Surcharge (table tennis)
With the serve , the table tennis player initiates a rally. Colloquially, the surcharge is often called an indication .
The ball must first land in its own half of the table and then jump over the net into the opposing half of the table. An incorrect serve is a mistake and, in contrast to tennis, immediately results in points being won for the opponent (exception: touching the net).
How to correctly perform a serve is specified in the international table tennis rules (Part A, Section 6). These service rules have been repeatedly adapted in the past. These changes were made to ease the surcharges. The plan was to allow longer rallies. The basic principle is: The ball must be visible to opponents during the entire service phase and the referee must be able to judge this.
Section 9 of the Laws of the Game shows when a service is repeated.
In the following, the rules are cited with the section numbers from the set of rules and explained.
(6) The serve
(6.1)
The service begins with the ball lying freely on the open palm of the server's free hand, which is still held.
This regulation prevents "finger spins" - or notches, which some Americans introduced around 1930. In doing so, they gave the ball a more or less strong twist with their fingers, so that even at world championships the opponents were not able to return the service without errors.
Before the 2003/2004 season, the ball had to be on the palm of the hand.
(6.2)
The server then throws the ball, without giving it a spin, almost vertically so high that it rises at least 16 cm after leaving the palm of the free hand and then falls down without touching anything before it is hit.
This regulation also prevents the "finger spin" or snap impact. The ball can also be thrown higher than 16 cm. There are players who throw the ball several meters high in order to use the higher speed when hitting the racket for speed-variable serves by taking or intercepting the speed.
The ladies Csilla Bátorfi and Fliura Bulatowa threw the ball up to 6 meters high. Hugo Calderano has a similar approach .
(6.3)
If the ball falls, the server must hit it in such a way that it first touches his own field of play and then bounces over or around the net set directly into or touches the field of the receiver. In doubles, the ball must first touch the right half of the field of the server and then that of the receiver.
“Touching the playing field” means that the ball bounces up in the playing field (this includes the upper edge of the table and the center line).
Note: It is therefore forbidden to catch a ball that has been thrown up to serve. This leads to the point for the opponent.
(6.4)
From the start of the service until it is hit, the ball must be above the level of the playing surface and behind the base line of the server and must not be hidden from the receiver by the server or his doubles partner or by anything they carry on or with them become.
In the past, many players tried to obstruct the opponent's view of the ball at the time the ball was hit. This was done in particular to leave the opponent in the dark about which side of the club you hit and with which cut you played the ball. To do this, you hit the ball below the table surface or you covered the ball with one arm. Some players - such as the Englishman Carl Prean - took it to extremes in the early 1980s by standing with their backs to the opponent and serving behind their bodies.
Despite all the restrictions: Contrary to popular belief, the following things are allowed when serving:
- Hold the bat under the table until just before the ball hits;
- Before throwing the ball, use parts of your free hand over the table surface (i.e. within the baseline) - as long as it is not the ball;
- Serve the ball from outside the sideline.
(6.5)
Once the ball has been thrown up, the server's free arm and hand must be removed from the space between the ball and the net. Note: This space is defined by the ball, the net and its imaginary, unlimited expansion upwards.
Here, too, the obscuring of the ball is prevented at the time of hitting.
(6.6)
(6.6) It is the player's responsibility to serve in such a way that the referee or assistant referee can be satisfied that he meets the terms of the rules and either of them can decide that a service is not allowed.
(6.6.1) If either the referee or the assistant referee is unsure about the admissibility of a service, he or she can interrupt the game and give the server a warning at the first occurrence in a game. Any subsequent, not clearly admissible serve by this player or his doubles partner is considered to be inadmissible.
Here, the referees are given a guideline on how they can punish illegal serves.
(6.7)
In exceptional cases, the referee can relax the provisions of the service rule if he is convinced that a player cannot obey them because of a physical handicap.
For example, a one-armed player cannot put the ball in his free hand (Section 6.1).
(9) Let (repeat)
(9.1)
(9.1) A rally must be repeated,
(9.1.1) if the ball touches the net set while serving on its way over or around it, provided that the service is otherwise valid or is stopped by the receiver or his partner;
This corresponds to the rules for tennis.
