Even the sharpest minds, in the heat of the battle during a tabletennis match, sometimes seem to forget the serving order. Usually in a tournament an umpire is expected to keep track of these things but most USATT matches are played without umpires.If you remember some simple rules this problem can be handled easily by players themselves, if they have no umpire.

Sometimes you forget (at the end of a game), who should start the next game, that is you don't remember who started the previous game. Using some very simple methods, you can decide who is to start this new next game. For all examples we will use player A (or doubles team A) is playing player B or (team B).

(1) Deuce situations are very simple. The player (or team) who served last in any deuce game (regardless of the final score or who won the game) will always start the following game (because the player who serves "at" deuce(s) is the player who started the (deuce) game at 0-0).

(2) If the score was other than deuce, then you use the following two guidelines:-

(i) Who served at the end of the last game (ii) How many points did the loser get.

If A was serving at end of game 1 & if loser got 0 thru 4 or 10 thru 14 points (remember first decimals of 0 thru 4), then B gets to start serving game 2.If A was serving at end & loser got 5 thru 9 or 15 thru 19, then A gets to start serving the next game. Examples:- If Game 2 ended with a score of 21-17 & A was serving at end(it NEVER matters who won the game), then A gets to start serving at Game 3. If Game 2 ended with a score of 21-14 & A was serving at end, then B gets to start serving at Game 3.

who chose to serve first is at a disadvantage in that the opponent is serving at this crucial

point assuming you would rather be serving)

Similarly you can also determine who should be serving at any given point during the match if you remember who started at 0-0.Add both players scores. If ends with numbers 0 thru 4 then the player who served at 0-0 should be serving;otherwise (score end with numbers 5 thru 9) the player who did NOT serve at 0-0 should be serving. Examples:- If the score is 12-1 & A started serving the game, then A should be serving now. If the score is 12-6 & B started serving the game, then A should be serving at this point .(This is true, even if by mistake B served the last serve because the rules require that an error be corrected as soon the error is discovered ;however the score stays the same & all points thusfar should be reckoned also).

Again all of this is of course an umpire's job but if you don't have an umpire (such as when you play in your local weekly club league or practice etc), then you have to keep score yourself. If all these rules (& methods) seem overwhelming or confusing to you, do not worry. Just apply & practice one rule at a time, till it becomes second nature before trying out another rule. Remember, most of us had trouble remembering service changeover points when we first started playing (ping-pong) in the basement (You may have noticed many a player have trouble with service changeovers in a 51 point handicap match !!).Eventually you should be able to use all of these tricks without even thinking about them .For example, if a game ended 21-18 & you were serving, you will know right away (without having to give much thought) that you get to start serving the next game (unless of course you screwed up the serving order in the previous game !!!).

These guidelines hopefully will also help umpires if they lose track of serving order during a match.