15 Table Tennis Tips to Improve Your Game (TT Skills, Techniques & Tactics)
Table of Contents
Searching for table tennis tips and tricks to take your game to the next level?
In this article, we will focus on the key table tennis skills and techniques that will help you win more games than what you are winning as of now. Yeah, we mean it 😉
The game of Table Tennis is certainly pretty enjoyable. However, the outlook towards the game may vary from person to person. While some like to play it really simple, there are others who like to have it a little challenging for an extra level of excitement even when they are playing for just fun.
The tournament level of playing is always characterized by a very challenging atmosphere and it is often hard to predict the actual strength of an opponent for the first time. However, more than trying to actually figure out your opponent’s strength, it will be wise to work on how to get better at ping pong in terms of strengths and strategies.
Table of Contents:
- Learn the Basics Well
- Improve Footwork
- Learn to Spin the Ball to the Best
- Learn From Your Mistakes
- Learn To Relax
- Capitalize On Opponent’s Weaknesses
- Use Different Strokes
- Hit Using Your Whole Body
- Choose Your Paddle Wisely
- Choose Your Technique Wisely
- Try Not Losing Your Temper
- Join a Club
- Play to Your Own Strengths
- Trick Your Opponent
- Experiment with Different Heights
Table Tennis Tips & Tricks – How to Play Table Tennis
We spent many hours trying to find the best ways you can improve your game and finally, we have our list of the 15 most effective ping pong tips to improve your game.
1. Learn the Basics Well
Just as in any game, getting the basics right is the most important mantra, the same is true for improving your game of table tennis as well. It is difficult to keep the basics in mind while you are in a live play with your opponent.
However, with more and more emphasis on the basics, while practicing, it can help you play with the right table tennis tactics even when you are playing with an opponent without having to strive that hard.
You can actually practice using the play mode for hours. This will not only help you work on your basics but also, help you identify your playing weaknesses and work on them before your opponent can capitalize on it. In addition to that, you can watch a lot of table tennis game videos to learn the basic techniques.
2. Improve Footwork
Although a lot of players may have actually won matches with no footwork, it could have been simply a matter of having played with a weak opponent. However, with a better opponent, things will certainly not work without decent footwork.
This is the reason that we can never rule out the importance of improving the footwork in this game. As you move your foot wisely alongside a good grip technique, this will give you perfect control over the game.
3. Learn to Spin the Ball to the Best
When it comes to ball spinning, you ought to know how to tackle the ball spinning returned by an opponent as well as how to spin the ball while returning it to the opponent. This, of course, takes a proper understanding and good practice.
Here are a few table tennis tips on how you can actually determine if your opponent is spinning the ball:
- If you find the logo of the ball blurry, this means its spinning and can have a greater effect.
- If the opponent’s paddle is moving low to high, it means a topspin and if the opponent’s paddle is moving high to low, it means a backspin.
Also, perfecting these spin techniques will help you beat your opponent’s expectations pertaining to your ball return.
4. Learn From Your Mistakes
If you want to excel in this game, you ought to pay attention to the mistakes that you often tend to make. You not only have to spot them but also work on them. As a matter of fact, a lot of people actually hide their mistakes but that way, it will only get you weak mentally while you are playing with your opponent. Instead, you can work to get rid of these mistakes permanently.
Must Read: Common Table Tennis Mistakes (& How to Correct Them)
5. Learn To Relax
Knowing when to relax and how to relax can be pretty vital to the performance. It holds true for both body and mind. Even at times while the game is slipping off from your hands, you could try to relax and this will eventually help you focus better and turn things back in your favor.
However, these are things that cannot be developed instantly and you may need an expert’s advice; perhaps, your coach can educate you with some of the best ways to relax your body and mind.
6. Capitalize On Opponent’s Weaknesses
You don’t really have to try harder if you are smarter and what it means is besides, having the best skills, you also need to spot the weaknesses of your opponent. It might be easy to say but to actually spot the weakness of your opponent for the first time, it certainly will need to play a little smarter.
You can do it by hitting the ball to the various parts of the table using different stokes and observe how your opponent responds to it. Once you find a weakness of your opponent, it is certainly time to capitalize on it.
7. Use Different Strokes
Using the same strokes over and over again can help your opponent speculate your next move easily. This is the reason that it is always recommended to use different strokes of varying speed.
Also, it is equally important to play your shots to various places on the table instead of returning it or playing your shots to the same place every time.
8. Hit Using Your Whole Body
For a powerful output, it is important that you don’t exert all the force from your arms alone. Instead, you could use your entire body to exert more force.
You can do it by:
- Lowering yourself towards your paddle side,
- Rotating your body little, and,
- Hit the ball by exerting the force from your hip.
9. Choose Your Paddle Wisely
The choice of the paddle can certainly make a huge difference. It is always wise to start with a medium-fast blade as it makes a lot of room for using any technique with maximum control.
As far as the rubber is concerned, it is wise to choose a beginner rubber as it offers less spin and speed which help you return even the spiny balls with the greatest ease.
10. Choose Your Technique Wisely
Choosing table tennis grip is as important as choosing the paddle. In fact, it is not as easy as it seems to find the most suitable technique and it may need you to experiment with different techniques and see which one works the best for you. As you find the most suitable technique for yourself, it will help you to play at the best of your ability.
11. Try Not Losing Your Temper
Mental strength and stability play a very crucial role in this game. The beginners tend to be pretty impatient and tend to smash every ball that comes their way.
Instead, one should rather wait for the right time and smash the ball only when the ball returned by your opponent is too high and have no spin. Until then, you could patiently wait and keep your strokes short and quick.
Also, you could make sure that the ball does not get too high over the net. Most importantly, as one loses temper, one tends to make a lot of mistakes and on the contrary, with a controlled temper, you can play at the best of your strengths and have a better focus too.
12. Join a Club
Joining a Table tennis club can be a very wise thing to do as it helps you find many other players with techniques and playing abilities similar to that of yours. This will help make a lot of room for discussions and practices.
You can actually take part in different competitions and play with excellent players by being a member of a club. This will largely help you improve at ping pong playing.
If you think this is not enough, you may even start a small club of yours by making the most of your garage or garden area.
13. Play to Your Own Strengths
Playing to your own strength means playing within your comfort zone and making the best use of your playing strength by using your best strength in the right time.
Also, at the same time, it is important to not try something too difficult that may build a lot of pressure on you or may get you locked way to a certain extent.
14. Trick Your Opponent
This may sound a little strange but you can certainly trick your opponent to a large extent in this game. In fact, it is an important table tennis strategy for a lot of good players.
It is usually done by faking a spin or pretending as if you are spinning the ball by using fake paddle movements.
That way, your opponent can be easily fooled as one expects the ball to spin when the ball has no spin at all. It is an important aspect of the ping pong serve tricks of many eminent players.
15. Experiment with Different Heights
Utilizing the various heights properly can largely get you closer to winning a point. It, of course, will take a lot of timing but it can certainly get your opponent unprepared. It can be done by hitting the ball just before it reaches the maximum height or using a relaxed technique to hit the ping pong ball that is at its highest point.
Wrapping up Table Tennis Tips…
Follow these simple table tennis tips and trick and get better with every game. Remember, the most important aspect to improve your table tennis game is to ensure you are practicing enough to improve your skills.
