epics.games

Table Tennis Tips compiled by Dr Mithilesh Dronavalli

Notes are for left-handed pen grip players, but can be generalised.

Further info (in unorganised format can be found at https://trello.com/b/WrQmvekp/table-tennis-tips-compiled-by-dr-mithilesh-dronavalli

1. Grip and Bat Handling

  • Fundamental Grip: The wrist is connected to the forearm, and the thumb is the driver. Remember that “Grip is Everything” and explore the J-Penholder Grip. Grip the bat tightly when serving and keep the wrist. fixed
  • Pen Grip Mechanics: For the pen grip, place the forefinger halfway down the top of the handle with the thumb straight. Maintain a gap between the forefinger and thumb. Put three fingers curved around the handle in the back, short, to maintain the flexibility of the bat. Keep the thumb and index finger slightly separated.
  • Pronation and Supination: Pronate for the forehand and reverse backhand (RBH) with your thumb. Supinate for a backhand push with your index finger.
  • Grip Tension: Tighten your grip before the shot in a loop and a serve, but tighten it throughout a smash. Grip the bat with your thumb, middle, and ring finger, and push with your thumb until open to 45 degrees.
  • Wrist Control: Clock your wrist and accelerate it until it reaches a neutral position; do not extend the wrist further. Keep the wrist stable and slightly clocked back, and then flex the elbow while “holding the ball” in the stroke.
  • Reverse Backhand Pen Grip: Give yourself space to move. Use a circular motion with a leg transfer from the right leg to the left leg for the RPB. Ensure a quick recovery and grab the ball. Open the bat and practice going straight instead of cross-court. Return a chop with an RPB side swipe, but don’t go up all the way; stop when your arm is parallel to the table. Use your wrist.

2. Stance, Footwork, and Positioning

  • Core Stance: Maintain a stance with your legs apart and bent (which requires less effort on your knees). Keep low throughout the games. Use your abdomen and keep it contracted.
  • Positioning Basics: Keep your legs steady and do not move your feet. Find the ball by swaying your knees. Position your feet, move and face your body to the table. Use your abdomen to control the arc. Pivot with your left foot.
  • Stepping Techniques: Use your front foot first for short steps, and your back foot first for long steps. The left foot is the front foot for a left forehand. Reach with your legs for a loop. Use a cross step to loop against underspin.
  • Specific Stances: A backhand stance requires your feet to be 2 feet parallel. A forehand stance for a left-handed player means the left foot is behind the right foot. Keep legs in line horizontally for the backhand, and keep the left leg slightly behind for lefties on the forehand.
  • Lunging and Swivelling: For a short ball, utilise a left leg lunge, bring the other foot if needed, lean in, and hit or loop. Get your body in position to play a shot while swivelling your feet.

3. Serving Tactics

  • Serve Mechanics: Serve with your wrist at the top-right-hand corner, using quick wrist extension, then wrist flexion. Swing your arm from as high as you can go in the air to execute a side spin serve. Make contact at the centre of the racket.
  • Side Spin: Serve side spin from the centre middle side of the bat. Alternatively, serve side spin from the middle far edge of the bat, and side top spin from the upper far quadrant of the bat.
  • Chop and Underspin: For an underspin serve, rotate your abdomen and keep the bat tip 20 degrees higher than the handle with the table as the plane. A chop serve uses fast internal rotation of the shoulder and elbow in fixed flexion; keep your wrist fixed, punch the bottom of the ball quickly, and stop once contact is made.
  • Pendulum and Top-spin: Execute a hand-up top-spin (pendulum action) corner to corner. Fix your wrist, shoulder, and elbow. Open the face of the bat a little, with the far end of the bat more towards the body. Use a reverse top-spin wave (cross-arm action). Fire a pendulum top-spin serve to your right or left, then forehand top-spin to the right for opponents using pimples. Open the face of the bat when serving top side from the right corner to the left corner for a left-hander—far edge towards you, near edge away from you.
  • Strategic Placement: Serve short to a looper or top spin player. Serve a flat hitter. Don’t serve chop to a looper unless it is short or very, very heavy and you plan to smash the return. Don’t serve top spin to a looper unless you have good placement and it is very, very spinny.
  • Lefty vs. Lefty: Serve side top to the opposition’s forehand. Serve the reverse side, top to the opposition’s backhand.
  • Short Serves & Variations: For a short chop serve, drop it back, or sweep it long. For a short top serve, hit it back with a short action. Mix short fake top-spin and real top-spin.

