Playing against players with a weird style

Hello,

I won matches in my life with players who are quite good in my league and are playing technically proper table-tennis. But recently I've been playing with some self-taught person with a weird playing style but effective and I struggle to beat him. So generally he is playing with normal rubbers. He is flat hitting almost everything my rotation etc. with a lot of tension in muscles. Also he sometimes warps a bat and produces weird spin which is difficult for me to handle. When I try to give him more difficult balls with a backspin he makes a weird movements like jumping in the air and lifting the ball. When I try to block it  then he goes harder and usually wins a point. So any tactic against guys with an irregular style? Maybe I should counter his irregular opener since it doesn't produce much spin?

Hi Dariusz,

These types of players can be really difficult to play, especially if all of your training is with regular style players.

The main thing is to try to impose your game on them. If you are able to play with good topspin and  consistently you will often find that they will start to make errors eventually as their strokes won't be as reliable as they are not using good margin for error on their strokes.

Also make sure you are adapting to the different paces and spin they are producing.  Treat them with respect as they are different.

Countering his opener can work well if you adjust to the type of spin and pace on the ball.

If you can start to play a little bit faster with good spin then you may find they break down quickly.