One of the biggest differences between players at any level and players a little below them are their blocking skills. When watching two attackers of about the same level play, often the quickest way to judge who is the stronger player is by whoever handles the other's attack better, i.e. who blocks better. Or watch the best players in the world, especially the Chinese, and when they aren't counterlooping, watch how proficient and consistent they are blocking. Spectators often see the flashy attack shots, but often the biggest difference between these top players and those a level weaker are their blocking games. Here are twelve tips on improving your blocking game. (These are primarily for inverted and short pips players.)

1. Be quick and decisive when blocking. Blocking is not for the weak of heart, and is not a passive shot. Even soft blocks should be aggressively soft, i.e. a change of pace, not just a weak block.
2. Block aggressively against loops that land short and against slow loops. If you block these passively, you'll face the consequences. Loops that land short are easy to attack (with aggressive block, smashes, or counterloops), while if you return a spinny loop passively the spin takes on your racket more, making you less consistent.
3. Keep your blocks deep unless you are dead blocking. Deep blocks force the opponent off the table, cut off their angles, and give yourself more time to react to their next shot. Shorter blocks are usually easy putaways for opponents who are in position.
4. Block to all three spots - wide corners and opponent's middle, where they have to decide whether to use forehand or backhand. Avoid blocking anywhere else. Why would you?
5. Often change directions at the last second. This is especially easy and effective on the backhand, in particular by aiming wide to the backhand, then blocking aggressively to the wide forehand at the last second.
6. Against faster loops use the opponent's own speed to redirect the ball back aggressively. Think of it as a video or pinball game.
7. Blocking at the higher levels requires just as much footwork as attacking. Be light on your feet, and step to the ball; don't reach except as a last resort.
8. Master the forehand down-the-line block. Many players are handicapped by only being able to block forehands crosscourt. This turns them into punching bags for opponents who know where your next shot is each time.
9. Learn to change the pace with dead blocks, and perhaps chop and sidespin blocks. But if you are going to use these shots, practice them both in drills and practice matches.
10. Consider learning to topspin your blocks, essentially mini-loops. Many players don't realize that many or most top players block with topspin off the bounce, almost mini-loops.
11. Study opponents to see how soon you can pick up where they are placing their attacks. If you do this, your subconscious will pick up on it, it'll become second nature, and you'll begin to react sooner. You don't need fast reflexes to have fast reactions; fast reactions come from proper training over a period of time.
12. When you force a weak ball with your blocks, change from a blocking mentality to attack mode. Far too many players force an opponent into making a weak return - and then continue blocking. Your blocking has done its job; now's the time to attack!!!

One of the biggest changes in our sport at the higher levels since I started playing in the late 1970s is the development of what I call the "topspinny backhand." (I should trademark that term.) When I started, most players had relatively flat backhands, with only a little topspin. The idea was to hit or block aggressively. A few players backed up and backhand looped, but few players played close to the table and tried to topspin heavily with their backhands. Part of this was the equipment - modern sponges are much bouncier and better for this.

At first glance, a good, hard, flat backhand is a better shot. After all, it tends to come out faster, and it's easier to time, as opposed to trying to take a bigger swing and spin the ball off the bounce. There were many big backhand hitters and great blockers back in those days, but only a few really spun their backhands off the bounce over and over. (Tibor Klampar and Anton Stipancic are two that did.)

These days nearly everyone at the higher levels topspins off the bounce. There's a terminology problem - it's not quite a backhand loop (usually), but it's more than a regular backhand. Hence my term, "topspinny backhand."

What are the advantages of these topspinny backhands?

1. The topspin pulls the ball down, just as it does for a loop, and so you effectively have a larger target.
2. The topspin jumps off the table, messing up the opponent's timing. When a player hits a ball flat, it travels at roughly the same speed to the opponent, so it's easy for the opponent to time it. When a player hits the ball with topspin, it starts out at one speed, then jumps when it hits the table, making it harder to react to and time.
3. The topspin jumps off the opponent's paddle, further messing up his timing.
4. Against a flatter ball, an opponent can take a step off the table to give himself more time to react, but against a ball with a lot of topspin, he has to take it relatively quick off the bounce when blocking or counter-hitting or he'll likely hit a weak or erratic shot, meaning he has less time to react.

One of the tougher questions for coaches is when to start players with topspinny backhands. Some say around 1800 (roughly advanced intermediate level). Others teach it almost from the start. I've seen it successfully learned both ways. But it does help to develop this shot somewhat early or you may get ingrained in your habits. I developed a flatter backhand early in my development, and while I can demonstrate a topspinny backhand, I'd have to spend a lot of practice time if I wanted to incorporate it into my game - and there's no guarantee that I'd be able to do so successfully after 37 years of flat backhands.

It's your choice - go flat or go topspinny!

Far too often players make two mistakes when pushing. First, they push to the backhand over and Over and OVER. Second, early in their stroke they aim their racket where they are pushing, usually to the backhand, in an apparent attempt to make it absolutely clear that once again that is where they are pushing. This is a great collaboration with your opponent, but not a good way to win.

First, let's review what makes a good long push. It normally should be quick, low, heavy, deep, and wide. (Exceptions: sometimes you no-spin push as a variation, so it doesn't always need to be heavy; and sometimes you push quick to the middle so the opponent has to decide whether to use forehand or backhand.)

