Tactics you always use

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Hi guys, i know we talk a lot about equipment - but wondered what unique tactics people have too.
Now we all adjust certain aspects of play while we play different players – targeting weaknesses or making the most of strengths, but was looking for tactics people might have that they always use approaching/or from starting a game.

Do you always serve first if you win the toss or give it away? Do you have two first serves you always play? Do you play conservative to start then start to attack - or vice versa?
 
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I always serve first as my serve is one of my strongest weapons.

I'm FH oriented. My main tactic is: deceptive serve and strong third ball attack. I try to do variations in spin speed of my FH loop also to make things more difficult to the opponent. For me the less short game the better. I'm trying to introduce more BH in my game, not to turn BH oriented, but to get easier to play close to the table, prevent leg tiring during maches and get more longevity, as it will be difficult to play like this when I get older.

I have not good starts. When I don't know the opponent I often loose first set because I want to try different thing to see what's effective and uneffective.
 
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Something I try to do when meeting a new opponent is to try quite a few different serves during the first game. I usually serve short against FH with side/under and side/top as a starter and then try the same combo but long against the BH. I find that this gives me quite a lot of answers.
 
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Usually try different serves in the first game to see what works and where my opponent might have holes: short backspin/no spin to FH, long/half-long backspin to BH, long no-spin etc. Same with returns: short/long, FH/BH, no spin/backspin...

Since I play with pips on BH, things like short serve to FH and push/bump to deep BH are frequently effective, same with aggressive bump against underspin into FH. Trying to keep it short and slow against attackers is useful too.

Sometimes I find it helpful to alternate between close to the table (block focus) and more chopping/retrieving game away from the table.
 
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I try to play my play as much as possible so i get the kind of balls i have been practicing on. I do not try so many different serves, but try to do my serves where i often know where the ball is coming.

I like open game. I have pretty good blocking game and counterattack so i want to come to that kind of play. But it is very important that i do not just block, i need to move the opponent and vary the tempo so i get the advantage and can kill the ball.

I serve long alot. Fast nospin serve, often comes back with a counter or bad loop since they do not have the time to loop well. Then i try to have the racket high, counter back and move the opponent or attack the ball. If i serve to bh the ball usually comes back to the backhand, serve to fh back to fh. If i play against a backhand player i try to serve alot to the pocket since they do not go around and play forehand. Against forehand players i play more to the corners, since they want to go around in the bh and by serving to the both of the corners the have trouble going around in the bh.

If i serve long sidebackspin serve the often loop more topspin since they have more to work with, so i try to flathit that ball. If i serve long sidetopspin they often play harder with less topspin and i need to block more and work more with spin myself since it is not so much spin in the ball. If i play against players that topspin the long ball,i try to put more sidebackspin in the ball so they maybe will loop the ball in the net. If the opponent push against long balls i serve more topspin so the ball will be high. And if they start with loop, but push when i start to do sidebackspin i then start to do more sidetopspin so they do not know which ball is coming.

I also try to vary with short serves since only long serves will be to easy, they know that they are coming and will loop why to hard. The short serves will become better if i serve alot long, and the long serves will become better if i serve sometimes short. I generally do not like to get backspin against me, since i use short pips on the forehand and this ball is not good for me so i try to serve alot nospin and topsidespin short so they almost need to flip the ball. Then i need to be ready to step out and attack the ball. they can also push but the push will be pretty bad and i can also attack that ball. Only really good players can push short well on that kind of serves. If i serve sidespin to their backhand the ball often comes to the backhand, reverse sidespin to the forehand and the ball comes to forehand. If they flip alot and well, i try to serve more sidebackspin and more backspin so they will flip into the net. If the opponent try to play short alot again i try to play more topsidespin and nospin. It is important to vary the serve so they do not know what kind of serve that is coming. I also try to serve not to short. to short serves is easy to play short and flip, it is better to play them halflong.

I also try to serve so the ball will drop down near the table. Alot of players will proably topspin this soft and i will have a good opportunity to flathit the ball.

I serve with the short pimples, so i do not get crazy much spin. But i find it hard to fool the opponent on the spin with new ball, and i find it more important that i get the ball that i want. But thinking of starting serving with the inverted rubber to get more spin but have trouble at the moment to have the time to twiddle.

