Placement strategy/tactics

So I was training tonight and someone was pointing out to my training partner that 80% of my forehand loops and openings were going cross court. I will vary the placement periodically to the middle or down the line but a majority are cross court. Sometime I will try to play a sequence of cross court then down the line, but a lot of times I find myself going back cross court. Every now and then I’ll open a push down the line but I don’t really have a purpose other than changing it up.

So I have a few questions.
1) How often do you find yourself placing your shots cross court vs middle vs down the line?
2) When do you choose to mix it up? Randomly or do you notice a habit or trend which prompts the change?
3) What is your goal when you mix it up? Are you doing it with purpose?
 
says Footwork footwork footwork
Nice topic!

I find myself at a point where I need to improve my tactics and placement as well. At the moment, I vary the placement almost randomly- or at least it’s not a conscious thing for me. I think if I notice the opponent moving one way, I’ll try to hit the opposite side.

I noticed recently that I’ve been instinctively going for inside out (almost down the forehand line) shots on my 3rd or 5th ball attacks- or when we get into a forehand counter topspin rally with more than 2 shots. I’m actively telling myself to not attempt this as it’s a very low % shot for me, but my body just wants to do it! WTH?


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Sometimes I do it randomly just to try to mess up my opponent. But, most of the time I think I try to do it on purpose to gain a specific advantage. For example, some players like to really pin me on my back hand by going cross court backhand to backhand over and over. When this happens I'll try to play a backhand down the line to their forehand so that I get a more favourable angle to get my forehand (which is my more powerful shot) back into the rally.
 
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Depend on how the opponent play and moves. If they are trying to play alot fh, more towards the corners. The same if they are small.

If they are staying and want to play with the backhand or are a big player i go more toward the pocket.

I want the opponent to move, how info that Do not really matter.

I think in general that it is good to play alot pararell because The opponent Will have less time to react. Diagonal is good for the angle.
 
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Easier said than done...but: hit where they are not?

If not, push wide, loop wide, smash to the body.
 

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Brs

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If you are pressured by time or quality then diagonal bc hitting the table is priority #1. If the ball is easier then at the elbow to put them off-balance. Unless they are a pure fh player and will always play the elbow ball with a fh, then either parallel into their bh, or wide diagonal to pull them off their bh corner and open it up for the next ball.

Unfortunately more than 50% of the time I have to focus on making a shot at all, placement considerations overflow my queue.
 
1st placement, to make the opponent out of position. Follow up, opposite end of the table.

This is something I try to do, but I feel like I get lost in the moment and forget the sequence. I just need to keep drilling it.

I guess I asked because I sometime play a shot just to do it and when I miss the shot I get frustrated that I didn't just play the higher percentage shot. I'm trying to figure out if I should change my mindset about it or not.
 
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Hit wide then wider on the next shot. Usually after hitting the ball wide the opponent will move back to a neutral position. This is where hitting the ball wider again wins because the opponent can't change directions that fast. One of my practice partners calls that a behind the momentum shot. I like getting the opponent to move then hitting the ball in the opposite direction they are moving. Pocket shots are good too.
 
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Hit wide then wider on the next shot. Usually after hitting the ball wide the opponent will move back to a neutral position. This is where hitting the ball wider again wins because the opponent can't change directions that fast. One of my practice partners calls that a behind the momentum shot. I like getting the opponent to move then hitting the ball in the opposite direction they are moving. Pocket shots are good too.

I like this....I find myself doing this when I play lefties (as I'm right handed). I'll my backhand to their elbow but just enough inside for them to use their backhand and then I'll take the next shot even closer to the line. Works a good bit so they return a weak ball that I can do more with.
 
This is something I try to do, but I feel like I get lost in the moment and forget the sequence. I just need to keep drilling it.

I guess I asked because I sometime play a shot just to do it and when I miss the shot I get frustrated that I didn't just play the higher percentage shot. I'm trying to figure out if I should change my mindset about it or not.
It only becomes an Instinct or reflex by doing it over and over again.
 
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I basically have two goals with placement.

1). Avoid being too predictable. I’ve had a quite a few matches where I would win the first two games and then lose the next three (best of five). The reason was because I was two predictable with cross court hits. Eventually it was so predictable that the opponent would even move to the side early because it was so easy to anticipate where the ball was going. Varying spin and pace also helps.

2). Use placement to take advantage of the opponents weaknesses and avoid his strengths. Some players are forehand or backhand dominant, take advantage of that. Hitting hard to the opponent’s crossover point is also a nice way to jam him. As a forehand dominant player I used to focus on tactics to setup a forehand shot, but I have now given up on that and instead focus my training on improving my backhand. (Advanced players were killing me when I would step around for a forehand).
 
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Sometimes it helps to focus your game thinking on placement and forget about technique, and let the technique just happen. If the strokes are well-grooved enough, you can spend some of your focus on placement and might be surprised how things work out well.
 
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