The simple answer to this question, for most people, is obvious: WIN!. But there are really four things you should be doing in that first game.

First, you want to force your game on your opponent. This means both finding ways to set up your shots and getting those shots going. If you do this successfully, you’ll dominate from the start and won’t have to worry about the other three things I’m going to talk about. (But if you are really dominant, then you need to find stronger competition.)

Second, you want to adjust to your opponent. This partly goes with the first item above, where you are looking to set up your shots – and to do that, you need to figure out what your opponent does. For example, suppose you like to follow your short serves with a forehand (like me). But if your opponent pushes your serve aggressively to wide corners and quick-blocks if you go out of position, then you might have to adjust and loop from both wings. Or you might have to go to perhaps side-top or deep serves to stop that quick push. However, the bigger issue here is adjusting to an unorthodox opponent. It might be one with a weird stroke or with a surface you aren’t used to. You absolutely do not want to go into game two still uncomfortable with what your opponent is doing, so adjust in the first game.

Third, find a way to win. This could be the first item, but the first two items are ways to make sure you win. But if those two items don’t ensure a win, then find a way. For example, I used to be a slow starter, taking a game to get my shots going – and so I often relied on tricky serves to win the first game, and then the rest of my game would catch up. (Meaning, of course, that my opponent would see all my tricky serves in the first game, making them less effective the rest of the way.) There are all sorts of scrappy ways to throw an opponent off for the few points needed to win a game – a sudden heavy push, a slow spinny loop, an angled block, and so on.

And fourth, in the first game you should learn what you need to do to win the match, even if you lost the first game. It’s better to lose the first game but know with certainty how to beat the opponent, then to win the first game by luck (nets and edges, opponent missing easy shots, blow a big lead as the opponent figures out how to play you but barely comes up short, etc.), and go into the second game uncomfortable and unsure of what to do.

Bring this foursome to the table and you’ll be a force to fear!

The best advice I ever received about blocking was to think of it as “Smothering the table.” I don’t remember who told me this, but the advice really works. The point is that blocking should be a quick shot, and to do that, you have to stay close to the table, i.e. “smother it.”

A key part here is on shots to the wide corners. It’s common for players to move sideways to get to these. As they move, the ball angles away from them, and so they are late on getting to the ball. This means either they can’t get to the ball, or they take it late, giving the opponent more time to react. It also means that since you are moving sideways, it’s difficult to give the ball a good, firm block, and so end up just getting the ball back weakly. It also leaves you wide to that corner, out of position and unlikely to cover a strong attack to the other corner.

Worse, when covering the wide backhand, many players twist or rotate their body and end up facing sideways as they flail at the ball, leaving them in an impossible position to make a good block.

So, how should you cover those wide corners? You should move both sideways and in at the ball, cutting it off before it has a chance to bounce out wide. Remember that idea of smothering the table? If you think of yourself as smothering the table, you can move quickly toward the ball and make a quick, effective return, without moving out of position.

So, next time you are forced to defend against an opponent’s wide attacks, smother the table . . . and you’ll end up smothering your opponent with firm and consistent blocks!

Placement is key to winning, in two ways. First, if you place the ball where your opponent is weakest, you put him in the weakest position possible. That’s obvious. Second, it’s not just picking the right placement, but placing it in the most extreme way. This is especially true when playing to the corners, where playing the corners might be safest, but playing even outside the covers might cause the most havoc for your opponent.

But the part that many miss is that good placement leads to good consistency. How? Many players hit their shots with a vague idea of where they want to go, and hit the ball to that vague area. It might be to the forehand or backhand, or to the middle (roughly the opponent’s playing elbow, roughly midway between forehand and backhand).

But if you literally pick a spot on the table to aim at each time, two things will happen. First, you’ll get even better placement as aiming for a specific spot is better than a vague idea of where you are going. Second, aiming for a target leads to greater precision, and thereby more consistency. It’s the difference between throwing darts in the general direction of a dartboard, and aiming for the bullseye. With the latter, you’ll not only get more bullseyes, but you’ll also be far more consistent in at least hitting the dartboard!

At first you might have to consciously aim for a spot. But once you make this a habit, it becomes subconscious, and every time you hit a shot, you’ll be aiming for a specific spot on the table. Most table tennis tactics have to become instinctive as you don’t have time to think things over, and the same goes for placement. Make this a habit, and it’ll become so instinctive that you’ll often be left admiring the brilliant placements made by your subconscious – but you’ll get the credit!!!

Note that in fast rallies, you don’t have time to consciously choose a target and aim for it. Many players think they do, but what’s really happening is your subconscious does this, and as it does, your conscious mind sees what’s happening and (egomaniacs that we are), takes credit for it.

So, choose your targets, and watch the consistency and winning go up!

Many players use running to get in shape for table tennis and other activities, or simply for health reasons. There’s nothing wrong with that. But you get the same thing if you shadow practice your footwork for the same amount of time, plus you develop the footwork technique and the specific muscles used for those movements.