When i return i try to play short, then i expect a short ball back or a push so i will be maybe drop the racket down a bit and be ready to topspin. Not often players can flip good short balls. I need to vary the placement more since i often play them in the middle of the table. If the serve have topspin or sidespin i often flip since it it is difficult to play short well on those. Important to have the racket high and be ready for their attack. I try to do the banana flip more with backhand, since it is difficult to open against good short serves with the short pimple. But i have big trouble flipping with backhand in the forehand corner and have the time to recover to the backhand corner. Any tips? need to watch the chinese.

On long serves i try to topspin the ball myself, and hopefully they block back and i can try to step out a bit, have the racket high and try to play a harder attack.

When i push long backspin i often get a topspin and i try to flathit the ball. When i push nospin they often play harder and i need to be ready to block. It is good to vary the spin. If they play very flat i try to push more with backspin. The best push is when i return the ball long and fast so they have no time to do a good opening. I need to work more at this. Against really good players it is hard to push long if they attack to hard. But i have pretty good blocking so i often still can return long. But sometimes the problem is that serve long and push long and just standing there and blocking, i need to be aggressive with my blocking otherwise i can not play this way.

It can also be good to push halflong where they often play a soft topspin and i can flathit the ball.

I also trying to push with sidespin, almost like the reverse banana flip. Look at Elias ranefur, he does this good. I feel that it is sometimes is to easy for the opponent to get short or long push with nospin or backspin. throw in sidespin sometimes and they will have trouble knowing what is coming. I think that if i can do this well against their forehand the ball will proably comeback to my forehand with topspin which is good. If they have pretty weak attack i proably try to push long more and if they have a very good attack i proably try return more short.

When i push long against forehand players i try to push long in the corners, and against backhand players their pocket.
In the open game it is almost the same. If i lose in bh bh, they are better at my in that game and i try to play more against there pocket and forehand. If they are backhand players i try to put the ball more in the pocket. If i win bh bh, i try to keep the ball in bh bh. If i win in bh bh they proably have better forehand, so they will proably try to go around in the backhand corner so then i try to play alot to the corners so they will have a hard time doing this.

If they are good at attacking, it is very important to vary the placement and tempo so they do not get to many easy balls and can play to hard. I also thinking of trying do learn more chop blocks so i do not play to clean, what do think about that? It is also very important that when i get an easier ball that i try to attack the ball myself. Sometimes i get to comfortable blocking and just stands there, but then it is to easy for the opponent. I also maybe need to play more short, get the first opening myself and step back and try to play harder. This can be good since good attacking players often do not have so good blocking game. But i need to work at to step out so i have the room to play the ball hard. I also have a hard time if i should focus on footwork aand try to kill the ball with my forehand which is better or if i should try to learn to kill the ball better with the backhand. Maybe a mix of them is best.

Against good blocking players it is also important to vary. It is easy to block if you get the ball in the middle of fh and bh and with the same pace. It may also be a good idea to lower the tempo since this players often like when they get speed and spin against themselves. They proably block because they are not as good at attacking the ball. And if i topspin the ball first they proably will block it back and then i know that and need to try to kill the ball.

I try to work on playing more aggressive and harder myself. Especially trying to kill the ball with the backhand. I have a tendency to play smash well with forehand but play to soft and safe with the backhand. Need to work more on stepping out on the second ball. And also learn to loop hard with the backhand against underspin. Now the opponent know they will get a soft ball. And maybe i should try to play more backhand against the first return, since it is hard to make a good opening topspin with the short pimple? opening with the short pimple is the biggest weakness with short pimple and i am surprised not the pros use this more against Mattias Falck. It is also very important for me that i do not serve long or push long and i just stay there and blocking, i need to get the advantage by placement and variation so i get the easy ball and can kill it. When i have the time to think, "this is an easy ball" then it proably is and i need to kill it. I have trouble against players that have really good serves, where i can not push long well, then i get a too difficult ball to block, and it is proably hard to play short on those balls aswell since the serve is good. I often feel that i lose against players that have better serve and return game than me. The boring stuff like serve and return is most important to win games. I have also problem against players that play like my but they do it faster or against players that play very hard on long pushes. So it is very important that i also develop a game where i can get the first opening topspin and then step back and play harder.

