You want to play like the best? Here are eleven points to follow. (Feel free to make adjustments for your own style.) You can, of course, make tactical exceptions against certain players.  

1. Develop serves that focus on setting up your attack, with a few “trick” serves to keep opponent guessing and to get an occasional free point.
2. Serve and attack unless the receiver does something to stop it.
3. Attack the deep serve.
4. Against short serves tactically mix up flipping and short & long pushes.
5. Forehand and backhand looping should be central to your game.
6. Attack the opponent’s middle every chance (the midpoint between their forehand and backhand).
7. Learn to defend against opponent’s attacks, whether by blocking or counterlooping.
8. Develop your footwork. All drills are footwork drills.
9. Train all parts of your game regularly.
10. Do physical training as high-level table tennis is highly physical. (Examples include weight training, running, jumping rope, and shadow practice.)
11. Use modern rackets and sponges. They are costly but necessary.

The operative word here is “try.” Table tennis is a full-court sport, and if you want to reach a high level you should learn to play from off the table when necessary. But some players always jam the table and do quite well, and others back up regularly and also do quite well.

In general, unless you’re a chopper, you should try to stay within an arm’s length of the table. Here’s why. If you back up:

• Opponent has more time to react to your shot and play his best shot.
• Opponent has more angle against you.
• You have less angle you can play against your opponent.
• You have more ground to cover.

Other players play too close to the table. If you play too close:

• You’ll get jammed on deep balls.
• You won’t be able to react as well to strong shots.
• You won’t have time to get your best shots into play.

This doesn’t mean you always play at arm’s length. Back up when necessary – learn to play from anywhere when needed, especially (at higher levels) in fast counterlooping rallies. Some styles, of course, naturally back up, and should do so when appropriate. Other styles stay right up at the table nearly all the time.

At the higher levels, players also try to stay within arm’s length, but the pace gets so fast that in order to counterloop, they have to back up. But even then their first choice, if they have time, is to counterloop without backing up too much.

Players often back up unnecessarily after going wide for a shot, especially to the wide forehand. When this happens, try to return to the table sideways so you’re still at the table, preferably within arm’s length. Back up only if you really need the extra time to get back into position and react to the incoming shot. So . . . make arm’s length a strength!

Put fear in the heart of your opponent by developing overpowering strengths. It doesn’t really matter what the strength is; it can be anything that really threatens the opponent. It could be a big forehand or backhand; pushing and blocking; sheer consistency; quickness; great serves or receive; chopping (with great consistency, heavy backspin, or spin variation); or something else. But you have to have something. If you don’t, think hard about your game and decide what you can turn into this overpowering strength.

Usually you want something aggressive, such as a big forehand (hey, that’s me!), but I’ve seen players get very good just pushing and blocking.

But here’s the key. You can’t just develop a big strength and expect the opponent to give it to you. You have to develop the rest of your game around it.

For example, from the beginning I’ve always liked running around and attacking with my forehand. So, I developed my game around that. What does that mean? I developed strong serves that set up my forehand. I worked hard on my footwork so I could get into position for those forehands. (And it’s not just footspeed – it’s proper footwork technique and reading of opponents, which is why, at age 66, I can still move around the table and attack with my forehand better than most players one-third my age.) Here are some other examples.

• If you have great serves, that’s great, but that alone won’t win against decent players unless you can end the point when they make weak returns.
• If you have a great push, that’s great, but that alone won’t win against decent players unless you can also defend against their attacks against push, usually by blocking (or perhaps chopping).
• If you have a great backhand, that’s great, but that alone won’t win against decent players if they can just play to your forehand – so that side needs to be strong enough to end the point against weak or predictable balls.

And so on. So . . . what’s your overpowering strength?

Many players have at least one strong serving motion. Often they are forehand pendulum (racket tip down), forehand tomahawk serves (racket tip up), or standard backhand serves with a left-to-right motion (for righties). These are all excellent serves that opponents at your level will inevitably adjust to. Perhaps watch how coaches or top players do it. (Youtube is your friend.) Or just ask them to show you, and they’ll be delighted.

To make these serves more effective you should develop the reverse versions. They might never become equal in effectiveness as the regular version, but at the very least they give you a variation that the opponent isn’t used to. This makes them uncomfortable, plus they now have to guard against these serves as well as your regular versions. Plus, some players (including me!) are better against one type of sidespin serve than the other.

• If you have a forehand pendulum serve, learn to do the reverse, where you contact the ball with the same side but going in the opposite direction. It’ll be awkward at first, but soon becomes natural.
• If you have a forehand tomahawk serve, now you contact the ball with the opposite side, with the racket moving right to left instead of the normal left to right.
• If you have a backhand serve, contact the ball with the same side but moving right to left instead of the normal left to right.

Here’s a simple way of looking at it. Have you ever found a player who was happy his opponent had more serve variations? So, be perverse and do the reverse!

Most often coaches and top players (including me) talk about attacking the “three spots” – wide forehand and backhand, and middle (opponent’s transition point between forehand and backhand, roughly the elbow). But there are really five spots to play, though not always in the same match. Do you play all five? Which spots you play should change from match to match, depending on the opponent. And note the obvious parallels between the first two and the last two – for #1 and #5, and #2 and #3, I’ve just flipped the words “forehand” and “Backhand.” (For the following, unless otherwise noted, we’ll assume both players are righties; lefties adjust. Sorry!)

1. Wide forehand. When your opponent plays to your forehand, then you have an angle into their wide forehand where you can often attack outside the forehand corner. If the opponent isn’t ready for it, that’s the spot to attack, as wide as possible. In fact, think of this as playing the “wide, wide forehand.”
2. Forehand corner. From your forehand side, the opposite corner gives you the most table, diagonally to their forehand corner. This is where play both for safety and for strong attacks where you might need more table. It’s also where you play when playing a backhand down the line to the forehand. It’s especially effective if your opponent is looking to cover the wide angle you have into his backhand, or if he has a weaker forehand. (For down-the-line shots, it’s often good to set up as if you are going crosscourt, then go down the line.)
3. Middle. This is the opponent’s transition spot between forehand and backhand. It’s usually around the elbow, but it’s different for different players. Against a strong forehand player, it might be more toward the backhand side, and vice versa for a strong backhand player. Whenever possible, attack this spot relentlessly until you get the right ball to put away to a wide corner or middle again. Against attacks to their middle, opponents will often be a bit slower to react as they have to decide between forehand and backhand, and they have to move into position. So they’ll make more outright mistakes or weaker shots. It also takes them out of position, leaving a wide corner open. (Sometimes they’ll rush to cover the open corner, so instead go to the other corner.)
4. Backhand corner. From your backhand side, the opposite corner gives you the most table, diagonally to their backhand corner. This is where play both for safety and for strong attacks where you might need more table. It’s also where you play when playing a forehand down the line to the backhand. It’s especially effective if your opponent is looking to cover the wide angle you have into his forehand, or if he has a weaker backhand. (For down-the-line shots, it’s often good to set up as if you are going crosscourt, then go down the line.)
5. Wide backhand. When your opponent plays to your backhand, then you have an angle into their wide backhand where you can often attack outside the backhand corner. If the opponent isn’t ready for it, that’s the spot to attack, as wide as possible. In fact, think of this as playing the “wide, wide backhand.”