When you face a new and unknown opponent, you aren't sure yet how the rallies are going to go. But you can control how the rallies start. Learn to use serve & receive force rallies to go the way you want them to go, and so make your opponent adjust to you. It doesn't matter if the opponent plays very orthodox or has an unusual or weird style, you can often force them into the type of rally you want. A few examples:

• A backspin serve often forces a backspin return.
• A topspin serve often forces a topspin return.
• Fast & deep serves often get you into a fast exchange, and can back players slightly off the table. Forehand loopers are often forced out of position by fast, deep serves.
• A fast but dead (spinless) serve not only forces many mistakes, but is often returned softly.
• Short & low serves often set you up for a first attack, often a loop. Short backspin serves are usually pushed, while short sidespin serves are either pushed back (usually high) or attacked relatively weakly (assuming the serve was low).
• Slow but deep sidespin serves, against an opponent who doesn't loop, sets you up for all sorts of attacks.
• A short and low no-spin serve is hard to either attack or push heavy and usually gives you a ball you can attack.

One of the strange things top players and coaches often notice is that beginning/intermediate players who "goof off and lob" during practice often improve rapidly. There is a reason for this.

When a beginning/intermediate player backs up and lobs, he develops mobility and footwork, and learns to react to hard-hit shots. Later, as he becomes more advanced, his off-the-table play, especially covering ground for counter-looping, or simply reacting to hard-hit shots, is much better than it would have been otherwise, and plus the habit of moving is more developed. This gives him an advantage, as long as he doesn't overdo it and make a habit of backing off the table too easily. Another advantage is that by lobbing, you better understand a lobber's strengths and weaknesses, and so better know what to do when you play a good lobber.

There are two classic cases of this. Sweden's Jan-Ove Waldner and Mikael Appelgren were sometimes called "uncoachable" as juniors due to their tendency to "goof off and lob" during practice. Both went on to be ranked #1 in the world, with two-time World Men's Singles Champion and Men's Singles Olympic Gold Medalist Waldner often called the greatest player in history. These days players tend to play a bit closer to the table than in the past, but the principle still holds, as long as it isn't overdone.

Many players learn to put decent spin on their serves. However, they often find it difficult to disguise that spin. Why not develop a no-spin serve, with a fast, violent serve motion? Change directions as the racket contacts the ball (contacting the ball as the racket is changing directions at the split second where it is nearly motionless), or contact the ball near the handle of the blade (where the racket is moving slowest) so there will be little spin . . . and your opponent will be left making a snap decision on what spin is on the ball. Very often they will react to it as if it has spin. For example, if they think it has backspin (but doesn't), they might open their racket to push, and pop it up. Or if they attack it, they'll lift it off the end. A no-spin serve is just as effective as a spin serve if the opponent thinks there is spin on the serve!

Table tennis is a game of movement, and most of that movement is side-to-side. To master the sport, you must be a master at patrolling the five-foot width of the table. Which is why players who wish to improve do lots and lots of side-to-side footwork drills. (There are also in-out drills, but that's a separate issue.)

But you don't need a table to do this - you can do it at home! Just find a place where you have room, and measure off five feet. Then, either with or without a racket (but preferably with!), just practice your side-to-side movement, just like it was a game! Make sure to cover both corners, stroking forehands and backhands alternately over each. Then perhaps do the same, doing just forehands, and covering half to two-thirds of the table as you go side-to-side. Then do it again with your backhand, perhaps covering half the table. And then, when you're ready to go big-time, do the three-shot 2-1 drill sequence: a backhand from the backhand side; a forehand from the backhand side; a forehand from the forehand side; and repeat. (And then perhaps add an in-out drill - perhaps reach in for a short forehand ball, then step out for a deep backhand, and repeat.)

Do this, and you not only will improve your table tennis - dramatically! - but you'll also get great exercise. Who needs to go out and run ten minutes when you can do it inside? (If you want to count, it's 1056 five-foot moves to a mile!)

One of the lessons I learned from legends like Dan Seemiller and Dave Sakai was the value of down-the-line training. When you hit crosscourt, you have about ten feet and 3.5 inches. Down the line, it's only nine feet, so 15.5 inches shorter. If you can maintain an aggressive down-the-line attack in a drill, then going crosscourt is easy!

Often the simplest drill is the best. Just have one player hit or loop forehands down the line to the other player's backhand. (If you have a righty and a lefty, then it's forehand to forehand and backhand to backhand.) Drive the ball aggressively deep and as close to the side-line as you can. Often the forehand player is the aggressor, the backhand player blocking, but the backhand player should also learn to be aggressive with these down-the-line shots.

When hitting or looping backhands down the line, face the direction you are going. You can make last-second adjustments in a game sometimes to throw an opponent off, but by the time you start the forward swing, you need to be lined up for the shot, especially the shoulders. The exception to this is when just blocking against an opponent's aggressive shots, where you can just angle the racket side to side to change directions.

When hitting or looping forehands, you also want to line the shot up. This usually means more shoulder rotation and taking the ball a little later than usual.

There are countless drills where you can incorporate down-the-line shots, but start with the simplest, simple down the line. Then you can progress to other drills. Perhaps have one player hit side to side while the other alternates forehands and backhands, with one of them crosscourt, the other down-the-line.

After doing lots of down-the-line training, two things will happen. You will be able to do it in a match, and you will find crosscourt surprisingly easy, with that extra 15.5 inches!