So you're now hitting a few good shots and might be a table tennis player who started playing in the office or at home with your family. This is more of a “push” shot than it is a swinging shot like the forehand drive. It’s just common sense. We’re not going to be going there in this section. Tennis - Tennis - Strategy and technique: Although successful strokes and strategy can vary widely on different court surfaces, on all but the slowest courts there has always been a premium on a punishing serve and effective play at the net. Essentially, you’re going to be performing a forearm slice underneath the ball as it travels downward from the toss. The last thing you want is the runner-up complaining afterward how they only lost because the winner played with a better paddle or that the ping pong table wasn’t up to their elevated standards. Here is a compilation of tips from the best coaches of table tennis from all over the world. The chances of you already having developed a “playing style” is unlikely. When I started playing I had experienced coaches who knew how to "feed" the ball to a beginner. What I’m saying is that it’s pretty important for you to supplement reading this article with practice. The ball must be tossed 6 inches into the air before it’s struck. When you’re able to “read” the serve early enough, you’ll be able to position your body correctly and know whether to play a drive (against a fast serve) or a push (against a back-spinning serve). It also gives you more room to hit the ball harder and to create a bit of topspin. Top 10 table tennis tips. The coaches had a good reputation and they'd been coaching for a long time, producing many talented players along the way. The purpose of the fast serve is to limit the amount of time your opponent has to position themselves for an aggressive return. Sadly I don’t. A lot of them. You have to come up with various strategies to outsmart your opponent and you have to train your brain to know how fast the ball is coming your way, so you can line up the perfect hit. So let's get started. The second reason is that you’re so tired of having your ass handed to you by Jane, that you took the time out of your busy day to Google: “How on earth can I get better at Table Tennis and stop being humiliated in front of my colleagues?” and subsequently stumbled onto our article. Fortunately, if you’re working on everything I discussed in this article, you already know how to combat this serve. The way one chooses to hold his/her table tennis paddle will make a big difference in his/her play. And that is my best advice to you. A 10-year-old can make a grown man cry. Successfully playing the forehand drive is to prioritize consistency and accuracy. But first you'll need to know which racket (paddle / bat) is right for you, particularly if you're a beginner, and you'll need to know the correct way to hold it (the grip). It’s the optimal stance to play a large variety of shots. Practice until your arms bleed. Among the topics covered are: paddles, grips, footwork, serves, returning serves, topspin loop, underspin loop, backhand loop, strategy and how to play doubles. Two players with totally different playing style can even become a great partner. I tried this. For that reason, you’re going to need to get yourself into a side-facing position when playing the forearm push, rotating your body slightly as you extend your arm forwards. Play this shot when the ball traveling towards your forehand area, but also get comfortable with positioning yourself to play it when the ball is struck directly at your body. The first essential you should know is selecting the right paddle. Essentially you want to be as low and wide as possible. Aim for Deep Shots That Land … The only way to generate speed from this position is to flick your wrist, but that’s a shot we’ll cover in another article. Table tennis moves at a lightning-fast pace. I played at school, at the local youth club, at the YMCA and at home with my sister at every opportunity I had. 13 Key Tennis Singles Strategies and Tactics. You have to give a lot of time to rectify your table tennis grip. This is also a shot that has to be learned because it’s often the only option you have against a back-spinning ball. Performing a successful backspin serve consistently is also not an easy thing to learn. For playing doubles, it is just like finding the ideal couple for you to married to. To avoid an unforced service error with the fast serve, you have to give the ball enough time to drop down onto the opponent’s side of the table. The more you practice and the more matches you enter, the more you’ll realize what you need to do to improve in certain areas. My little motivational speech from earlier applies here, too. Think about each failure, each lost point, not as an obstacle towards improvement, but as a lesson learned. I dunno… in my head insufferable office champions are always called Ben. Once you can land a legal serve without making an unforced error every single time you have the ball in your hand, you can start practicing and mastering the first two “basic serves”. I'd highly recommend that you try to get some good coaching as early as possible in your playing career as this'll give you a solid foundation for your game - and it's vital if you're going to play at an intermediate or advanced level. The shallow shakehand hold is very similar to the deep shakehand, with the exception that