So, if you are a table tennis player who wants to get in shape, rather than run two miles (~15 minutes), why not develop a 15-minute shadow practice routine? You don’t need a table for this, just enough room to imagine there is one that you can move about. Imagine the major table tennis footwork drills, and create a routine. Decide on your own how long you can do each drill – perhaps sixty seconds, then rest ten seconds, repeat. Perhaps do each drill two times. For example:

1. Forehand-Forehand side to side (from wide forehand and middle)
2. Backhand-Backhand side to side (from wide backhand and middle)
3. Forehand-Backhand side to side (corner to corner)
4. Backhand-Forehand-Forehand (backhand from backhand corner, forehand from backhand corner, forehand from forehand corner, repeat)
5. Three-point Forehands (forehand from forehand corner, middle, backhand, middle, forehand, repeat)
6. In-Out Footwork (reach in for short ball to forehand, step back for forehand or backhand loop)

If you do each of these six drills for sixty seconds, with ten seconds in between, that’s seven minutes. Do the routine twice and that’s 14 minutes, or even three times and it’s 21 minutes. Do this three times a week, you’ll get in great shape AND your table tennis footwork and strokes will get better! (Feel free to adjust the various times based on your age and current fitness level.)

(Excerpt from Table Tennis Doubles for Champions by Larry Hodges. April is Doubles Month!)

Historically, most players received with their forehands. This made it easier to forehand loop any serve that went even slightly long. (Some players, even back then, were better with backhand loops and so received backhand, but they were a minority.) Also, in the days before the “banana flip,” many players were stronger flipping against short serves with their forehand than their backhand.

Then came the backhand banana flip, and everything changed. The banana flip allows a player to reach over the table and more easily attack a short ball with the backhand, essentially looping it. It’s basically a mini-loop against a short ball. It now dominates in singles at the advanced levels. (A photo sequence of this is coming up. You might also go to Youtube and do a search for “Backhand Banana Flip.”) However, banana flips take a lot of practice, so below the elite level a more conventional backhand flip works, which is essentially a backhand drive against a short ball, especially against short backspin, where you drive up and forward, with light topspin. (The same is true of the forehand flip, which is done now about the same as it was done forty years ago.)

It’s also thrown the whole forehand-or-backhand receive into question. Even if you don’t really have a backhand banana flip, more and more players these days prefer to backhand flip against short balls rather than forehand flip. You have three options:

1. Receive forehand. This is the more conventional way and puts you in position to forehand loop any ball that goes even a little bit long. If the ball’s short, you can forehand flip, or push short or long.
2. Receive backhand. This allows you to reach over the table and backhand banana flip. If your backhand flip is more conventional, you still may prefer this. However, it means you’ll be using your backhand against long serves as well. If you have a good backhand loop or drive to go along with your backhand flip, then this is often the preferred method. At lower levels, where you can get away more with pushing (even against long serves), this is also common as most players have more control on the backhand side. If the opponents play passive, then by all means receive backhand and push more, especially if your partner has a good attack against backspin.
3. Hybrid forehand and backhand receive. For this, you set up as if receiving forehand. If the serve goes long, you forehand loop. If the serve goes short, you step over and in and receive backhand, pushing or flipping, since many players do this both better on the backhand side. This takes practice as you have to make a quick judgement call on whether the serve is long or short. But it may give you the best of both worlds—forehand loop against long serves, backhand against short serves. Personally, I like to receive forehand against most serves, but against short backhand sidespin serves (or a lefty’s forehand pendulum serve), I (and many others) find it easier to receive backhand, and so will either switch if I see this serve going short, or even set up for a backhand receive.

Receivers should normally set up to receive with their strongest receiving side against serves. If they are stronger on the backhand or have a good banana flip, then they may receive backhand, even though the serve is going to the forehand corner. The main exception is if you have a lefty-righty team, where if the righty received backhand, he’d be in the lefty’s way

As note earlier, in the past, most players received forehand. These days many players are so much better receiving short serves with the backhand (often with banana flips) that as long as they can also loop the deep serve with the backhand, more and more are receiving backhand. However, if you are uncomfortable looping deep serves with your backhand, then you should probably receive forehand.

When receiving in doubles, be ready to attack any deep serve, mostly by looping. Vary the receive against short serves, but don’t push deep too often or your partner may be faced with a strong attack. Mix in well-placed short and long pushes, and flips. It’s often effective to attack the ball wide to the server’s side so that he gets in the way of his partner. If the server’s partner has a good loop, and the server is serving short backspin or no-spin, the ideal receive is often a short push. (If you have good touch, you may even drop short sidespin-topspin serves short by chopping down on the ball with a light grazing touch.)

Short serves to the wide forehand give the receiver a wide angle to the opponents’ wide forehand, which can cause havoc for the serving team, as noted in the section above on Doubles Serves. Use them sparingly . . . unless the receiver has trouble with them! It brings the receiver over the table and a quick return right back at the receiver often tangles the opponents up.