In a team competition, you have to set up your team lineup in advance. How do you do this? It depends on your priorities. If your priority is strictly winning, then there are guidelines on how to do this, which I'll go over below. If your priority is to let the players play roughly equally, then you place them in any order you want, perhaps setting up a rotation. Or you might focus on the most important team matches and play your best lineup in those, while playing the "weaker" players more often in less important team matches, such as against teams that are much weaker. (You can also do this against teams that are much stronger, but your stronger players might want to play in those ones. It can be a tricky balance.) Or you might have players who want to play more, and others who want to play less.

The one thing I strongly advise is that the team decide in advance if they are playing strictly to win (i.e. best order in key team matches), playing so they play roughly equally (and so set up a rotation), or something in between. If your team is roughly equal, then perhaps drop all the calculations, set up a rotation (which you may make some adjustments as you go along), and then just let them play!

Swaythling Cup Format
There are many Teams tournaments that use the Swaythling Cup format, which is three players on each team, with all three players scheduled to play the other three in a best of nine, all singles. As soon as a team wins five, the team match normally ends, so not all nine matches are played.

How would you want to set up your team in such a format? There are several factors. Here is the normal rotation for such a team match:

A-X
B-Y
C-Z
B-X
A-Z
C-Y
B-Z
C-X
A-Y

At the start, the two teams flip a coin to see who gets to choose whether they are ABC or XYZ. Should you choose ABC or XYZ? If you are the ABC team, then you generally put your strongest player in the B position/seventh match, second strongest in the C position/eighth match, and the weakest in the A position/ninth match. (More on this below.) In this case, your weakest player, in the A position, plays two of the first five matches, which lowers your chance of an easy 5-0 win. If you are the XYZ team, then your Z player (generally your strongest player) doesn't play until the third match, but then plays the fifth and seventh match - so he gets less rest than the others, and so you might wear him out. For this reason, I usually go for ABC - but I don't consider it a huge issue. Here are the matches each player would play:

A: 1,5,9
B: 2,4,7
C: 3,6,8
X: 1,4,8
Y: 2,6,9
Z: 3,5,7

The order you set your lineup makes a difference. In the case of a tie between three or more teams, they go to the individual match record to break up the tie. (If it is still tied, then it goes to individual game record, and then point record.)

Suppose you are Team Loop. Suppose you beat Team Smash, 5-4, with your strongest player winning all three, including winning the ninth match. Team Smash then beats Team Chop, 5-3. Then Team Chop beats Team Loop, 5-3. The three teams are now tied, and so we go to the individual match record. Team Loop is 8-9 (5-4, 3-5); Team Smash is 9-8 (4-5, 5-3); Team Chop is 8-8 (3-5, 5-3). Result? Team Loop comes in third.

Now suppose Team Loop had instead played their strongest player in the seventh position against Team Smash and won that team match 5-2 instead of 5-4. Then Team Loop is now 8-7 (5-2, 3-5); Team Smash is 7-8 (2-5, 5-3); Team Chop is 8-8 (3-5, 5-3). Team Loop comes in first!!! Order matters.

So you'd normally want to set up your lineup to allow you win by as much as possible or lose by as little as possible. (But note that under Swaythling Cup the order has no direct effect on who wins that team match; it only matters in the case of a tie.) Assuming that, this usually means playing your strongest player in the #7 position, to maximize his number of matches. You'd want your next strongest player to play in the #8 position. Then you'd play your weakest player in the #9 position, minimizing the number of matches he'd play. The ranking of your players could also change, depending on who your opponents are - there are style advantages and past records to take into account. (As well as egos, but we won't get into that!)

On the other hand, whoever plays that #9 match is under a lot of pressure. So sometimes you may want to adjust the order and put your best "pressure" player in that position. Or you might have a team with an older player and two younger ones, where you might put the older player in the #9 position in most matches, so he plays less and gets more rest.