I think it is very important to know how you want to play so you try to always do every shot with a purpose, atleast the serve and return. Otherwise you are just lucky if you win. You need to get the balls that you know you are good at and have practiced alot.
A coach told me about at study where they found out that the best players do fewer kind of shots, compared to other players. This is proably because the best players are so good at getting the balls that they want. It may be a good idea to look at players that play the playing style you want to play and see how they do it.

I have talked alot now and do not know really if this make sense of it it just is bullshit haha. Proably someone find it intreresting and hopefully i will never play against any of you since you now know how i want to play.
 
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WE need more of these topics.

Usually I serve short heavy backspin, and wait for the return to go long, then topspin, either BH or FH, then engage in near table open play.
 
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Serve heavy underspin immediately in match. Get opponent to know that a certain serve motion is very heavy underspin... then later serve light to no spin balls to blast away on 3rd ball. Go back to heavy under and slip in the mickey... a short topspin. Always seek to keep opponent off balance on serve receive and punish everything he/she returns loose or safe.
 
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Serve heavy underspin immediately in match. Get opponent to know that a certain serve motion is very heavy underspin... then later serve light to no spin balls to blast away on 3rd ball. Go back to heavy under and slip in the mickey... a short topspin. Always seek to keep opponent off balance on serve receive and punish everything he/she returns loose or safe.

How do you serve backspin and nospin serves? do you serve at different places on the rubber, backspin in the front and nospin in the back? i have always find this very difficiult. Or do you do the no spin serve with a slower motion?

I forget to mention that i will try to serve more backhand serves. Then i can get alot of spin without the need of twiddle the racket. I also played at a camp with alot of older players. I think their generation served alot of backhand, or atleast these guys did. It was hard to return since i do not return backhand serves so much, mostly young players serve with forehand in my opinion and it was very difficult to read if the serve had sidebackspin or sidetopsin.
 
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That is an outstanding question Lula.

A lot of people have a different principle which they use.

I follow the "Hit the middle of the rubber" principle... because I am not good enough to strike the ball on the end of bat or close to thumb consistently. Schlager is also of this line of thinking. Some others advocate hitting different parts of bat. I am simply not good enough to use this way.

Because I hit mostly the same place, I have to use a change of grip pressure, or a delayed acceleration, or a changed bat angle (and change it right after impact to deceive).
 
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How do you serve backspin and nospin serves? do you serve at different places on the rubber, backspin in the front and nospin in the back? i have always find this very difficiult. Or do you do the no spin serve with a slower motion?

I forget to mention that i will try to serve more backhand serves. Then i can get alot of spin without the need of twiddle the racket. I also played at a camp with alot of older players. I think their generation served alot of backhand, or atleast these guys did. It was hard to return since i do not return backhand serves so much, mostly young players serve with forehand in my opinion and it was very difficult to read if the serve had sidebackspin or sidetopsin.

When I do no-spin FH serve I usually try to hit the end of my bat so the ball has not enough "space" to produce spin. I like this cause it has close to identical animation as my underspin serve.
 
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I serve mostly underspin and short or at an angle like He Zhi Wen. My third coach had a 2500 rating and would kill long serves. I also like short deadball serves in hopes that the opponent hits the ball high after seeing so many underspin serves.
When serving long I try to make it fast without risking going off the table. There is no point serving long and slow if the opponent can step to the side and loop it.

I try to use th 100mm or 4 inch rule. The ball should be within 4 inches of the top of the net and land within 4 inches of the edge of the table unless going for a double bounce. I try to make the opponent move as much as possible. One of my favorite sequences is to crowd the opponent with a pocket shot then aim wide to the opponents forehand. These are hard for most to return because they already have momentum towards their backhand.

My relative strengths are serving, my FH counter hit, and the ability to notice which way the opponent is moving so I hit the ball "behind the momenturn" or at a place opposite to where the opponent is moving. In other words, if I hit a ball wide to the opponent's FH my next shot will probably a slower wider shot to the opponents FH because the opponent is moving towards his BH.

