Time-Out Tactics

Each player is allowed a one-minute time-out during a tournament or league match. (Often a coach calls the time-out, but the player can waive that off if he doesn’t want one at that time, except in a team match.) When should you call a time-out? Here are some scenarios where you should call a time-out—but remember, you are only allowed one, so choose carefully. I’ve put them in order of priority. There are also times you shouldn’t call a time-out, such as when you are in the zone (i.e. focused and playing well), and a time-out might only disturb your concentration. If a coach calls a time-out and you really, really don’t think you need one (and want to save it for later), then waive him off. (You might want to let him know in advance you might do this.)

When to Call a Time-out

1. When losing focus before a key point. This is the most important time to call a time-out. A time-out is a good way to get your concentration back.
2. To think about or discuss tactics at a key point. Generally do this when you are about to serve, since you have complete control over choosing your two serves. If you have a coach, he might be able to help choose two serves to use. Call it when you are receiving mostly if you have a good idea what the opponent will serve, and are debating how you should return that serve. Or call it to think or discuss any other tactical plans. It’s also valuable to call a time-out when you are winning a relatively close game (especially late in a match), such as at 10-8 or 9-7, so as to clear your mind, think tactically, and close out that game. This is often when the Chinese team calls time-outs.
3. When falling behind in a key game. It’s useful to call a time-out if you lose the first game and are falling behind in the second (since you absolutely do not want to fall behind 0-2), or if you have already lost two games and will lose the match if you lose another. The key is not to wait until you are way behind; instead, call the time-out when you are still relatively close and can still find a way to come back. The time-out allows you to make sure you are focused and to rethink your tactics. It’s also a good way to give your opponent a chance to cool off if he’s playing well—there’s nothing wrong with calling a time-out in hopes of disturbing his concentration or throwing off his rhythm.
4. Desperation tactic. Far too many players call time-outs as a desperation tactic near the end of a match when they are way behind and are pretty much out of it, but this rarely leads to a win. If you are losing badly, why wait until you are way down in the last game? It’s far better to call the time-out earlier in the hope of not being in this situation, where the time-out will rarely help. 

One of the most under-practiced aspects of serving is depth control. Most intermediate and advanced players know that serving short stops an opponent from looping. As players advance, they begin to see the advantage of serving short with the second bounce as deep as possible. This makes it harder for the opponent to flip or drop short, to return at a wide angle, or rush the server.

As they advance, players also begin to see that a deep serve that goes very deep, so the first bounce is near the opponent's endline, is much more effective than a long serve that bounces more in the middle of the table. The deeper the bounce, the more you jam the receiver, force him off the table, cut off angles, and give yourself more time to react to his shot. (Deep serves can either be spin serves, fast serves, or a combination of both.)

You'd think that players would really focus on controlling the depth of their serves, making sure that the second bounce of a short serve and the first bounce of a long serve are both near the opponent's endline. And yet few players really take the time to really learn to do this.

Draw a line on the far side of the table about four inches from the end, a few inches more for beginners. (You can use chalk, or perhaps just put a string across the table.) Now get a bucket of balls, and practice your serves - but on every serve, make sure that either the first or second bounce lands in the last four inches of the table. (Make sure that you don't hold back on the spin on your spin serves or you defeat the whole purpose here. If you have trouble creating spin, focus on that before you worry too much about serving short with spin.) Don't consciously aim; learn the feel of the serves that go the proper depth, and visualize doing it each time just before you actually do the serve. Ingrain the feel, and you'll ingrain the serve. 

If you find a tactic that really gives your opponent trouble, do some serious thinking about how often to use it. You may have two options: 1) use the tactic to win one game; or 2) use the tactic to win the match. If you want to squeeze an entire match out of the winning tactic, then you don't want to overuse it and allow the opponent to get used to it.

For example, suppose you have a serve your opponent misses over and over. Unless the opponent is brain dead, if you overuse this serve, he'll get used to it. He'll also expect the serve at key moments - so you have to decide whether it will still be effective at that time. If he hasn't made many good returns of it in the past, then he'll probably have trouble with it under pressure as well, so most often use it at these key, pressure-packed points. When he does make a good return of this serve, hold back on it for a while, and then surprise him with it again. 

If you only have one serve that gives the opponent trouble, perhaps you can turn this into two by doing some variation of the serve? A different spin, speed, or depth, or even serving from a different part of the table might be enough variation to allow you to use it more often.

Suppose an opponent with a big loop keeps missing when you push heavy to his backhand. Do you really want to warm up his attack against this by giving it to him over and over? I've had many coaching experiences where a player went to the well too often, and tactically had nothing left in the last game. I once coached a match where the opponent had a huge backhand loop off a deep push to his backhand to follow up his short backspin serves. In the first game, the opponent missed over and over. Between games I suggested using the tactic at the start of game two, then holding back on it a bit, perhaps pushing more to the forehand, pushing short, or flipping. Instead, the player I was coaching pushed long to the backhand over and over, took an early lead - and then suddenly the opponent's big backhand loop started hitting. Afraid to push deep to the backhand, my player started pushing to the forehand, where the opponent was even stronger. Afraid this late in the match to start flipping or pushing short, my player fell apart, and the rest of the match was a rout.

It's important to come up with several winning tactics, and vary them. Experiment early in the match, and find what works. If you have one serve that works, find a variation of it so you have two. If you have two serves that give an opponent trouble, go back and forth between them somewhat randomly, mixing in other serves as well, perhaps looking for a third effective variation. If you build up a lead, perhaps temporarily retire one of these serves for later. But be careful - don't blow a lead by failing to use what was a winning tactic. It's all about judgment. 

If you want to score more points against us, focus on consistency, placement, and steady attacks instead of wild swings. Stop hitting everything crosscourt, go after my playing elbow more, and change directions at the last second so we don't know where you're hitting the ball five minutes before you hit it. And for god's sake, develop some good serves, both long and short ones. While you're at it, work on your receive - it takes practice, but if you focus on control, you'll get that control. If you do all this, and can put the ball away when you get an easy shot, you'll start beating us and we'll teach you the secret handshake. That is all. 

When you make a series of shots and then miss one, remember the feel of the ones that hit, not the one that missed. It's the ones that hit that you want to ingrain. Think about the miss only if you do it over and over, and then only think analytically to figure out what the problem is, and as briefly as possible. Then forget about the misses and think about the feel of the good ones.