Let’s keep this simple. This is how a champion thinks:

1. The next point you play is the only thing in the world that matters. Note that it’s not the most important thing in the world – that type of thinking would just make you nervous. It’s simply the only thing that matters, and so should get your full attention.
2. The previous point is completely meaningless and should promptly be forgotten. It doesn’t matter if you were up 10-9 match point and missed an easy ball, or any other situation. The only thing you should remember of it (and all previous points) is the tactical aspect, so you can judge what tactics to use for the next point.

That is all.

Someone once complained that reading coaching articles was pointless since nobody ever became a champion player by reading. He was absolutely right and absolutely wrong.

No, you cannot become a champion by reading about it. Coaching articles and books (including mine!) are not meant to be used in isolation. They are supplements to improvement. As any good coaching article would say or imply, you need to practice what is being said.

But even more, to learn and improve at table tennis (and presumably all sports) you must watch top players and/or learn from a coach. (At the higher levels you definitely need both.) Coaching articles and books can really help in understanding these things, can point you in the right direction, and can help in your thinking about the game and how to improve. They are especially helpful in the realm of tactics and strategic development, since those are the aspects that require the most thought – but even there, you can’t learn tactics without trying them out and seeing what works.

And since every rule is meant to be broken, somewhere out there is the first future table tennis champion who’ll do it in the comfort of his home, by reading one of my books in a lounge chair. It could be you!

You only get one break that you can call during a match, and it's only sixty seconds long. How should you use it?

Here are four reasons you might consider a time-out, in rough order of how often you should use this reason. (Ideally, you should have more than one of these reasons.) One catch – for older players and players not in good physical shape, “To rest” is likely the most important one. The best timeout might be when you do three or four of these at the same time!

1. To regain your focus.
2. To think about tactics or discuss them with your coach.
3. To rest.
4. To let a hot opponent cool off.

Far too many players use their timeout as a desperation move when they are on the brink of losing. That’s too late. Instead, use it when it can make a difference. For example, if playing a very strong opponent in a best of five, many players will lose the first two games decisively and fall way behind in the third game, and then call a timeout. Instead, perhaps call a timeout halfway through that second game (or even the first), when you start falling behind, so you can clear your mind and consider new tactics before you fall behind 0-2. That could turn the whole match around, which is unlikely to happen if you wait until you are down 0-2 and way behind in the third.

One interesting thing – the Chinese like to call timeouts when they are on the verge of winning a game or match, such as serving up 10-8. It’s a way to lock up that game. But this differs from player to player – if you are completely focused and know what you want to do, there’s no reason to call a timeout there.

I’ve watched players, even top players, spend hour after hour practicing the simplest serves imaginable. Yes, you need to practice basic serves so you develop near-perfect control of their height, depth, and direction. But it’s drudgery to practice such serves over and Over and OVER when there’s so much more you can do.

Serve practice is where you also work on putting trickery into your serves, in particular deception. Imagine you are serving to a real player. Practice hiding your spin with fast racket movements where you exaggerate one direction of the racket while contacting the ball in a different way with a barely noticeable twitch of your racket. Or work on maximizing your spin to the point where the ball seemingly explodes into flame. Or, after developing super-spinny serves, learn to use the same motion but serve with no-spin by contacting the ball near the handle. Or work on fast and spinny aggressive serves where you jam your opponent’s middle or spin it away from him at the corners. Or fast dead ones, especially at their elbow, that they put in the net.

There is so much more to serving than just putting the ball in play. If you are doing it right, it’s both a science and an art – and a blast to practice!

You’ve all played them – a tournament match that is simply uncompetitive, where you don’t have to try and you’ll still win easily. These can be dangerous matches. Why?

First, make sure it’s a “laugher” match. I once coached a match where my player was rated about 700 points higher than the opponent, and won the first game 11-0. Another of my students had a tougher match starting, so after talking briefly to the first player – mostly about keeping his focus throughout - I went to the other match. Afterwards, I came back and my player had won - deuce in the fifth!!! The simplest way to avoid this is to assume no matches are “laughers.” But even if you assume that, some of them are laughers. What to do in them?

First, keep your focus. It is far easier in a tournament to keep your focus than it is to recover it once you’ve lost it. Winning a game too easily is a common reason to lose focus – which is what happened in the match above. So, focus every point as if it were the most important point you’ve ever played. That should be true of every point you play in a tournament. (An occasional exception is for older or out-of-shape players, or when you have a lot of matches, and so intentionally play less actively in such an “easy” match so as to save yourself for later. But be careful of doing this as it can backfire.)

Second, while you might not need to focus on tactics or smart play against a much weaker player, you don’t want to mess up your own fundamentals by going easy and thereby not playing your normal game. That’s a quick way to mess up your game. That means looping against a push the same as you would against someone in a more competitive match. Otherwise you are just practicing playing poorly. This doesn’t mean ripping everything, it simply means using the same types of loops and other shots you’d use against a stronger player. You can push more to save energy, but don’t overdo it.

Third, work on serves and other fundamentals. Playing a match like this allows you to practice serves and other shots without worrying about the outcome. For example, when I used to play much weaker players in a tournament, my favorite tactic was to just serve backspin over and over, they’d push it back, and I’d have to move and loop every one of them effectively, including good placement. I didn’t need to rip the ball, but I’d practice the strong loops I’d want to use in a more serious match.

Lastly, don’t think of a “laugher” match as a waste of time. They are the perfect time to work on your focus, your fundamentals, and whatever aspects of your game that might need practice. And practice makes perfect – even if the opponent needs a lot more than you.