Many years ago, at the U.S. Open Teams (then played in Detroit), I was in exactly this last situation. I was player/coach with two up-and-coming junior players. I told them in advance that I'd play the #9 match in every team match. We ended up in the B Division (average rating 2250) - and we won it. I went in with the highest rating on the team, but the two juniors both passed me in that tournament - but I was 5-0 playing the ninth match!!!

There is another big exception to this rule. If you are pretty sure the opposing team is going to set their order in the conventional way, with their strongest player in the #7 position and so on, then you know in advance who would play who. In this case, you might set your lineup to set up the best matchups to maximize your chances of winning by as much as possible, keeping it close if you lose. For example, if one of your players has trouble against choppers and the other team has a chopper, you might set the lineup to avoid that. Or if you have a player who is great against choppers, you'd set the lineup to make sure they play. And so on. But beware - if the other team sees you doing all these calculations, they may realize what you are doing and cross you up. Or they may simply use a different order for their own reasons, and you end up with a weaker order from over-thinking.

There are other exceptions. Late in a tournament you might be in a position where you know you have to win 5-0 to advance. In that case, you'd look at the order of play and make sure your two strongest players play two matches in the first five matches.

Olympic Team Format
In this three-person team format, you have the following order:

B/C-Y/Z
A-X
C-Z
A-Y
B-X

Note the first match is doubles. (This might not be true in all tournaments.) Also note that one player plays two singles matches, while his teammates play doubles together plus one singles match each. In this format, most often you play your strongest player in the two singles matches. However, this gets tricky if the other two players aren't a good doubles team, or if the strongest singles player is even better at doubles. In this case, if you play the #1 player in singles, you get two wins but perhaps give up the doubles match, and so you have only two other matches to get the third needed win. But if your #1 player can team up with one of your other players and lock up that match and a singles match, that gives you three other matches to get that third win. So in this case you might play your #1 in the doubles.

In this format, the order has a direct affect on who wins. The team with the better order gets the matchups they want and avoids the ones they don't want.  

In this format, it is generally an advantage to be the ABC team. This allows you to put your #1 player in the A position, playing two singles matches, with the second one in the fourth match. If you are the XYZ team and put your #1 player in the X position, where he plays two singles, he won't play his second singles match until the fifth match. So the ABC team has a better chance of winning 3-1 instead of 3-2, or losing 2-3 instead of 1-3. This helps if teams are tied - see example given above under Swaythling Cup.

Since you want to maximize your chances of winning by as much as possible, the ABC team, assuming their #1 player is the A player (with two singles matches), would normally want to play their second strongest player in the C position (third match), with their weakest player in the B position (fifth match). The XYZ team, assuming their #1 player is the X player (with two singles matches), would normally want to play their second strongest player in the Z position (also third match).

However, the biggest consideration under this format is trying to set up the matchups you want so as to actually win the team match. For example, you might be able to guess who the other team will play in the two singles matches and adjust your order accordingly. Or if both teams put their #2 player to play in the third match, and the opposing team's #2 has a style advantage or strong head-to-head record against your #2, you might want to rethink your order. In general, if you can guess the other team's lineup, you can set up your lineup accordingly. But beware - the other team may anticipate this and so cross you up! In a big match, it might be worth it for a team meeting to go over the possibilities and see if you can match up the players.

Corbillon Format
This is the simplest format. You can play with two players, where each plays the other two players, plus doubles (usually the third match), so it's best of five. You can have a third or fourth player, who only plays doubles. But the strategy here is simple: 1) play your best doubles team; 2) play your best player in the fourth position to maximize the chances he gets two matches, so you win by as much as possible or keep it closer if you lose. One key issue - you don't have to fill in your doubles team until after the first two matches are played (assuming the doubles is the third match). So unless you are playing with just two players, you should wait until those two matches are done, in case one of your doubles players gets injured playing in those singles matches. Once you fill in the doubles players, you can't change it, so why take the chance?

When you push (backspin vs. backspin), you don't think of yourself as "going for a shot." It's just an easy shot that you can normally do over and Over and OVER, with few mistakes. But when you learn to loop (topspin vs. backspin, forehand or backhand), at first it's a tricky and erratic shot. Why is this? If you loop relatively slow, the shot isn't that much faster than a push. Just as with a push, you are brushing the ball to create spin. There are few reasons why it should be any less consistent than a push. And yet, players often loop with the mentality that they are "going for a shot," and so it's acceptable to miss a lot of them.

