3.

Return the service correctly

In table tennis, if you can return all the service,
your winning
chance will increase dramatically. There is an old
advice in
China “Let the opponent gives you a free point”. If
you can
control, and deal with every ball, but your
opponent can’t do
it. You will win easily.
The new player tends to push a lot. Pushing allows
the
opponent to attack first and your chance to win
decrease. So
mix up the serve, flick the ball, loop or drive, or
chop the ball.
Make your return difficult to guess. Add variation
to your
game and correct the serve return mistake
immediately.
4. Try to attack first
Attack whenever you can. Attack all the long serve.
You don’t
need to attack very hard because by doing this,
you will
make the unforced error. Just attack and make the
ball in the
table. Slow loop, topspin, flick, or heavy spin push.
All of
these are considered as an aggressive attack move
in table
tennis.
But where to attack?
Very good question!
You need to understand the opponent’s weakness!
In
general, attack to these 3 points:
Wide backhand
Opponent’s wide forehand
and his/her elbow position
Depend on his playing style, you should decide
and focus on
one position to attack!
5. Control the pace of the game
In table tennis, who controls the pace of the game
will win.
Table tennis is like a chess with a lightning speed.
New
players can’t get used to the tempo of the rallies.
You can
play some slow shots, and then fast shots, and mix
it up.
Mastering the tempo is like imposing the tactics
on the
opponent.
Changing the pace of the game also perturb the
timing of
the shots of the opponent. Let’s them make many
errors than
you. Let’s it! You will be the ping pong king in your
family! Or
the champion in your company!
What is the pace of a table tennis match?
Is it the speed of the ball? The speed of your
shots?
Focus on the pace, the tempo of the game! By
doing this,
you control the game! Control the opponent!
That’s why top Chinese coach is very strong.
Because they
know how to coach, how to ask their player to
change the
“pace”, and variation!
6. Learn the basic techniques
Because you are new in table tennis, you need to
improve
your skills by learning the basic techniques. You
will win more
if you do less unforced error in table tennis. To
reduce your
fault due to your bad techniques, you should learn
the table
tennis techniques correctly.
Based on the Chinese table tennis training system,
there are
10 basic skills in table tennis that you should
master.
7. Use more Forehand topspin to
attack
Some beginners asked me “Dear coach, I can’t
attack in my
game”.
Yes, you are right!
You can’t win with only your backhand push, right?
The easiest way to win the point in table tennis is
to do the
forehand attack! There are 3 types of forehand
attack in table
tennis:
Forehand topspin/ or Forehand loop
Forehand flick
and Forehand smash to finish the point
If you have the problem with the backspin ball,
don’t worry!
Looping the underspin ball in table tennis is easy.
Forehand
Loop against heavy backspin
You also need to learn to push correctly: Table
Tennis Push
Techniques.
8. Improve your footwork
The key to advance your table tennis games is
working on
your footwork. Why?
Because footwork is the foundation of this sport.
Table tennis
is a game of movement and coordination. You can
not win
by just standing in one position.
Based on the Chinese coach, there are 4 types of
footwork in
table tennis. Some amateur players have a very
good feeling
at the hand but don’t know how to move at the
legs. That’s
the main reason that they can not jump to the next
level in
table tennis: From Amateur to Intermediate player,
and from
Intermediate to Professional players.
9. Vary the tactics to win
Now, you have the foundation in table tennis:
good basic
techniques, and solid footwork. This is the right
moment that
you should learn “How to win smartly with tactics”.
Tactics
are the intelligent way to out-play your opponent!
Play in
their weakness, and use your strength to win!
Liu Guoliang: Genius of Table Tennis Tactics
Table Tennis Tactics: Beating a good junior player
Strategy To Win in Table Tennis: Serve and Attack
How to play against long pimples
For example, if your opponent has a strong
forehand, but
very weak backhand. He can only push at the
backhand side.
So here is one strategy to win him: Serve short,
topspin to his
backhand side. The ball returned is high, and you
should
prepare to pivot this ball or to smash it. And then
surprise
him with a fast long service to his wide forehand.
This combo
is super effective versus new ping pong player.
10. Use long and fast serve
As explained above, long and fast service,
especially to the
wide forehand side, is very effective! But don’t
overuse it! Use
it as the surprise variation of your serve. Here are
some types
of table tennis service that you should learn:
Best Way To Serve Short in Table Tennis
Forehand Pendulum Serve Tutorial
How to do the Reverse Pendulum Serve
You should use about 80% of short and spinny
serve, and
vary your serve with 20% fast and long serve. This
pattern is
also used by the professional table tennis players.
There is also some tricky serve, ghost serve that
you can use.
And avoid using illegal serve in table tennis, the
good umpire
can call you out as the “fault serve”.
11. Get a table tennis coach
As in any sport, the fastest way to improve your
skills is to
get a coach. A coach is the experienced player in
both
coaching and playing. That’s him/her will find out
and fix
your bad habit, bad techniques mechanism.
For example, some top players also provide online
private
coaching. I also explained some coaching tips for
beginners
on my blog for free.
If you don’t have the occasion to train with a table
tennis
coach, you can also learn from the Internet (Table
Tennis
Course for Beginners).
12. Mimic the best player’s technique
And the last tip is, learn from the best player in the
World.
Yes! The best players have the superior techniques.
That’s the
reason why they are the best!
So to improve your table tennis, mimic the top
player’s
technique is a smart solution. Each player has his
best
techniques: like learn the forehand topspin from
Ma Long,
learn the backhand attack of Zhang Jike, learn the
footwork
of Xu Xi to win chopper, etc.
The Truth about Chinese Rubbers | Ma Long
Forehand
Rubber
Zhang Jike Forehand Loop Technique
5 Steps to Do Backhand Loop Table Tennis Ma
Long technique
Important coaching tips to read
Well, you should read:
The fundamental of table tennis
Where to attack, and control the opponent’s style
5 Tips to improve fast
Hope you enjoy this beginner guide to table tennis.
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