When pushing on the backhand, most players are at one of three levels:

• Level One: Get it back.
• Level Two: Do something with it. This usually means one of three things: Quick off the bounce and angled; heavy; or short. This is effective at all levels. But there's another level. . . .
• Level Three: Do even more!

There are several examples of "more." You can aim your racket one way, and at the last instant go another, a must learn for any advanced player. You can fake heavy spin, and give no-spin by snapping the wrist vigorously just after contact. You should learn both of these. Another option is a sidespin push.

There are different types of sidespin pushes, but what we'll cover here is the most common one: the backhand sidespin push, where the racket is going right to left at contact (for a righty).

To do this shot, start with your racket a little above the ball and to the right. You want to take the ball off the bounce, so your opponent is rushed; the more time he has, the more likely he'll adjust to your sidespin. As the ball hits the table, stroke down and sideways (right to left). Some contact the ball toward the bottom of the racket, so they can take it quicker off the bounce, or you can contact in the middle of the racket for more control. The key is to put both backspin and sidespin on the ball.

Placement is important. You usually want to do this shot to the opponent's wide backhand so it breaks into his backhand (assuming both players are righties or both are lefties). It's a tricky ball to backhand loop, and if he tries running around to use his forehand, the sidespin pulls the ball farther to the side then he's expecting.

When a righty plays a lefty, both players have the option of using this shot so that it breaks into the wide forehand. Not only is it pulling away from the opponent, but this type of breaking away sidespin often causes more trouble to player's forehands than ones that break into the body (i.e. righty versus righty). It also puts him out of position. When a lefty serves to you (if you are a righty, or a righty serving to you if you are a lefty), and serves short to the backhand, this is an excellent return, into his wide forehand.

The down side of this shot is that, because there is less backspin, an opponent who reads it properly can loop right through the ball, often off the bounce. So you don't want to over use this shot. However, done at proper times, it's a highly effective shot. It also puts one more thing in your opponent's mind to think about.

One time this shot is especially useful is against an opponent's forehand sidespin serve (assuming two righties). You can use the opponent's sidespin against him, returning and adding to his own spin as you really sidespin your return into his wide backhand. 

Most players know what a third-ball attack is: you serve, the opponent returns, and you attack aggressively, usually with a loop, a smash, a hard-hit drive, or perhaps a quick off-the-bounce drive. It's that simple. But this means you are relying on your opponent to return your serve in a way that you can attack effectively. While you want to develop your third-ball attack, you also want to develop your five-ball attack as your fallback plan.

What is a five-ball attack? You've probably already figured it out: you serve, opponent returns, you attack in a way to set up your next shot, opponent returns, and you attack aggressively (often with a smash or loop kill).

A five-ball attack often is just a third-ball attack with one more shot. But if your opponent is making your third-ball attack difficult, you might want to vary it with a shot that's more difficult for your opponent to keep you from doing.

In the "classic" five-ball attack, you serve backspin, opponent pushes back deep, you slow- or medium-speed loop, opponent blocks, and you end the point with a smash or loop kill.

A deep, spinny loop is difficult to return without setting up your next shot. Depth is often most important - a slow loop that lands short on the opponent's side is easy to attack. (The exception to this is against a counterlooper who's too far off the table to react quickly to a slow loop that lands short.) A deep loop is much harder to return effectively. Plus, the very slowness of your slow loop gives you time to get into position for the next shot. This is why you can slow loop from the backhand corner with your forehand, and still be in position for the next shot, even if you aren't very fast.

Placement is key. The best place is often right at the opponent's middle, the transition point between forehand and backhand, usually right at the elbow. This forces them to make a quick decision between forehand and backhand, and often leads to a weak or inconsistent return. Or go wide to the corners if the opponent has trouble covering them. A deep, spinny loop to the very wide backhand can often cause havoc.

