What Is the Fastest Way to Improve Your Table Tennis Level in a Short Time?
What Is the Fastest Way to Improve Your Table Tennis Level in a Short Time?
This is a brand-new, technique-focused Q&A column. The mystery advisor is a former national team player and veteran coach who prefers to remain anonymous.
People online say that Ma Long and Fan Zhendong often pull their paddle arm all the way back past their hip on the forehand — almost like wiping behind them. It’s described as the most advanced technique. What do you think?
Is it worth learning for club players? Could it cause injury and slow down recovery, affecting the backhand?
The rotation angle of the body is larger, and the take-back angle is larger. Relatively speaking, this produces more power and more spin. However, timing the contact is harder, it demands better judgment, and the forearm take-back is more difficult.
Actually, this motion does suit club players. Because club-level play is slower — if your quality is high, very few people can block it. Even if they do, the return will be slow, and you’ll still have time to recover. And at the club level, using a bigger swing means your shots carry more weight, and most opponents simply can’t handle that.
Does speed beat spin, or does spin beat speed?
The two can be mutually restraining. In practice, though, spin beating speed tends to happen more often.
On certain serves I’m torn between flipping the ball backhand or pushing it long. When I push long, I can’t always clearly read spin, and even if the push isn’t too high, the opponent can still loop it and I struggle to block.
As a general principle: your primary intention should be to get on the offensive. If your offensive success rate drops too low, then consider pushing long. Pushing long isn’t ideal either. Your best option is a “cut” — instead of meeting the ball’s forward spin head-on, cut across the side of the ball. If you cut it fast and sharp enough, the opponent can only float a high ball back. I use this when I genuinely can’t read the incoming spin. The motion goes from above downward at a diagonal, cutting the side of the ball.
With a regular backspin push you’re meeting the ball forward and flat. With a cut, the angle between the paddle and ball is less than 45 degrees, and you’re slicing the side. At the moment of contact, commit to the stroke — don’t be tentative.
With a cut, the second bounce and the rotation are both difficult for the opponent to read.
From which area should a club player focus to improve the most in the shortest time?
Without question: serve and attack combinations. Prepare at least three serve packages for different types of opponents. Some can’t handle your no-spin-vs-spin variation; some have trouble with your side-topspin/side-backspin; some get confused the moment they see a hook serve.
For every serve package, combine it with your third-ball attack. Your serves don’t need to be incredibly spinny or perfect — but you must have multiple serve variations.
The core goal is making your opponent uncomfortable. With multiple serve patterns, you create more variation; the opponent has more to think about, which indirectly lowers their return quality.
It’s like when someone is good at blocking your loop. Some players block your drive perfectly but can’t handle a high-arc slow loop. The high arc changes the rhythm — less power, more spin — and they can’t adapt quickly. The principle with serving is the same: confuse the opponent and disrupt their rhythm.