Thinking Tactically

Table Tennis General

Last updated 13 years ago

Ji-Soo Woo

Ji-Soo Woo Asked 14 years ago

Hi Alois

during a match, I find my focus is purely on technique and execution.  When I miss a shot, all I can do is focus on where I went wrong technique-wise and try and rectify it.

It is only after the match, when I've had a chance to mull over it for a while, and especially when I watch the video footage, that I start thinking of all the tactical, strategic and shot-selection mistakes I made.  I can see clearly when a tactic is clearly not working, and a plausible plan B.

It would immeasurably improve my performance in competition if I could learn to think tactically on-the-fly.  Are there any suggestions for achieving this discipline? 

Many thanks

Ji-Soo


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 14 years ago

Hi Ji-Soo,

During a match you should in theory only think tactically.  It is difficult to change your technique at all during a game.  This applies of course to matches that are important for you to win.  During your development phase or if you are playing matches purely for applying your technique during games this is different.

A simple plan would go something like a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, well sort of anyway.  This planning needs to start before a match.  Some opponents you play will be well known to you.  Start to do this for those players first.  For players that you don't know, you should try to watch at least a little of them playing beforehand.  Even in a warm up you may glean some jewels.

Look at how you win points in general.  For example do you win points by hitting a lot of forehand topspin winners, or do you win them by using good placement to wear down your opponent?  Perhaps you win a lot of points by playing with backspin and waiting for your opponent to make a mistake with their attack.

Then look at your weaknesses.  What are you trying to ensure that your opponent can't do to you.  For example, you may not be good at blocking.  Therefore you would try to stop your opponent from making a topspin attack at you.

Then look at the opportunities that you will get due to your opponents weaknesses.  They may have  apoor backhand, so you would look at trying to expose this during the game.  Finally you would look at your opponents strengths.  They may have a booming forehand topspin.  So that is something you will need to avoid.

This may all sound detailed but in fact it probably only takes a minute or two to work through, but it is a minute well spent.

So for myself playing Jeff;
I know that my short game and my forehand topspin is my strength
I know that my weakness is my blocking
I know that Jeff struggles with short play and his weaker blocking and atacking side is his forehand side (his backhand is extremely reliable)
I know that Jeff is great at rallying, so I want to avoid long rallies with him.

Of all of these, the thing that will win you matches is to analyse your opponents weaknesses.  When looking at weaknesses of your opponent, think about what spin, speed and direction is going to trouble them.  A slower spin ball to the middle may be something that is difficult for your opponent.  If you have two opportunities to topspin during a match.  On the first opportunity you topspin the ball fast into their backhand and they block it back at you for  a winner.  The next time you could try playing a slower spinnier topspin to their backhand or even try the same to their forehand.  It may look like you are doing the same thing but in fact you are giving your opponent completely different balls to deal with.  Think of it when the same thing happens to you.  If your opponent is about to topspin, you may be thinking I hope they don't do one of those slow spinny topspins to my forehand...

So now I have a basic plan to work to if I am playing Jeff.  I will work to make as many rallies look like this... starting with a short ball and then ending it quickly with a forehand topspin to his forehand block which is his weaker blocking side.  If the rally goes too long I am in trouble against Jeff.

How do I do that.  Especially when I am serving I would ensure that I am serving short and pushing short and then waiting for the first opportunity to make a strong forehand attack.  When Jeff is serving I would try to return short or if he serves long, attack as strongly as possible early in the rally.

Jeff on the other hand would be looking to get into a rally with me and also try to get me on the defensive by topspinning to me.  He would also be looking at extending the rallies as long as possible.

So, you need to work through these things.  You need to work out how you want most rallies to look.  Base your serves and service return around these things.

It is difficult to plan too much past the first few balls of the rally.  For example, don't try to plan that you will play 3 balls to his backhand and then one to the forehand and then smash the next ball into the middle.  There are too many variables in there.  Focus your tactics around the first few balls of the rally only.  These are patterns that you can repeat often during a match.

In summary, forget about your technique when playing important matches.  Martina Navratilova the famous Tennis player once said, "leave your practice to the practice courts".  Focus rather on your tactics and develop a simple method of working out tactics against your opponents. 

 


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Thoughts on this question

Prisca Rosario Unknown

Prisca Rosario Unknown Posted 14 years ago

I happen to be a defensive player who depends on my variation chops.What serve should I begin the rally with? Long or very short? I have a very good short chop serve which catches the opponent off-guard very often. When I serve long which invariably must happen do i serve fsst to bh or fh? I agree with you and Navratilova that in a match it is very important to be tacticul. My biggest drawback is moving and yet sometimes I reach out and return impossible shots. What should my practice sessions consist of?

Thanks

Prisca


Leslie Unknown

Leslie Unknown Posted 14 years ago

Your serves should be similar to that of an attacking person. Mostly short serves with the occasional long serve to keep your opponent at bay. Don't be afraid to attack if the return is high enough. Watch some videos of the pros like Joo Se Hyuk and you'll see most of his serves are very short.

Tactically, you'll want to test out how well they respond to your defensive game. In addition you'll want to see how they play against the pips. One opponent of mine who was rated much higher can't loop back my chops hence I know that after I chop, I should be coming in to expect the drop shot. Another thing you can always do is like you said vary the spin on the ball and see how they play it. Don't forget to occasionally play an aggressive fh so they'll know that any loose shots could be put away. Hope that helps.


andrew brand

andrew brand Posted 14 years ago

just my thoughts, if you are a devensive chopper i assume you are most happy away from the table chopping, would it not be best to serve a long topspin serve to get your opponent topspinning at you? gets you into your comfort zone doesnt it?

chip Phatak

chip Phatak Posted 14 years ago

Good thoughts Andrew, and I would say that you were right were it not that most professional defensive players serve short.  I think there are two main reasons why: First, attacking players often have trouble transitioning from the short game to attacking, so if you let them attack straight away, you eliminate your opponent's potential weakness.  Second, right after serving, often it is hard to get into position quickly, and a long serve would result in a fast return, thus putting you off balance.  Of course, these are just my theories, and I'm far from an expert.

Piers Grey

Piers Grey Posted 13 years ago

Well, the idea of a serve is to make sure that you have the upper hand, so that your opponent doesn't get the first attack at you. So for a defensive player, they will want to make sure that if they do, do a serve that is long that it is in an area where they can easily get in position for so they can play a defensive shot. Being able to make sure that their serve will always be returned to the same place can't be certain that it will hit the same place everytime they do their serve, so it is best for a defensive player not to do this. Besides, if the same type of serve is repeated it becomes very easy to get use too, so eventually the opponent will find a way of being able to return the serve in a place where the player is not use too, putting the player off balance and out of position. That's what I think anyway; but I'm no way an expert, not in the least.


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