3 Table Tennis Tactics (Beat your Opponent Like Clockwork​)

Did you ever think that you can’t be beaten? If no, then you might be wrong! Imagine yourself in a situation where you have to face someone better, more professional than you in a table tennis match. How will the match go?

Isn’t that scary yet embarrassing that you won’t be able to pull off an unbeatable victory?

So, you need to know are any possible winning tips? Or what’s the best strategy when playing with a much stronger player?

To answer all these worrying questions, this article can be a lifesaver for you! But before that, you really need to approach the match in the right direction and for that, you need to have some good coaching, perfectly equipped, and most importantly the grip, these all are basically potential strategies for achieving the winning dream of yours.

Let’s dig down deep in all the possible things that you can try for playing a better table tennis so that you don’t have to feel major losing shock.

Knowing All About Racket Movement:

The most important factor in table tennis is to vigilantly watch your opponent’s racket moves when it makes touches with the ball. Few key movements that you can possibly predict are:

1. If your opponent’s racket is moving from Low to high, the movement is certainly the topspin
2. If the racket is racket is moving from High to low then the spin is backspin
3. If the racket is moving from their left to right that indicates the spin is right sidespin
4. Lastly, if a racket is moving from their right to left  that indicates spin is left sidespin

Taking Correct Racket Angles Is The Key

You need to turn down the opponent’s ball spin very precisely. Therefore, you need to come with very watchful moves after understanding opponents throwing tactics.

all you need to do is understand first and make a clear strategy for your ball spins ahead. For example, you can follow a few simple tips like:

1. For topspin: just angle your top racket face down and make contact with the ball just above its midpoint.
2. For backspin: you need to angle your leading racket face up and contact the ball below its center
3. For right sidespin: just angle your leading racket front to the right and contact the ball to the left of its center-line precisely
4. If left sidespin: you need to angle your leading racket face to the left and contact the ball to the right of center-line carefully

Additionally, while holding your racket at the above-recommended angles, you need to stroke soothingly forward. Only after feeling the potential ball spin, you should stroke the ball with extra force.

Using Your Body When Stroking Your Forehand

You really need to make sure that you turn around your lower back, hips, and shoulders backward all through the backswing and then ahead into the ball as you are going to stroke your forehand.

This movement is synchronized with a shift of your body weight from the back foot to the front foot. Therefore, the harder you strike your forehand, the more powerful your weight transfer will be.

But always remember that a frequent forehand mistake is only using your arm to hit the ball, which strictly confines your energy, power, and body balance.

Following a sequence of a table tennis rally:

If you have maintained a good ready position it will balance and manage your body to move immediately in any possible direction. You need to use it when preparing to return serves and all the way between strokes.

The most basic order of a table tennis rally can be:
1. position yourself in a good ready posture
2. Move towards the ball with your feet, while staying in a balanced position
3. Go for Stroking the ball
4. Return back to your ready position
5. Now Repeat 2nd, 3rd, and 4th points until the rally split ends

Prepare And Practice Your Strokes Until You Get Used To Them

Generally, when you are a newbie in acquiring table tennis skills, you actually use a lot of mental energy to devise a clear mental image of how the stroke looks and feels like.

Once this image is relatively clear and understood, you should then start practicing real hard that particular skill frequently until you no longer have to imagine how to do it.

As this will be your habitual stage. Only then you can give your best performance when you play naturally and you really don’t need to evaluate your playing skills from the start. You just let it happen as expected.

Always Play With Your Personal Table Tennis Racket

It is really important to have your own racket and use it exclusively. As a matter of fact, every racket possesses its individual feel and playing distinctiveness, and you will do really good by using only one racket so you do not have to always try to adapt a new different one.

Moreover, take very good care of your racket and treat it with much care. Use a proper case or kit when you’re not playing with it. If you are using an inverted sponge rubber (smooth surface), you should always clean it. You can either wash it with soap and water or a unique racket cleaner after every use.

Build Up Sidespin Serves

Very Few newbie’s in table tennis use sidespin on their serves; while top players use sidespin on mostly every serve.

Sidespin is about always pooled with either topspin or backspin; pure sidespin is exceptionally uncommon in table tennis. Particularly useful is a sidespin/backspin serve that is low to the net and bounces twice on the opposite side of the table. This kind of serve will precisely serve as boundaries for your opponent’s serve return choices.

Try To Stay Low Over The Table Net On Returns

In most common scenarios of table tennis, the lower over the net you place your shots, the less angle your challenger can use and the more difficult it is for them to hit it with full control and power.

The one exception to this case is possible only if you use lobs, you will need to position the ball very high over the net.

Practicing Would Make You Perfect

Try to make practice a core objective in order to develop your game level. So whenever you are on the table, you should not hesitate to take any uncertain shots.

