Eric Finkelstein was once a top junior table tennis player in the US. Despite a long absence from the game, the Manhattan denizen has found a novel way to get back into the game. Finkelstein has no shortage of experience, having played in 102 USATT tournaments between 1997 and 2011. He helped Princeton to a second place finish at the 2007 National Collegiate Table Tennis Association championships, finishing only behind the indomitable Texas Wesleyan University. Then, he abruptly stopped. For whatever reason, Finkelstein has not thrown his hat in the ring for ten years. After a dormant decade, though, something finally piqued his competitive nature. Every year, Guinness (the World Record folks, not the Irish beer folks) sponsors World Records Day. The 2020 installment was held on November 17, and saw a singular Spanish serve set a superlative span. Alvaro Martin Mendieta of Madrid launched a legal table tennis serve of 14.86 meters (just over 48 feet, 9 inches, for stateside readers). Hearing of this feat, Finkelstein felt a strange, yet familiar feeling welling up within his chest: the urge to pick up his paddle and compete. First, he studied the competition, and experimented with Mendieta's technique. Finding the previous approach unsuited to his sensibilities, Finkelstein went back to the drawing board. He arrived at a very tennis-like serving motion, throwing the ball overhead and striking it with full body extension. Unlike a tennis serve, which mixes side- and topspin, Finkelstein's downward swing creates almost pure underspin. This, in turn, creates an exaggerated Magnus effect, allowing the ball to stay aloft for longer distances. After two months of training, Finkelstein was ready to take his shot at the record yesterday. The venue was the Westchester Table Tennis Center (WTTC) in Pleasantville, New York, making good use of the newly expanded club's 21,000 square feet of playing space. Of course, to be recognized by Guinness as an official World Record holder is no small feat. While it may take a village to raise a child, it takes a comparable quantity of specialists to certify a new extreme of human endeavor. On hand for Finkelstein's attempt were a videographer, umpire, and at least one witness (although there was no shortage of eager onlookers on hand). But wait, that's not all! "And then you need someone who has experience in architectural construction to validate the distance," explains Finkelstein. Brothers Wayne and Roy Howard, of nearby Omega Construction Management Group, gamely checked this box, marking the distance from the table to the service attempt line on the floor with blue tape and expertly measuring in Guinness-approved units of distance. "This is a first," said Wayne Howard. "We've never done anything like this, so we're excited about it." After all the pieces were in place, all eyes were on Finkelstein to perform. If he felt pressure, he didn't show it, calmly smashing the old record with a new mark of 15.57 meters (51 feet, 1 inch). Once all the paperwork is processed, Eric Finkelstein will be listed as the Guinness World Record holder for longest table tennis serve. He has hinted that he has his sights set on another table tennis world record, but is keeping his cards close to his chest for now. Don't be surprised to hear more about his exploits, perhaps in November for Guinness World Records Day 2021. Look out, folks. The kid is back.

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