Yes, there are certain aspects that make looping trickier than pushing, and I could write extensively about the differences. But that would be counter-productive - the point here is that many players, at least subconsciously, way over-estimate the difficulty of looping consistently against a push (or any other ball for that matter), and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Instead, why not tell yourself how easy it is, that it's no harder than pushing? When you drop the "going for a shot" mentality and instead think of it as just another shot you can do over and Over and OVER, your consistently will go up quite a bit. The reality is that unless you are going for a huge loop kill, or have completely misread the spin, or are out of position, looping a push should be EASY and nearly 100% consistent. Think of it that way, and while you might not get to 100% consistency, we'll settle for 90% and a huge increase in your level of play.

Is there a certain score or situation where you play best? Some players play better when they are behind; others play better when ahead. Some play best when they are way down, say, 4-10, and figure they have nothing to lose and so play relaxed. Others play better when up 10-4, since they are confident. Others play better under pressure, and might play better when up 10-8 or down 8-10, or maybe some other score, like 3-7. Some play better in big matches, others do better in less important ones. Which type are you? Perhaps, next time you play, imagine the score or situation is whatever makes you play your best. Perhaps imagine you are up or down 10-4, 10-8, or 7-3, or it's the men's or women's final at the Worlds, or it's just another match at the club. Imagine the psychology that allows you to play best at that score or situation. Then, after a time, you might learn to match that psychology no matter what the score or situation is.

The quickest way to learn to beat a stronger player is by losing to him, but understanding why you lost. This way you know what to work on so as to increase your chances of winning next time, or at some time in the future. It's a continuous learning process, and players who improve rapidly are constantly learning. For example, if you had trouble with a specific serve, or a spinny loop, or a heavy push, don't just complain about it - find a top player or coach who can mimic that serve or technique and practice against it and turn that weakness into a strength. If you realize there's a serve or technique you need to develop to win, then develop that serve or technique. If there are tactics that you think you need to develop to win, then try them out in matches and see what works. But it all starts with learning from your matches, and especially your losses, so you can identify what you need to work on. All these bits and pieces learned here and there add up to a savvy player.

Returning serves is everyone's biggest weakness - or at least it seems that way. To learn to read spin, try focusing just on the contact period - ignore the rest of the motion before and after contact. Imagine taking a mini-video of the split second of contact. If you do this regularly, pretty soon you'll be able to isolate in your mind the actual direction of the racket at contact. From that, you can read the type of spin. (You also have to read the amount of spin, which comes from racket speed and acceleration, grazing contact, and grippiness of the surface.)

However, you can also read spin by the way the ball comes off the paddle, travels through the air, and from both bounces on the table. You can't do this the first time you try it - it takes practice. Ideally, have a coach or player with good serves let you practice against their serves, where you focus on all of these aspects until you begin to be able to read the spin multiple ways. Imagine how the spin will affect the ball, and figure out what to watch for.

• A backspin ball goes down slightly at contact during the serve (relative to the racket), slows down when it hits the table, and floats as it moves through the air.
• A topspin ball goes up slightly at contact during the serve (relative to the racket), takes a low, fast hop when it hits the table, and drops as it moves through the air.
• A sidespin ball goes sideways in each of these steps.
• A no-spin ball does none of these things.

The receiver also needs to read the amount of spin. Against a somewhat grippy inverted rubber, this is roughly done by a simple formula: racket speed - ball speed = ball spin. What this means is that a server's racket speed at contact will convert to ball speed and ball spin; if the racket moves fast, but the ball comes out slowly, then most of the energy has been converted to spin. (It's actually a bit more complicated than this. You get more spin if you accelerate into the ball rather than moving the racket at a constant speed, but it's close enough. Plus you have to take into consideration the grippiness of the rubber, as a non-grippy surface will have less spin.)