand close to your stomach, and with the new grip hold the paddle slightly behind the ball. Toss the ball about 1-2 feet into the air(more as you get better), and move the paddle back and up, with the hitting surface open. Use the elbow as a pivot point, and try to keep its movement to a minimum. the wrist back as far as possible. When the ball starts to drop, swing forward and down with the forearm, keeping the elbow in place. To hit a backspin/sidespin shot, graze the ball in the back-right region early in the swing, when the paddle is travelling down and left. For an almost pure sidespin shot, graze the ball at the bottom of the swing on the back of the ball. For topspin/sidespin, graze the back of the ball as you pull up on the racket. With this serve, the topspin portion can be especially tough when you consider the body is facing away from the table. For this reason it is vital to make sure that you perfect the grip for maximum wrist movement, and use the forearm and elbow only for the swing.