(9.1.2) if the service is made before the receiver or his partner is ready to play; The prerequisite, however, is that neither the receiver nor his partner try to hit the ball;
(9.1.3) if a player is unable to serve or return or otherwise fail to comply with a rule due to a disruption beyond his control;
This is the case, for example, when a spectator disturbs the service or another ball rolls into the playing field, thereby obstructing a player.
(9.1.4) if the referee or assistant referee stops play;
(9.1.5) if the receiver sits in a wheelchair because of a physical disability and when the ball is served, if the service is otherwise correct,
- after touching the receiver's side, it leaves it in the direction of the net;
- remains lying on the receiver's side;
-Individually after touching the side of the receiver leaves it via one of the side lines.
Rule 9.1.5 was adopted much later than the others and ensures that wheelchair players are not disadvantaged by serves that are inevitably inaccessible to them.
Historical
In the early days of table tennis, the service was performed inconsistently. There was only the rule that the service is made from any place on the edge of the table . This allowed you to lean over the table and serve close to the net. The service was also often carried out "directly", that is, without touching the own half of the table (analogous to the service in tennis).
When the German Table Tennis Association DTTB was founded on November 8, 1925, the surcharge was reorganized: The surcharge had to be behind the base line of the table and between the extended side lines; The end of the service had to be in this area. In addition, the ball first had to touch its own half of the table ("indirect serve"). However, this regulation allowed the player to give the ball a strong initial spin with the hand, which some reinforced with the help of thumbs. The Americans had introduced these so-called “snap surcharges”, who won some games in this way.
In 1934 these aids (thumbsticks, rubber guards ...) were banned. At the ITTF Congress in 1938, the ITTF prohibited the Knips serves. In practice, it was difficult to distinguish between snapping and not snapping, which often led to controversial referee decisions.
Therefore the ITTF regulated the service again in 1947: The service hand had to be held horizontally, the ball had to lie on the flat palm. Even this regulation could not always be clearly verified by the referee.
Later it was demanded that the ball had to be thrown straight up from the palm of the hand. Since this too could hardly be checked exactly - was the ball really thrown up exactly vertically ? - one replaced “flat hand” with “open hand” and “thrown up vertically” with “thrown up”.
The 1967 ITTF Congress in London specified the service rule again. Now the ball must be placed on the palm of the hand . The hand must be above the level of the table. The ball is thrown up almost vertically without any spin and may only be hit when it is falling again. The referee must be able to see the ball at all times during the service phase. The moment the ball hits the racket, the ball must be behind the baseline. The requirement that the ball is 16 cm high and only hit when falling prevents the service from being made out of hand at lightning speed.
In the following years, the service rule was changed again and again, according to the motto that the better player, not the trickier server, may win the game. An important change came in 2002 with the prohibition of covering the ball during service.
At the moment (2014) the idea is being discussed not to carry out a let in accordance with Section 9.1.1 in the event of a net impact, but simply to continue playing. This is mainly because it is sometimes controversial whether or not the ball touched the net when it was served. This idea was tested at the Belarus Open August 2014 in Minsk in the U21 division.
literature
- Rahul Nelson: Does the serve need to be defused? , Journal table tennis , 1986/2 Page 21
- Rahul Nelson: It's all about the spirit . The ball must no longer be covered. Magazine table tennis , 2002/7 Page 11
- Explanations of the new service rule 2002, magazine tischtennis , 2002/9 pages 9–11
- Tischtennis magazine , 2007/2 pages 8–15; Contributions by Rahul Nelson, Hans Giesecke and Michael Zwipp
- Rahul Nelson: Wrong Servings - Controversy Number One , table tennis magazine , 2010/3 pages 20–23
Individual evidence
- ↑ DTTB-Handbuch 2010 (accessed March 30, 2019)
- ↑ Magazine DTS , 1989/11 page 15 + page 26
- ↑ DTS magazine , 1995/7 page 38
- ↑ This rule has been in effect in this form since September 2010. Before that, only the referee, but not the assistant referee, could decide on the admissibility of a serve. - Magazine table tennis , 2010/9 Page 18
- ↑ René Adler: Rule changes - nobody was enthusiastic, tischtennis magazine , 2014/9 page 6