4. Receiving and Returning

  • Visual Focus: Look at the ball as much as you can. AFTER YOU HIT IT, WATCH THE OPPONENT’S BAT FOR THE DIRECTION OF THE NEXT RETURN.
  • Preparation: If you make a bad receive, get ready to block; if you make a good receive, get ready to attack. Receive serves with your body backing the shot. If they loop your serve receive, then place it where they find it difficult to quality-loop; this includes short or angled.
  • Analysing the Serve: Check the serve (top/chop/dead, or side/opposite side) and placement (fast or slow). If they mix up slow, low top-spin and chop, you need to bend down low and watch the ball early.
  • Receiving Spin: Receiving side spin requires hitting away from the spin. To return side spin short and control it back short, then follow the spin and side swipe. Use the RPB for receiving an underspin ball, aiming for the side of the ball.
  • Returning Top Spin: When receiving a loop, be in the channel of the ball, and instead of blocking, keep your wrist and elbow blocked, and use your abdomen to block the ball with your forehand or backhand. For a slow, low-top-spin serve, use a fixed wrist swipe. Otherwise, guide it, go long, and keep it low. Hit it early on the table at the bounce. Start with a low, closed bat drive, then drive it back without changing the wrist or arm angle. For any high-top-spin serve, smash it with a flat hit; if too low, close the bat a lot, move forward, and keep the ball low.
  • Receiving No-Spin: Use a stable wrist flick early for a short no-spin to keep it low. For fast, low-no-spin forehand serves, use a timed, gentle drive. On the backhand: use a timed, gentle deflection drive EARLY off the bounce. For a long fast no spin, TAKE A STEP BACK.

5. Core Strokes (Looping and Spin Up)

  • Timing: Forehand loop underspin 9:00-9:30, loop no spin 9:30-10:30, loop top-spin: 10:30 -11:30, reverse for backhand (lefty Inverse for righty).
  • Drive Mechanics: Loop forward (drive) by aiming for and brushing the ball at 10:00 to 11:00 for a left-hander or 2:00 to 1:00 for a right-hander.
  • Body Coordination: Brushing the ball requires you to pivot your feet, shift your weight, and rotate your hips and abdomen. Catapult shoulder, then elbow, then wrist in one accelerating motion. Retract the wrist on the rest of the arm and repeat the motion. Use your body to hit, not your arm. Swing the body behind the arm.
  • Trajectory Control: To keep the ball low, bend your knees. To make the ball go up, open the face when far from the table. When close to the table, close the bat to 45 degrees.
  • Spinning Up Underspin: Spinning up on an underspin ball only works for underspin. Bend your knees, put your left arm down (not back) near your lower leg, turn your waist and back inwards towards your left leg, keeping your right shoulder pointing forward, and unwind your body while flexing your forearm in the same coordinated movement. Final acceleration with wrist and fingers (Forehand Spin up). For the backhand, use reverse weight transfer: lift the hand from the centre, wind your wrist, and unwind, spinning up.
  • Loop Variations: A half loop or small loop creates spin; start slow and spin hard and fast. Loop the LOW ball on top of the table with a closed-face, very FAST contact and follow-through. Lift the elbow away from the body centreline for the forehand loop and keep the elbow towards or beyond the body centreline for the backhand loop.
  • Against Chops/Top-spin: Against a chop or chop return, lift elbow, close bat surface, rotate legs, body and arm and wrist in a coordinated and ACCELERATING manner. Against top-spin, press down, use counterspin, bat horizontally and parallel to the table.

6. Chops, Blocks, and Smashes

  • Short Chops: Move the hand beyond the chop with full flexion or extension. Move the ball around and keep it short. Don’t go long, as they will loop it. Wait for the ball to drop.
  • Double Bounce Chop Shot: Keep your body in flow with your hand, cut the falling ball under the ball, use the bottom half of the bat (bottom middle). The return will bounce twice.
  • Chop Mechanics: Move forward, NO Backswing, only extension of the elbow. Forehand chop uses the top right-hand corner of the bat for lefties, backhand chop uses the side of the bat or the top left-hand corner of the bat. Lean in with the body. Sync your movement of the body with the incoming ball.
  • Heavy Chops: To lift a heavy chop, use a whip action; keep the angle of elbow flexion the same; use the body and legs; position the body and legs early; close the angle of the bat; stroke up. High-contact chop if it falls below the highest point and is long.
  • Flicks: Forehand flick at 7 o’clock, with a quick wrist brush. Backhand Flick requires a straight lower arm perpendicular to the table, brushing with the wrist around the side of the ball, more flick, less power. Top-spin flick goes around the side of the ball with the right hand on backhand.
  • Blocks: Block backhand by staying stable with your abdomen and fixing your position; move upward with your palm, brushing the ball slightly, while keeping your bat closed slightly.
  • Smashes: Loop and smash are different and shouldn’t be mixed. Smash top-spin by changing the angle of the ball from open to closed at contact and aim down (when the ball is fast and above the net).

