Why Do Table Tennis Players Throw the Ball So High?

Last Updated on April 24, 2024 by Alex Horscroft

Crikey that’s a high toss! What’s that player’s deal? Why is he serving like that? I thought the same when I first saw a player chuck a ball high into the air. I half expected him to equip another two balls from his pocket and start juggling. Okay. That last part was a lie, but I think we can all agree such serves are very strange when you are new to table tennis.

Now, a decade after first witnessing my first high toss serve face to face, I know all there is to know about the high toss. If you are curious like I used to be, stay tuned.

table tennis high toss serve — Xiaoyu Tang | CC BY_SA 3.0 | unedited

What Is the High Toss Serve?

The high toss serve is a table tennis serve which employs a much higher throw than the norm. Where the rules call for at least 16 cm, high toss serves can be around 4 ft or more (122 cm+). Typically performed with the forehand rubber, they produce more spin compared with standard serves.

The Primary Reason Players Use the High Toss Serve

While such crazy high tosses may seem kind of ridiculous, there is one main reason players do it, and that is spin. You see, spin is directly tied to seed, and when you serve the name of the game is usually to generate as much spin as you possibly can.

Many players just concentrate on flicking their wrist as they contact the ball, yet adjusting the height of your toss can also aid in spin generation. The higher the toss, the more time the ball has to get up to speed before you make contact with it. Ultimately, this leads to a small increase in spin.

The Secondary Reason Players Use the High Toss Serve

Besides the functional means of increasing spin, there’s another reason players use a high toss serve, and that’s simply because it looks cool.

There’s no denying it’s impressive to be able to throw the ball so high and still serve well. Not many people do it, so when someone does use a high toss it certainly turns heads.

Now I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t believe me on this, but you need look no further than those who only use the high toss serve occasionally.

These players usually use a high toss when they have a significant lead — never when the game is tight. This is because the high toss serve is more challenging to perform.

Why Don’t More Players Use the High Toss Serve?

Now that we’ve established that the high toss can slightly increase the spin you can produce, surely it makes sense to use high toss serves all the time, right? Well, not necessarily,

While high-toss serves have the advantage of more spin, they have a disadvantage too, and that is increased difficulty.

We aren’t playing tennis here, so there are no second serves on the table. Therefore each player has to weigh up if this trade-off is worth it: spin vs. consistency. And for most, it isn’t. I for one am certainly in this category.

High tosses mean the ball is traveling much faster when you make contact, this makes it significantly more difficult to strike the ball how you want to. Another aspect to consider is that you also need a high-quality throw.

As soon as the ball leaves your hand, it is live. This, is once again, unlike tennis. If you accidentally throw the ball forward over the backline your serve is illegal. Similarly, if you throw it too far back or to the side your serve will suffer. You’ll be forced to move your feet, lose your composure, and have to serve slightly differently from normal.

Just look at the pros. These are the best of the best and even lots of these players don’t use the high toss serve.

Should You Use the High Toss Serve?

Whether or not you should use the high toss serve boils down to one characteristic and that’s consistency.

If you can throw the ball up high without messing up your serve, go right on ahead. On the other hand, if you start putting balls in the net, off the end of the table, or simply can’t control your serving placement, the high toss serve is best avoided.

The services you use play a major role in this. This is because some serves are harder to perform than others. While the increased speed of the falling ball is manageable for simpler serves, it often proves too difficult for serves that require finesse.

This is the reason we see high tosses for the likes of the chop and pendulum serves. However, we don’t often see high tosses for the reverse pendulum as is an advanced serve that is considerably tougher to execute.

The Master of the High Toss Serve – Ma Lin

When I think of the high toss serve, the first player that comes to mind is Ma Lin. He took the high toss serve to another level, throwing it absurdly high even by high toss standards.

Not only did this look very impressive, but it also worked beautifully. Ma produced insane levels of backspin on his chop serves. He was able to keep the ball short with ease and was superb at ghost serves too. Check out him drilling his serves below.

Forgive the video quality! This video is old as Ma Lin is long retired. Yet it is still worth watching as Ma Lin’s high toss serves are the best of the best.

Now You Know!

While many table tennis players throw the ball high because it looks cool, this is not the main reason. High toss serves are primarily used because they help the server to impart additional spin.

However, it’s important to keep your expectations realistic if you want to start using the high toss serve. The spin increase is marginal on a regular toss yet you sacrifice a lot of control. In my opinion, it’s not worth it most of the time unless you play regularly or have superb touch.