But there is one other important element - last-second changes of direction. If you aim your racket to the opponent's wide backhand, he'll likely react to that and prepare for a deep push to the backhand. If, at the last second, you change and quick push to the wide forehand, you'll likely cause havoc for your opponent as he makes a last-second lunge for the ball. Ironically, this is especially effective against players with strong forehand loops, the very players you would normally not push to the forehand against, since they are often edging toward their backhand side, looking to forehand loop from that side.

At higher levels, players push short more often, especially when returning a serve. If your opponent serves short backspin, instead of just pushing it short, why not aim to his backhand, and then at the last second drop it short to the forehand? Again, this causes havoc, and in this case you aren't challenging your opponent's a forehand loop. Moving in to return a short ball to the forehand takes time, so why not try to trick your opponent into anticipating the ball coming to the backhand, and watch as at the last second he lunges in for the short ball to the forehand?

Moral: Don't just be pushy, be deceptively pushy!

There are two ways to adjust to "weird" serves and shots. One is to practice against every single one of them, until you are comfortable against every single one of them. Since there are a huge number of ways to serve or hit a ball, and anything that's not "orthodox" can be considered "weird," this would mean basically turning your practice sessions into just practice against these weird shots, as opposed to developing a foundation to your game. This would be a mistake.

While you should sometimes practice against seemingly weird serves and shots you might see in a match - especially the more common ones - it's better to focus on developing a strong foundation to your shots. This allows you to develop complete command over your shots. When developing a shot, but before a player really has command of it, he mostly does the shot robotically, meaning he can do it against the same incoming ball over and over, but can't adjust to anything different, i.e. "weird." But with practice, you develop command of the shot and it becomes so ingrained that adjusting to different shots becomes easier and easier. But it takes experience - not against every possibility, but experience adjusting to different incoming shots until you become used to making adjustments and have confidence you can do so.

You don't need to practice against every type of weird incoming shot to be able to deal with each of them. What's needed are two things: command of your shots, and general experience in adjusting. By playing lots of matches against lots of different players (whether practice, league, or tournament) you develop the habit of adjusting. And then, when you do play something different, you don't need to spend huge amounts of time learning to adjust to it; you've already developed that habit. If you have command of your own shots, and have developed the habit of adjusting to different shots, then you'll have little trouble adjusting to whatever an opponent can throw at you. This, and a little tactical thinking to figure out the weakness of the opponent's shots, are all that's needed to give you the advantage.

The key thing to remember is this - if the opponent is doing something weird, then pretty much by definition it's not standard technique, and there's probably a reason for that. If you have command of your shots and are used to adjusting to opponents, and do a little tactical thinking to figure out the weakness of the opponent's technique, then your more standard technique will give you an advantage over this less standard technique.

One hint that'll help against most "weird" rally shots: keep the ball deep on the table, and you'll have more time to react to their shots. Remember that they are used to your more standard shots, while you are not as used to theirs. 

Beginners dread playing against "weird" players. Top players look forward to it knowing the player's game is flawed. 

If you expect to win a match, you'll do better than if you don't expect to win. It's as simple as that. You may go into the match knowing it'll be the fight of your life, but if you expect to win it, you'll have a much better chance of doing so. Even against a player who is so much stronger that you objectively have little chance, you'll do better if you expect to win, and will have the proper mindset to figure out what you need to work on so you can do even better next time.

Of course, we've all had that experience of playing someone who was much better, i.e. a "top player." But if you are practicing regularly and are about to play a "top player," ask yourself this: Are you practicing regularly to not be a top player? Hopefully not, in which case you are practicing to be a top player. So when you play a top player, it's your chance to be what you practice to be. ("Top player" is, of course relative, depending on your own perspective and goals; to some, that's a world-class player, to others it's the neighborhood or club champ.)

Here's a simple test. If when you lose a match you don't have a few seconds of disbelief that you lost, then you didn't really expect to win. This should happen even after you play a top player. If it doesn't happen, you didn't expect to win, and you are handicapping yourself both now and in the future.  

Part of expecting to win for improving players is having confidence that even if you lose, you'll figure out what you need to do so you'll win next time, i.e. you may lose now, but fully expect to win next time. Here's another test. If after a match you think, "I would have won if not for [I couldn't return his serve, I missed my first attacks, I couldn't block his loop, etc.], then you have pretty much accepted your current level. If you are trying to improve, instead you should be thinking, "I can beat him next time because I will improve my [return of serve, learn to do the serve I had trouble with so I can win with it too, work on my first attack, work on my block, learn to loop so the other guy has as much trouble with my loop as I did with his, etc.]."

Often the root cause of a player not expecting to win is because the opponent does something so much better that the player thinks he can't compete. Never compare your opponent's best shot to yours; of course anyone near your level will do some things better than you, often much better in fact. But the same applies to you - against your peers, you also do something much better. Your goal is to find ways to tactically dominate more with your strengths more than they do with theirs - and expect to win as a result.

Expecting to win is a mindset you need to develop if you want to maximize your performance both now and in the future. It involves psychological, tactical, and strategic thinking. Psychological thinking is the confidence that you can win and so expect to win. Tactical thinking is thinking about your tactics so as to realize your expectations of winning. Strategic thinking is thinking about what you need to improve in your game so as to meet your expectations of winning next time. Use all three types of thinking and your expectations of winning will likely become a reality.