Where should you aim?
Table Tennis Match Strategy
Last updated 9 years ago
Gary McAdams Asked 9 years ago
When you start your attack, should you be looking to hit at your opponent's elbow or a wide angle? I've found that the wide angles aren't always available to me, especially early in a rally when we're both in good position to play from FH and BH.
I would consider a wide target to be "available" if there is a place on the table that would require my opponent to move a couple of steps to get to the ball and I'm in a position to hit the ball to that location.
I know it depends on the situation at any given time, but is it safe to say that we should aim for the playing elbow if there is no immediate wide angle target available?
Alois Rosario Answered 9 years ago
Hi Gary,
The middle can be a really effective position. You want to avoid just hitting the ball to their hitting zones and making it too easy for them, so the elbow position is a good ‘go to' spot.
Thoughts on this question
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Dieter Verhofstadt Posted 9 years ago
A tactic as interesting as it is obvious but I'm still not able to implement:
usually, if this tactic succeeds, one gets an easy ball back when the opponent still manages to retrieve the ball to the wide side. It works especially well against bigger players. The elbow is their weak spot. They are not so weak on the wide sides to begin with because of their arm length. The tactic works not so well with smaller players, who are usually quicker to turn and whose switching zone tends to be narrower. For these players it might be better to start with a shot to the wide sides. I've one such training partner in the club and he's very quick on his feet but has a weakish backhand. So I will try to play wide of his backhand and then to the exposed forehand. With the bigger and slower players I'll go for the elbow first.