This works great much of the time. However, sometimes I run across people that are extremely agile and they seem to be able to get to anything. Then I know I am in trouble, but those with mobility problems I can exploit with low risk angle shots.
 
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I have a strong serve, IMO, and win a lot on it. So I always let my opponent serve first and try to go even on his serve (1-1, or even 2-0 too), and then I go all-out on my serve and try to get a 3-1 lead. From this I just relax and keep going hoping to go even on opponents serve, and then win on my serves.

Also, I like to give my opponent the serve cause then I have serve at 9-9 in first, third and final set which is a really huge advantage IMO.
 
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The trick is to focus on learning exactly what spin will be on the serve return and so how to play the 3rd ball on every serve.

Your serve will have spin that the opponent can return. The secret to a really strong 3rd ball attack is to contact the ball where you avoid most of that spin.
This is also the secret to a really good backhand banana flick.

Its very subtle but its very important to learn so ur 3rd ball is better. If you avoid the need for spin u can play more speed.
Of course a good serve return is meant to make u have to deal with spin and placement so it goes both ways.

A good example is with a short backspin serve return.
If you can hit it from the left side for example and avoid the backspin ull have a very strong 3rd ball.
 
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Hi guys, i know we talk a lot about equipment - but wondered what unique tactics people have too.
Now we all adjust certain aspects of play while we play different players – targeting weaknesses or making the most of strengths, but was looking for tactics people might have that they always use approaching/or from starting a game.

Do you always serve first if you win the toss or give it away? Do you have two first serves you always play? Do you play conservative to start then start to attack - or vice versa?

my tactics are:

if my deceptive and serve are effective, then pendullum services are mostly used. if the opponent receive well, then i try 2~3 reverse pendullum, but it is more risky.

since my strangest point is my forehand rallies, if the opponent do not have strong forehand, i typically let him to do the third ball attack then i do counters. sometimes i dont mind being attacked and shoot far away from the table.

but if i do not receive services well, i will try to flick or do 3rd, 4th ball.attack, oppressing opponents' backhands and try to win by consistency. if that does no work then i am start to get in trouble.

of course my main tactics are yelling like harimoto and keep talking to myself what im i gonna do in the next ball, keep doing what has been planed benefits the most.

that is my point and accept it accordingly. good luck
 
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How do you serve backspin and nospin serves? do you serve at different places on the rubber, backspin in the front and nospin in the back? i have always find this very difficiult. Or do you do the no spin serve with a slower motion?

I forget to mention that i will try to serve more backhand serves. Then i can get alot of spin without the need of twiddle the racket. I also played at a camp with alot of older players. I think their generation served alot of backhand, or atleast these guys did. It was hard to return since i do not return backhand serves so much, mostly young players serve with forehand in my opinion and it was very difficult to read if the serve had sidebackspin or sidetopsin.

A combination of stiffen the wrist, increase the hit/brush ratio and contact the ball closer to the middle or handle of the racket as opposed to the top edge. Do all 3 subtly but simultaneously and (almost) all your spin disappears. And it is damn hard to read.

Practice tip, get a two colour ball, use a marker pen if you like to make one. You can really see the spin then. Great tool for this in my opinion. Also I think it really should be very light spin rather than absolutely no spin, as it's too easy to read, too hard to keep low, and way too hard to keep the motions similar for deception when using a very dead ball. They still pop up very light backspin if they think it's heavy so you don't lose much of anything and gain all the control and deception. That's just my opinion though, but I do notice watching pros serves in slow motion their no spin is really very light vs very heavy spin variation, to my eyes. If anyone has a replay of a pro doing a truly dead no spin serve I'd love to see it!
 
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my pendulum serve sucks, i can't put good backspin in it, i never managed to fix it. good players easily attack it down the line, or push it wide with backspin to my FH where i make a lot of mistakes. thats why i prefer to use BH or shovel serve mostly as the ball is more likely to come back to the middle or BH for the 3rd ball attack.

My style is to play aggressively and try to finish the point quickly if i get the initiative but im not afraid at all of rallies as im rather good in counterplay and block.

Id say serve and receive is where most of the matches are decided when i play players about the same same or above level than me.
 
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