the thumb is not resting on the blade itself, but rather extended across its base. Before we talk about these techniques, let me advise you on the basics first. Again, as with the drive, your main priority is accuracy and placement rather than generating a ton of speed and spin. Your game will improve. Make a conscious decision to practice with both for a long period of time. That makes it an essential stroke to master if your aim is to take your table tennis game to the next level. Claim your FREE membershipand join me at theTOP TABLE, You'll receive regularTop Tips, Strategies, TechniquesTactics, Rules, News & much more, You Are Here: Practice relentlessly. The best way to do this is to toss the ball as high as possible and to hit it at the last possible microsecond, just like with the fast serve. Right now, we’re focusing on the basics of returning the ball consistently and with enough accuracy to prevent a winner or create room for an unforced error. Take advantage of this. The Geelong Arena hosts a money-spinning leg of the tour, with the leading professional male and female players clashing Down Under and you can get Australian Open table tennis betting tips for all the big matches. That’s why I suggest first learning how to just do a legal serve without any spin or speed. If you and your partner cannot communicate efficiently during a game, forget about this sport. What this implies is that you’ll not only need to execute the fast serve perfectly every time, you’ll also have to be able to mix up your target “zones” without making mistakes. These links are identified by having an asterisk (*) by its side. So all I needed to do was concentrate on practising my forehand and backhand strokes without having to worry about whether the ball would be in the right place for me to hit it. Always try to make the ball land as close to your opponent’s baseline as possible. As I said before, you’re hoping for either an unforced error or a defensive stroke in return. Advice I gave earlier to get yourself into position to play a forehand drive over a backhand drive doesn’t apply here. This is a must use Table Tennis Doubles Strategy. The first thing to know about the forehand drive is that it uses a minimal amount of topspin. Getting yourself into the right position to play the ideal shot is undoubtedly one of the most important skills that a novice player needs to learn. Mastering them is one of the most critical steps towards playing a consistent game that avoids a player’s biggest enemy: the unforced error. Always bear in mind that most novice opponents have no idea how to return a back-spinning serve with an attacking stroke. Reading the position of your opponent’s body and making it as hard for them to reposition themselves is something that takes time and a huge amount of practice. This gives you a slight edge and will minimize the chances of a well-placed return that catches you off-guard. There’s a certain skill level where you can count on the latter happening far more frequently than the former. They’ve dished up a perfectly returnable shot, but because you’re unfamiliar with the basics of stroke play, you’re gone and hit the ball into the net, or failed to make it bounce on their side of the net. The technical differences between backhand and forehand shots are so pronounced that this stroke can’t simply be described as: “the backhand equivalent of the forehand drive”. It falls way outside of the scope of what we’re trying to teach here. These work in the same way as normal links, but when you click on it, the link is tracked to AATT and, if you make a purchase, may generate a small payment to me. Backhand loop the underspin ball is designed to learn this concept quickly. Terms of UsePrivacy PolicyEarnings Disclaimer. Having said that though, if you're only going to be playing a friendly game with your buddies, just learning a few of the basic skills will probably be enough. As hard as this might seem, you’ll need to remain as relaxed as possible throughout a point while in this position. Force your opponent out of their comfort zone. Although it’s not absolutely mandatory that you know one technique perfectly before moving onto the next one, I do recommend this approach. Just follow the links below... And get Exclusive Information via Email fromAllAboutTableTennis.com, Tips •  It’s also one of the most important shots to master since many good players will often deliberately vary the types of shots they play at you. Don’t worry about how you look – you’re playing a game that’s essentially a miniaturized version of tennis. Once you’re able to do this, your next step is to focus on the placement of your return. By the way, if you don't know the difference between table tennis and ping pong you can find out here. In table tennis there are four strokes that form the fundamentals of stroke play. Next, we'll take a look at the basic service rules and how to serve in accordance with those rules, and the basic principles of how to return the service. Table tennis is a weirdly addictive sport. Your thumb and index fingers will be touching some part of the blade, with your remaining three fingers curled around the handle itself. I am going to be contacting as many top table tennis players and coaches as I can, asking them for their #1 tip, and sharing them here. How to Play Table Tennis. This is critical if you want to take full advantage of having the first strike in a point.