Ma Lin [unbelievable serve]

china super league 2011
ma lin - zhang jike
:D

[teho]

because of the precision of the height of the second bounce as well as the length. It barely would go off the edge of the table and the ball is barely one balls height up when it is about to go over the edge. This baits out a forehand loop but the margin for hitting the ball is so small that zhang misses. Also, the spin is pretty incredible too.

[aozsteak]

0:05 It's especially hard to return a serve like that when you're stoned.

[gabyhernando]

The service was visibly long, but the service was extremely sliced and the ball was not out of the table. Incredible !

[plot]

i bet even ma lin was surprised by how great that serve turned out

[HLDang]

Gotta take in the factor that our POV isn't Jike's POV... therefore the argument that the serve is illegal is invalid. If it was, Jike or the umpire would have brought it up.

[mjt]

wish they would show a side view of that to see how he did it. absolutely incredible.

[JMS]

Ma Lin is clearly the Federer of table tennis

[AceofDlamonds]

@oslo99

Zhang Jike may not have contacted the ball, but it looks as if he "brushes" it, decelerating the ball enough to kill the momentum. It looks more like a timing error on JK's part. Ma Lin has never accomplished such an incredible serve in his practice videos. His signature serve bites the table after the second hit and then starts to reverse from the backspin.

[AshPhoenix]

The ball's trajectory shows that the serve was a side under spin serve. A significant contact by Zhang would swerve the ball to the net. The spin remain mostly true if not all to Ma Lin's original spin.

[xeckuc]

Amazing serve, though i suspect that maybe the "wind" created by zhang's attempt of top spin might have pushed the ball a little and made it stay on the table...

[MSTER]

If you look closely just before the ball is about to bounce for the second time, it looks like Ma Lin executed a long serve that wouldn't hit the table twice, so I wouldn't really blame Zhang for doing a big swing.

[kusanagi]

@oslo99 yes... he touch the ball but the reverse effect does Zhang's hit was really poor, sending the ball direct to the table.... if u dont believe press 7 repeteadly during the video (sorry for my english btw)

[ImpureMint]

@SuperFloydTT It's not Illegal, it's above 16 cm in the air, behind the back line of the table and he does not hide the racket nor the ball.

[TheKarub]

it was halflong that means the ball wasn't long enough for zhang jike to topspin it it would've touched the white line on the second bounce which is perfect for a halflong serve

[TheTTstudio]

In my opinion, Zhang jike did not brush it because if he really brushed it then it must goes up and forward (According to Newton's second law and law of Impulsion). But it's not obvious at all. You can say, if you like, that he brushed for a couple of nanoseconds that it does not do anything at all.

Anyway, everyone knows that without Zhang brushing, Ma Lin's back spin serve always go back to the net!

[KAF]

It seems to be becoming more popular now to aim to get the serve to bounce (2nd time) PRECISELY on the base-line. Our Head Coach teaches it but I've never seen it as effectively as this. The side-spin is "obvious" (!) but I think the disguise here is that the receiver was expecting the ball to come on to him (a bit longer). The disguise seems to me to be in the slower pace and great length (base line) of the serve.

[TonyMurnahan]

He never contacted the ball. The ball made its 2nd bounce before zhang jike even made his swing.

[Wilbeerthoven]

Zhanh Jike don't "brushed the ball!! And it's not "obvious", beautiful service anyway!!

[MoonDragn]

It was never illegal at any time. The rules for service has always stated that the ball can only bounce once on YOUR side. However once it gets to the other side it can bounce as many times as it wants. The serve is not impossible to return it is just hard to tell it is coming.

[timothyjesus]

Some people claim that ZJ brushed the ball because they don't believe the ball would go that way simply by Ma Lin's serve or they never saw this kind of serve. Whether ZJ brushed the ball or not, no one can tell by this video's definition. But I can tell you that it is 100 % possible that ball will go this way by serve without any brush because I saw it by naked eye. I believe someone else must have the same experience.