The pendulum serve in table tennis: a step-by-step tutorial

The pendulum serve is the most popular forehand serve in modern table tennis. The name comes from the motion: the paddle swings like a clock pendulum, tip pointing down, across the front of your body. That short, fast swing lets you create heavy sidespin and mix in backspin or topspin with almost no change in motion.

Below is the step-by-step for right-handers. If you are a lefty, mirror everything: side, swing and spin direction.

How the pendulum spins the ball

On the pendulum serve, the paddle moves from right to left and brushes the ball on its side. The result is sidespin that makes your opponent's return tend to come back to the server's left, which is your backhand side and your opponent's right.

That is why the pendulum is usually served from the backhand corner: you serve from there, the return tends to come back to that area, and you can step around and attack with your forehand. Learn more about the spin in sidespin serve.

Pendulum serve, step by step

1. Grip. Hold the paddle between your thumb and index finger only, with the other fingers loose on the handle. That frees up your wrist. Many players take the middle, ring and little fingers off the handle for the serve.
2. Stance. Stand in your backhand corner, almost side-on to the table, with your left foot forward.
3. Toss. Toss the ball straight up, at least 16 cm (about 6 in), without spin, from behind the end line.
4. Backswing. Bring the paddle back and to the right, tip pointing down, elbow high.
5. Swing. As the ball falls to around net height, swing the paddle from right to left in front of your body.
6. Contact. Brush the side of the ball with a quick snap of the wrist. The thinner the contact, the more spin.
7. Recover. Get back into your ready position, set for the third ball.

Pendulum serve variations

The same swing produces several serves just by changing where you contact the ball:

The weapon is always serving with the same swing. Your opponent sees the right-to-left motion, expects sidespin, and has to guess whether it comes with backspin, topspin or nothing at all.

Short or long?

The pendulum works both ways:

• Short with backspin, to the middle or your opponent's forehand: hard to attack.
• Long and fast with topspin, to your opponent's backhand or into their body: forces a rushed return.

Learn when to choose each in short vs long serves.

Common pendulum serve mistakes

• Locked wrist: gripping with your whole hand limits spin. Loosen your fingers.
• Swing too big: the motion is short. The speed comes at the end, at contact.
• Contact too far from the body: you lose control. Make contact close to you, in front of your hip.
• Free arm in the way: when you turn, your free arm can hide the ball. Move it out of the way right after the toss. See table tennis serve rules.

Pendulum and reverse pendulum: the perfect pair

The pendulum gets even better when you also have the reverse pendulum serve, which spins the opposite way. With both, your opponent does not even know which way the ball will kick.

Frequently asked questions