I need some tactics

[Alborz]

I have to play against one of my friends next week and i have some problems against him. I can not find good tactics to beat him.

My playing style: I'm good at blocking, I can play backhand and forehand loops but i prefer forehand a bit more and my short games in just fine (my forehand pushes are weaker than my backhand pushes).

His playing style: His shorts game is great but he can not flick anything, He usually chop-block with his backhand and has a very good forehand loop.

Against me he usually push the ball and always play backspin shots until i miss the ball. If i can loop the ball i will have 70% chance to win the point but he just keeps the ball low and spiny so i can't loop them and he keeps the ball short until i miss the point.

I need some tactics about that, probably some serve tactics.
I hope you can help me

 

[ttmonster]

What happens when you keep serving long to his backhand and step around and keep attacking his backhand , sometimes vary it to his forehand ? Do you know the hook serve ? You can use it to serve really long , the second bounce close to the white line vary between topspin / backspin . See in plain english, if you think you have no chance against him in a short game then keep serving long to his backhand and sometimes heave underspin long to his forehand, believe me even good loopers have trouble looping long heavy underspun hook serve. Let me know what you think about this tactics

 

[Alborz]

What happens when you keep serving long to his backhand and step around and keep attacking his backhand , sometimes vary it to his forehand ? Do you know the hook serve ? You can use it to serve really long , the second bounce close to the white line vary between topspin / backspin . See in plain english, if you think you have no chance against him in a short game then keep serving long to his backhand and sometimes heave underspin long to his forehand, believe me even good loopers have trouble looping long heavy underspun hook serve. Let me know what you think about this tactics

It is the tactics that i normally use and it works good. He return them with a ton of spin but because the ball is long in my forehand i can loop them and win the point.
When he serves i can't loop or flick his serve and he is ready to smash my high returns with his forehand or he just push my returns short. Should i have push them long in his backhand and try loop the next ball?

 

[ttmonster]

See, at one point in time last year when I was getting serious coaching I worked on the return game a lot, because its generally the weakest point. What I found is that if I am really relaxed and not thinking too much my return game works better. So when you are returning, keep singing your favorite song in your head, believe me it helps . So couple of things I read from what you said. Number one, he smashes my high returns. The key here is often less talked about, you have to keep a hawk eye on which part of the blade he is hitting his serve, you can tell if he is varying topspin / backspin/ no spin because I haven't seen many people who can hide the spin and not hit different part of the paddle. Number two, being relaxed helps the arm to be loose , react quickly and decisively. You have to decide and go with your first instinct when you are returning serve , even if it means you are wrong. You will be wrong a few times but as you keep learning your first instinct will become better. Now coming to what we can do with the push. There are two thing I can suggest, push long into to the body or backhand, and sometimes just throw in a junk ball ( fake no spin push, very effective against some players ), when his tries to push it back it will pop up and then you should be ready to smash or flick hard . If you are confident , you can do the banana or chiquita to his push , not advisable if you don't have the technique and footwork to take the next ball though.

 

[Alborz]

Thanks in advanced ttmonster I have a training season tomorrow and i will test those tactics against him.

 

[ttmonster]

You are most welcome Alborz, go get him !!! And let us know if any of my 2 cents worked

Thanks in advanced ttmonster I have a training season tomorrow and i will test those tactics against him.

 

[Der_Echte]

Try a few things...

1) Take the ball earlier on your underspin shots to his BH. He isn't attacking them, so you are not under pressure. You, by impacting the ball off the bounce, are taking away HIS precious time and not allowing him time to prepare his shot.

2) Make your underspins heavy. even if he attacks, he has to work really HARD just to land it, then you fast block him to death. This sets up your next option...

3) Suddenly take away spin from your underspin shots to him. If he does not see the LESS underspin he is in trouble two ways. 1) He try to push the ball and his bat angle is wrong, he returns it high for you to pounce upon. or... 2) He tries to attack it and lifts it off the end.