Therefore, it is imperative to play practice games where the main purpose is to bring together in a new skill set and professional tactic into an interesting yet critical match-like situation before you compete.

Additionally, you can find someone at the same playing level as yourself and do practicing or training together on a regular and constant basis. You should also occasionally review your development by playing with players at a higher level than yours.

Also, you can join some table tennis clubs as most clubs have a facility of table tennis coach who can help you to improve your game professionally.

Because of worldwide technological advancement, another practice partner alternative is a table tennis robot. Many table tennis clubs offer you the playing robots to practice and train with, or you can also buy one for your home and be competent to practice and train anytime you want to.

The focus for these practice games should always be on development and polishing the existing playing skills and not just winning.

On the other hand when you are on the table, even though your aim is always on winning, you can still learn so many new tactics and skills by analyzing and evaluating your partner, competition and your matches once they are over.

You Need To Embrace The Situation

Acceptance is the key; hence you need to accept that you just can’t always win. Sometimes you lose and sometimes you win. Also, you are unlikely to win against a much stronger experienced player with. So, I think it’s important to acknowledge this fact and to understand the situation first.

The other player may be better than you for several reasons for example they might come up with much better technique, greater shots, better placement methods, improved consistency, and other combination of tactics.

Bring In Your Biggest Strength While Playing

Think about your own strength in game. What is your biggest strength? How can you get it into play? Are you willing to take risks to get your strength into play? As a matter of fact, there is no point playing it safe always and expecting your opponent is going to mess up sometimes.

This won’t work at all. You really need to take few risks and jump outside your comfort zone while playing.

For example, if you’re forehand is much stronger than your backhand. You can compete with more professionally ranked players if you can find a trick to play by giving many forehand attacks.

This means you should be practicing more with footwork, also you need to use serves to establish forehand attacks and take a take a few more risks with your placement in order to take full advantage of the space on hand to play forehands with ease.

You Need To Attack Weak Areas

It’s nearly impossible that your opponent doesn’t have any weak areas. Or there is always a possibility that he/she may seem very tough and strongest but they always have some gray areas that you can target to get a lead.

So, your job is to discover which those weak or less strong areas. Start inquiring and practicing the questions like; is their backhand weaker than the forehand? Is there a kind of serve he returns weaker than others on the table? Do they have an inclination for slow or fast balls? Does he play better against topspin or backspin? Does he move well in all areas of the table?

In short and simple you have to look for picking out some areas where the strong player is not pretty strong.

Heavy Backspin With Proper Equipment

By far the simplest tip to win a point in table tennis is to compel your opponent to put the ball into the net. This can easily be accomplished if you are an expert of offering a strong Most table tennis players are habitual of hitting balls that have either a modest topspin or no spin at all.

They actually have trained their muscle memory to play strokes completely based on this fact. So adding a strong backspin into the mix and they won’t have a hint what to do in return move. Therefore, the trick is to carve completely beneath the ball. This is called a push.

Now, this isn’t really possible if you are playing with an inappropriate racket. Try to slice completely parallel under the ball with a paddle and the ball will just slip straight over the rubber.

However, do this with a “proper” paddle with suitable rubbers and they will hold the ball and throw it back to your opponent with much stronger of backspin.

Experiment With Multiple Heights

Another winning tip is to experiment with your table tennis ball bouncing heights. Let’s discuss that in detail

Height 1 refers to when the table tennis ball has bounced and is on the way up. You can hit the ball as soon as it reaches the highest point using a bit of a backswing together with a short, make a quick stroke. This has the upshot of catching the other player unwary and can time and again win you the table point.

Height 2 refers to the point when the table tennis ball has bounced and is at its highest point. The key here is to use a comfortable practice for the best result as, at this point flat shots are always best performed and won.

Height 3 refers to the point when the table tennis ball has bounced and is just about to hit the table. This would usually need a great forearm swing ahead of the force. Forehand loops are most successful at this height.

Mastering Your Footwork

Why do you think you keep striking the ball with the side area of the table tennis paddle? Footwork is perhaps the most essential facet of table tennis game. You may look cool that you are defeating your opponents without even moving much, but what if you have to face a better player who is more energetic?

You will not stand a chance for sure by using this not much of the moving trick. As by moving your body, you will place yourself in the best possible position to hit the ball with ease and if you stand still you will be twisting your arm in uncomfortable positions which will affect in a sub-par shot and time and again you will miss it all in all.

You Need To Know What Works Best For You

When it comes to mastering any kind of sports it’s all about having one’s own tactics and skills. Everybody has their own strategies and tricks for winning points in table tennis.

I believe that the above mentioned tips can provide you with the fundamental kick start. Also all these tips can help you even if you are on an intermediate to expert level in the game.

Got anything to discuss? Drop your question in the comment section below and I’ll get to you ASAP.