7. Anti-Spin Strategies

  • Power and Rotation: You need to rotate your body for antispin shots, as more power is needed for the forehand. Use more power with antispin.
  • Fake Chops: A heavy push with your body going forward and upper body bending forward acts as a low antispin fake chop. Against underspin to the forehand, you can do a fake chop that goes forward with no spin or mild top spin, and smash the next. With the underspin to the forehand, you can loop up as a fake loop.
  • Handling Top-spin: Against Spin Up top-spin, smash through the ball later, timing after the bounce (for forehand red and red RBH). Against fast top spin, block it off the bounce, consider a chop block, forehand and backhand.
  • Chop Blocks: Execute a chop block with the bat on its side and hit at the centre bottom of the bat. The bat should be perpendicular to the table and pushed down.
  • Pushing: Push with antispin with proportional pronation to the amount of incoming underspin. When returning a heavy chop, you may need to push with an open bat diagonally upwards, i.e. lift the ball, NOT chop the ball.
  • Flicks: To return a short chop with an RBH flick using anti: close the bat from open angle to close quickly at contact with the side of the ball. For an RBH flick against no spin: wait for the ball to rise, slow down, increase the dwell time on the bat. Flick up.
  • High vs Low Balls: For a high backhand ball, don’t use anti-spin; instead, smash or top-spin with the right hand. If the ball is low, then you can take it with antispin.
  • No-spin blocks: Side swipe no spin near the net with antispin. Forehand short, no spin; side-swipe the ball with anti-spin.

8. Coach-Specific Insights

  • Coach 100: Forehand to keep the bat closed, push with the thumb, for forehand loop, spin up and loop forward against underspin. A side-spin with the early half of the bat creates side underspin. No wrist. Push down with your thumb to close the bat and flex your wrist to close it further. Maintain a 1cm gap between the rubber and handle so you can flex more. Top-spin is from 110 pmto 11 pm. Looping underspin is at 9 pm.
  • Coach 2: Backhand is perpendicular to forehand.
  • Coach 3: Use fingers to move the wrist when looping, driving, or slow spinning up loops. Drive with elbow down, at 10-9 o’clock, i.e., on the rise. Use fingers to control and direct the shot. The reverse-side spin chop for right-handers: loop the front part of the ball. Hit short balls with top-spin on the backhand with an RBH punch, not RBH flick, as the ball needs to go down. The dangle method of backhand (Wang Hao) involves lifting the upper arm to shoulder level, dangling the forearm loosely, and then executing a backhand using the core and weight transfer. Short bal: I keep the forearm perpendicular to the table and rely on the wrist.
  • Coach 4: If the serve is no spin below the net, you need to flex the elbow and potentially hold the ball with your bat by flexing the wrist to increase contact time forward. Slow spinny top-spin loops, block with your body behind it. Don’t hit balls above your chest; wait for them to go down.
  • Coach 5: Move the abdomen, nd hand, elbow and wrist (led by fingers) in one go. Accelerate the elbow from 1 to 6—position where the ball is going to go. ALSO, small hops with legs apart, don’t bring the legs together.
  • Coach 7: For the forehand, drive by pushing up the left thigh for a left-handed player. Backhand uses the right thigh. Stop the drive with the bat at face level, using the right thigh for forehand and the left thigh for backhand for a left-handed player. For short ball, don’t start with the forehand below the table; start at table height and push forward with the left thigh for a left-handed player. No power from the shoulder or arm, just slightly close the elbow to the face and stop the arm from moving using the right thigh push. Weight transfer, start and pushup with the left thigh.
  • Coach 9 (Looping Underspin on Forehand for Lefties): Stand with left foot and right foot facing forward. Bend your knees. Turn your right foot inwards. Rotate your abdomen and hips to the left until you feel a spring. Have the bat slightly closed. Unwind your left hip and abdomen. Do a forehand action, swing your shoulder, flex your elbow, and slightly whip your wrist (flex wrist). This will create acceleration to reverse the underspin and make it into top-spin.
  • From Owen: Flick, push and chop and chop on fall. For lefty, right foot first, then left foot in and lean in so that you can reach.