Many players have trouble serving and looping if their opponent pushes the serve back very heavy. This may mess up your third-ball attack, but it plays right into your fifth-ball attack. Use their backspin against them; let the ball drop slightly more than usual, and then really topspin away with a slow loop. In fact, sometimes don't even look for a third-ball "attack"; decide in advance that, unless you get an easy ball, you will serve and slow loop. This will help make your slow loop even more consistent, since there's no indecision.

Finally, remember that you don't have to force a put-away with the fifth ball. If the shot isn't there, don't go for it; just play another aggressive shot if possible, and focus on the next ball, and so on. 

Most players serve with a purpose. They are trying to get you to return their serve in a specific way so they can attack it. So . . . don't.

The classic case is the forehand looper who serves backspin to your backhand, anticipating a push to his backhand. He steps around and forehand loops. If he's got good footwork, he'll usually follow that shot with at least one more forehand loop unless you make a great return. So he's getting two forehand loops in a row, exactly what he wants.

Why not do a quick push to the wide forehand instead? If he's looking for a return to his backhand, you might catch him going the wrong way; many players have stronger forehand attacks from the backhand side (since the table isn't in the way); and if he does loop it, you can block to his backhand, and so he only gets one forehand attack. You've take his game away from him and so have a much better chance of winning.  

Or you could push the ball back short, and take away his loop altogether. Or you could attack the short serve. The key is to find something to do that he is not comfortable with. If he likes to follow his serve with a backhand loop if you push to his backhand, and a forehand loop if you push to his forehand, then perhaps do a quick push to the middle, rushing him as he tries to decide which side to attack with.

If your opponent likes get into backhand exchanges, and so serves topspin, why give in to him? Learn to vary the return. Go to his forehand first, then quick to the backhand, so he has to both play his presumably less comfortable forehand, and then his backhand on the move. Or chop the serve back, which he doesn't want you to do, or he'd be serving backspin.  

Suppose your opponent has tricky serves that you keep pushing and popping up, and he keeps smashing your returns. Why is your ball popping up? Because you're pushing against a ball that doesn't have backspin. (It could be topspin, sidespin, or no-spin.) He loves it when you push it since it sets up his smash. But since it's topspin, it should be easy (with practice) to return with a simple topspin shot. Shorten your stroke, control the shot back, and you'll take away what your opponent wants you to do. (Sounds easy, doesn't it?)  

Corollary: Once you've established you are not going to give your opponent what he's looking for, a smart opponent will anticipate that, and expect you to do something different. That's when you cross him up with the return he was expecting before, but not now.

So next time you play, figure out what your opponent wants, and give him something else. 

If you cannot match up with your opponent with speed or spin, then you need other weapons. One of the best ways to beat faster and more powerful players ("bashers") is with ball control. Just as an all-out attacker uses his serve and receive to set up his attack, a ball control player uses serve and receive to take control of the rally. For him, it's all about ball control, placement, and shot selection. If he's able to use his ball control to make the basher uncomfortable, he's won the battle. So how do you do this?

Start with receive, for it is while serving that bashers dominate, given the chance. But is he really dominating on his own, or are you letting him dominate? For example, if the basher has a strong forehand, and follows his serve with his forehand over and over, what are you doing to stop this? Few players can really dominate the whole table with the forehand against well-placed shots. Does the basher really do so, or is the receiver keeping the ball well inside the corners, so the basher doesn't have to cover the whole table? Ball control means ball control; the ball control player needs to be able to return the serve anywhere on the table. This means mostly one of two things: either pinning the basher down by relentlessly returning the ball to the extreme wide backhand (even outside the corner if returning crosscourt), or by aiming it there, and last-second returning it to the extreme wide forehand (again, even outside the corner for crosscourt shots). If you can't do this, then you don't have the ball control (yet) to play a ball control game. How can you learn to do so? By practicing it in game after game until you get it down. 

Now supposed your opponent attacks off his serve from both wings, so wide-angled returns to the backhand aren't really effective. Now the basher is ready to bash from both wings - or is he? Try quick returns to his elbow (or a little to his backhand if he favors the forehand from the middle), and watch his shots begin to crumble as he makes last-second decisions. Plus, by going to the middle, it draws the basher out of position, giving you an opening to the corners on the next shot. 

