Facing an Unfamiliar Opponent and Not Knowing How to Play?
This is a brand-new, technique-focused column, in a Q&A format. The mystery figures answering questions are two former national team players (both senior coaches) who’d rather not have their names disclosed. They just want a peaceful life, to sleep soundly, and not to become famous.
I (Heima) feel that sharing these technical insights with everyone is quite valuable. It’s also a complement to “Heima Talks Table Tennis.”
And so, the “Scaling the Heights” column was born.
Here’s a problem: a lot of the time, when I face an unfamiliar opponent, I have to finish a whole match, then think about it for a few days, before I can figure it out, and the second time I play them it’s much easier. Is there any secret to adjusting quickly the very first time I play? I remember Old Waldner once said he sizes up the opponent in the first game, and only starts setting up countermeasures from the second game. I feel my adjusting ability during matches isn’t strong enough, and this affects my performance.
This is a matter of mindset. In the first game you have no opponent (read), meaning you can’t be thinking about your own style; you have to watch the opponent’s characteristics: what is the opponent good at? In the second game you should avoid that. In other words, you should have at least two different sets of your own patterns and styles.
The best state is to be relaxed, including mentally. After finishing a game, think about the opponent’s scoring methods that game, and you’ll basically have a pretty clear picture. The next game you should know how to avoid, as much as possible, giving the opponent easy chances to open up and score. That is, in the first game you were too focused on your own style, too eager to make the opponent follow your lead, but a match is like chess: the opponent has their own patterns too, and they also want you to follow theirs.
So as they often say, the first game is for probing: you should test in all sorts of different directions, spins, speeds, and rhythms, as comprehensively as possible. Don’t bother testing power, everyone fears it. Including serves. Remember the opponent’s scoring methods and patterns, so you can be targeted later.
Question: In matches, sidespin-underspin is harder to handle than underspin, right? The ball tends to pop up high on the return.
Answer: Underspin has no power; you just need to cancel out his underspin. With sidespin-underspin, you also have to judge “exactly how much side, how much down,” that is, you have to read both spins clearly. Otherwise it either flies off the end, or it pops up high.
Question: Against a strong short-pips player, whatever I serve gets flicked or looped down the lines. It feels fast and heavy, and I can’t hold up against the next ball.
Answer: What are the characteristics of short pips? Fast, doesn’t absorb spin, and can’t loop with spin either. They’re vicious only when you pop the ball up. If you serve a fast, long underspin to the baseline, what can they do? A low-level player pushes it back; a high-level player brushes one. Aren’t both of those returns yours to toy with? If you can’t even handle that, then it’s a skill problem. If the opponent flicks aggressively and you still serve short, you’d be crazy not to lose.
To deal with this opponent, it’s best to loop a spinny loop, and it can’t be high, getting it to the opponent’s baseline as much as possible. If you loop to the mid-to-near table, you’ll get smashed. Once there’s spin, short pips can’t speed up. Short pips fear rhythm changes: slow one moment, spinny the next, and the opponent gets annoyed to death. The prerequisite is that it has to be “long.”