9. Mental Game and Match Strategy

  • Focus and Flow: Look at the ball, don’t play in Automatic Mode. Slow down between each point and think. Focus on the next point – have steps. Be creative.
  • Managing Anxiety: Identify when you are feeling anxious. Acknowledge and normalise feelings of anxiety. Make a game plan. When the heart rate increases, think I am excited, not Calm Down. Use deep, slow breathing, relax, and shrug your shoulders. Try a left-hand squeeze.
  • Visualisation: Use mental rehearsal and vivid visualisation of the perfect serve and the perfect 3rd point of attack. Meditate on the word, relax before a big table tennis match.
  • Overall Attitude: Remember to breathe. Stay positive. Play for fun, don’t worry if you lose, try to win.

10. Health, Injuries, and Physics

  • Nutrition and Hydration: Drink plenty of water, eat plenty of food, have some sweets throughout the night, get plenty of sleep/rest beforehand, replace electrolytes (sports drink or eat food). Play with a full stomach and well hydrated. Make sure your sugar/electrolyte/hydration levels are OK; otherwise, you get tremors.
  • Muscle Care: Warm up and stretch to prevent twitching. Replace electrolytes with a sports drink to avoid twitching during the game, especially in heat and long hours. When muscles are tensed, do progressive muscle relaxation and massage them.
  • Injuries: De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis is a wrist injury on thumb abduction due to tendons attaching the thumb to the wrist from the RBH action of pen grip. It requires physiological rehab. Practice Brachioradialis Stretches.
  • Equipment Care: Clean glasses. Tie laces tight. Use a towel.
  • Physics of TT: Top spin accelerates (comes toward you), chop decelerates (holds back). Angle of Incidence equals Angle of Reflection, regardless of pimples and antispin. Play with their spin, not against their spin.

11. Table Tennis Court Dimensions

  • International: 14m x 7m
  • National: 12m x 6m
  • State: 10m x 5m
  • Local: 9m x 5m
  • Hobby: 8.5m x 4m
  • Badminton court: 14m x 7m

12. Summary of Main Shots

Chop

Short chops: move the hand beyond the chop, full flexion, or extension. Move the ball around and keep it short. Don’t go too long, as they will loop it. Wait for the ball to drop.

The Double Bounce Chop shot. Keep your body in flow with your hand, cut the falling ball under the ball, and use the bottom half of the bat (bottom middle). Return will bounce twice.

Backhand Flick

Must judge whether the spin is top-spin, no spin (approximately), or underspin.

Backhand Flick against underspin or no spin or side-spin (without top):  Straight lower arm perpendicular (approximately) to the table, brush with wrist around the side of the ball, more flick, less power. Do this while the ball is dropping. For more underspin, flick your wrist like a mini-pendulum around the side of the ball. Forside-spinn, consider the direction of your flick.

Backhand Flick against top-spin: Forearm is parallel to the table, and flick on top of the ball and flick forward, not up.

Backhand loop:

Open the angle of the bat (but still slightly closed) around 10-15 degrees forward. For a pen grip, place your thumb on the bat and tilt your wrist.  

Place your hand down in the middle of your legs.

Crouch.

Let the forearm dangle loosely from the upper arm by raising the upper arm to the shoulder level. (Wang Hao)

Clock wrist and elbow backwards like winding a spring.

Judge the amount of underspin on the ball by reading the spin on the ball.

Weight transfer from right leg to left leg (left-hander). Move Right Kneecap (Patella) by pointing inwards and Move Left Kneecap (Patella) by pointing outwards using the quadriceps.

Unwind the elbow and wrist (by starting movement with the fingers) and brush the ball around the side of the ball, in an upward direction, depending on the spin of the ball.

If it is heavy underspin, be careful with the timing (wait a little longer), brush the ball on the fall (“catch the ball”), and send it back.

Forehand loop:

Open the angle of the bat (but still slightly closed) around 10-15 degrees forward.

Crouch.

Judge the amount of underspin on the ball by reading the spin on the ball.

Extend the arm at the elbow, down to the lower leg.

As the ball is approaching, lift your arm (flex at the elbow) in an upward motion. Finish motion with an upward movement of the wrist (by moving the fingers up) for further spin/acceleration. Don’t forget to perform the forehand weight transfer (see below) while engaging the core.

Weight transfer from left leg to right leg (left-hander). Move Left Kneecap (Patella) by pointing inwards and Move Right Kneecap (Patella) by pointing outwards using the quadriceps.

Drive against no spin or top-spin:

For the forehand loop, keep your arm above the table and move your forearm forward. Close the angle of the bat by tilting the wrist and pressing with the thumb. Close the angle more for top-spin. Do the same for backhand.