My last tourney, I face a junior opponent same division, but slightly higher level. His FH was strong, his BH attack not so confident, but he stayed in points and won a lot if you let him attack too much. I use ALL three of these ways to win points vs him. Early on, I gave him very HEAVY underspin, that when he tried to attack, I would get free points. After 8 misses and 2 Makes, he started to adjust his bat angle and land some of them, which I fast blocked right at him and won points. Later, I started to take the ball earlier, and it messed up the rhythm of his attack and his timing. He sprayed balls out or in net. Later, I faked the heavy underspin and gave him light spin exactly in his FH power zone just daring him to attack, which he did... and he did just what I wanted... he lifted those off the table and looked at his coach and scratched hiz head off.

The only balls I had to attack were the 3rd balls from my heavy or knuckle serve. The rest of the time, all I had to do was give it back to him heavy or light, then watch him fold like a dinner napkin.

 

[Alborz]

I have good news and bad news.
Bad news: I played with him just one set today. Good news: I won the set 11:7.
When i served long into his forehand he was able to attack them and win points by that. But when i served long into his backhand he returned them long a i was able to loop them. Then chop-block those balls a the ball return high and i smash those ball and score the point.
I tried to play some no spin pushes but he was able to read the spin and attack them or return them safely.
The most of points he get was from my mistakes to loop his long pushes.
Do you have any tips for that?

 

[ttmonster]

No tips for that Alborz, this you have to practice.

I have good news and bad news.
Bad news: I played with him just one set today. Good news: I won the set 11:7.
When i served long into his forehand he was able to attack them and win points by that. But when i served long into his backhand he returned them long a i was able to loop them. Then chop-block those balls a the ball return high and i smash those ball and score the point.
I tried to play some no spin pushes but he was able to read the spin and attack them or return them safely.
The most of points he get was from my mistakes to loop his long pushes.
Do you have any tips for that?

 

[Alborz]

No tips for that Alborz, this you have to practice.

I will surely do that.

 

[ttmonster]

The key is to recognize when the ball is short, long or half long . They say you should be able to do that by the time the ball is half way in the opponents part of the table , meaning 3/4 th distance of the table from you. Accordingly you have to adjust your footwork . Looping against push is something that one needs to practice, the most basic of drills you do for that is serve short and ask your partner to push long to either side and you have to loop.

 

[Der_Echte]

Tips for your mistakes on looping those easy long pushes???

Well, About all I can say is that as the MORE you improve in sticking to the fundamentals of anticipation, positioning, balance, timing, appropriate stroke selection, bat angle, swing plane, reading the spin, construction of points and recovery... the MORE you improve in these basics, the HIGHER your landing percentage becomes, then later, the QUALITY of your topspin improves. The later, your FH and hopefully BH topspin consistency and quality improve to a point where you have a lot of options and are very dynamic to the point of insanity for your opponents!

Keep cracking at it and training. You are lucky compared to me. You have a place to play and an opportunity to train. Right now, I have to travel very very far just to have a few hours hit with some players a level or two below me... and I am not even anywhere near an elite amature.

 

[Alborz]

I have just beat him 3:1 in the final of our district championships using some of those tactics . Great thanks to every one who learned me them

 

[ttmonster]

A BIG HEARTY Congratulations Alborz !!! We are proud to have a district champion among us , no joke , its no small feat . And you are always welcome infact we are happy to have contributed whatever little we did !! The credit is all yours , theory is one thing, doing it in the ring is another

I have just beat him 3:1 in the final of our district championships using some of those tactics . Great thanks to every one who learned me them

 

[Alborz]

A BIG HEARTY Congratulations Alborz !!! We are proud to have a district champion among us , no joke , its no small feat . And you are always welcome infact we are happy to have contributed whatever little we did !! The credit is all yours , theory is one thing, doing it in the ring is another

Thank you ttmonster!
I'm was so happy after winning the title. I felt like i have won the gold medal in Olympic games!

 

[agold]

Maybe that's next congrats