Now we move on to serving. The basher serves so he can attack, usually trying to end the point as quickly as possible. The ball control player should also mostly serve so he can attack, but in his case he's not trying to end the point quickly. He's looking to attack to make the basher uncomfortable, because the basher isn't comfortable when he's not attacking. So attack first, and force him to either defend or go for difficult counter-attacks. The key again is placement. Go to the side that gives the attacker the most trouble. If he can't block or counterloop consistently on the forehand, then nail him there over and over. Even if he does make the return - even a strong one - it opens him up on the backhand side. Or attack his middle (roughly his elbow), which should be your default opening attack anyway. Or if he's weak on the backhand defense (usually blocking), then go there. Or drive him crazy by going everywhere. Just do each shot with a purpose - to make the basher uncomfortable, and to take him out of position for the next shot. 

Once in the rally, the ball control player has a 2-1 advantage over the basher. He wins most of the points when he has the initiative, as does the attacker. But when neither has the initiative, guess who has the advantage? The ball control player, who has successfully taken away the basher's attack, thereby bringing him down a level.  

It's almost a cliché. I hand someone a box of balls to practice their serves. They grab a ball and serve, grab a ball and serve, grab a ball and serve, and so on, all done with the speed and thoughtfulness of firing a machine gun. Then they wonder why their serves aren't any good. There's a lot more to developing great serves than rapid-fire serve practice, where the goal seems to be to empty the box of balls as rapidly as possible. So what should you do differently?

First and foremost, learn the proper way to execute great serves. You can do this by watching players with great serves, or a coach or top player can show you. It's pointless to practice your serves if you don't know how to do them properly.

Once you have at least some idea of what you need to practice, get that box of balls and go to the table. It's generally best done alone; having someone return your serve can be a distraction, especially when you are learning a new serve. (But sometimes you want someone to return your serves, so you can get feedback, and to see how much difficulty they have.)

Grab a ball and get ready to start. You might want to first hold a ball in your fingers (tightly) and practice the actual contact you are going to make with the ball. (But don't rub the sponge into the held ball too hard or you'll damage your sponge.)

Now go into your serving position, and come to a complete stop. The rules actually state that you must start the serve with the ball resting freely on the palm of your stationary free hand--but there's a more important reason to do this than complying with the rules.

This is where you visualize the serve in your head. Don't just grab a ball and mechanically serve it; from now on, never serve a ball without first seeing it done exactly as you want it done, in your head. This is what the top players do. Visualization is one of the best tools in sports, and for serving, it's especially good since there are no outside influences--it's just you and the ball. In your head, see how you swing at the ball, the contact, and the entire trajectory of the serve as you want it.

After you've visualized the serve in your head, go ahead and serve. Don't try to guide it; let the subconscious take over. (You should do this for all table tennis shots.) Let go; you're just an observer. Watch the ball as it leaves your racket. Did it bounce on each side of the table at the spot as you visualized? Did it bounce low to the net as you visualized? Did it go at the speed you visualized? Did it have the spin you visualized? Did it go short or long as you visualized? Am I emphasizing the word visualize enough for you to make clear its importance?

Now visualize the next serve, making corrections for what went wrong in the previous one, and emphasizing the aspects that went right. You are now well on your way to developing great serves. You should also be tired and sweaty pretty soon--serving is a very physical motion. You can't make the ball spin at extremely high speeds if you can't get your racket moving at extremely high speeds, like a whip.

Does any of this sound boring? It shouldn't. If you just grab a ball and serve, grab a ball and serve, grab a ball and serve, that's like working an assembly line at a factory. That's boring. But serving is the trick part of table tennis, and practicing your serves, and all the tricky, deceptive things you can do with them, while revving up and varying the spin, is like practicing a magic trick. That's not boring, and neither should practicing serves.