There is no such thing as a weird style, just styles you are not used to. And yet, players are often petrified, or at least mentally too tight, to play effectively against weird styles. (When I say “weird style” I’m referring to any aspect of the opponent’s play that’s “different,” whether it’s technique or equipment.) So, how can you defeat these weird styles?

1. Remember that they play weird only because they play a rare style or use different equipment, which means it has built-in weaknesses – or more would play that way. Find the weaknesses in their game and apply pressure. For example, a player might have trouble playing against long pips, where he keeps getting his own spin. Then he realizes that if you simply gives the long pips a no-spin ball, he’ll get a no-spin ball back – and once he’s used to that, he can start teeing off against them. 
2. Adjust to their style. Play right into the weirdest parts until you are comfortable against it. Then you’ve taken away their “weirdness.”
3. Don't let a few careless mistakes bother you. When “normal” players play, they are playing their normal game against a style that they are used to. Against a “weird” style, you will make more mistakes, especially when attacking – so accept that, and don’t get discouraged by it. Just make sure you are winning most of the points so those few silly-seeming mistakes won’t matter!
4. Play as many “weird” styles as you can. Some avoid doing so, either because they aren’t fun to play, or just as often from the logic that they may never play another player like that, so why learn to play against this one player? The problem is that adjusting to “weird” styles is a habit that needs to be incorporated into the subconscious so that you can quickly adjust to any style. If you only play “normal” styles, then your subconscious – which controls your reactions – will learn to only react normally, and won’t learn to adjust to shots outside the “normal” range. It’s all about developing flexibility in your game, as opposed to robotically reacting the same to different shots, which is fatal against “weird” styles.
5. In particular, learn how to play against all playing surfaces, not just inverted. Long pips (with or without sponge), medium-long pips, short pips, antispin, hardbat – learn to play them all, both in practice and in theory. For example, against long pips, I’ve already mentioned above how no-spin gives them trouble – in theory. But you have to actually practice doing this, and going after their following returns, to really learn to play this tactic.)

Finally, one little piece of advice. Don’t think of “weird” styles as something to fear. Instead, think of them as someone who’s achieve a higher ranking or rating than they might have if more players knew how to play them. If you know how to play them, they will seem over-rated and won’t seem too threatening. Instead, by knowing how to play them, you are the one who is threatening!

You have three options – as the ball rises, at the top of the bounce, and on the drop. Which should you choose?

Ideally, take it on the rise, right after it bounces on your side of the table. This allows you to rush your opponent, go for maximum angle, and because you are closer to your target – the far side of the table – it actually gives you surprising control. The downside, of course, is that you might be rushed to do this and so lose control and consistency.

If you can’t take it on the rise, the it’s usually best to take it on the drop. This gives lots of control, and also makes it easier to load up the backspin. The downside is you can’t rush your opponent as much or go for as much angle. But since you have more time to react, it gives the most overall control and consistency.

Generally the worse place to contact the ball when pushing is at the top of the bounce. If you do so, since your contract point is higher, your push will tend to bounce up more, giving your opponent an easier attack. However, pushing at the top of the bounce does give you more net clearance and so some players do this with very aggressive pushes. But you can do that almost as well with a later contact point that gives you a lower-bouncing push, and so that’s generally better.

Experiment with all three, find what works for thee!

It’s a simple matter of geometry that if you graze the ball toward the back when serving backspin, you will either hit too much downward and so your serve will be high, or you will have to graze the ball less and so get less spin.

What does this mean? It means that to get a really heavy and short backspin when serving, you have to contact the ball near the bottom, almost as if you are scooping the ball. It takes touch, but with practice any player can learn to do so. The key is that you don’t do this by slowing down your serving stroke for control, as many do; instead, you accelerate into the ball with great racket speed, but barely graze the ball as it drops onto your paddle. This will result in a very heavy and short backspin serve.

If you do this, you’ll have the feeling that you are almost struggling to get the ball to go over the net. This is because you’ll have little downward motion, and with little downward motion, the ball isn’t being hit downward, and so it doesn’t easily bounce upwards and over the net. In fact, this will force you to accelerate even more into the serve as you struggle to get it over the net. When you find yourself accelerating into the ball and grazing it finely, and barely able to get it over the net . . . the ball will not only have a lot of backspin, it’ll likely come to a stop or even bounce backward on the far side of the table!!!

1. Wear appropriate table tennis shoes. They are designed for table tennis movements.
2. Wear relatively tight shoes. If they are loose, your feet will move about inside them as you move, slowing you down. Anyone who’s played me know that just before any match I retie my shoes as tight as I can.
3. On slippery floors, wear new shoes, and step on a wet towel every few points. This will greatly help you with traction.
4. Develop a good ready position, ready to move in any direction, with weight mostly on the outside balls of the feet, knees slightly bent, leaning slightly forward at the waist.
5. Focus on recovering and positioning after each shot. You don’t need to be that quick if you recover and position yourself after each shot for the next one. For example, if you go wide to the opponent’s wide forehand, he has an angle into your forehand, and so you shift your positioning a bit in that direction. And so on.
6. Focus on balance. If you are even slightly off balance, it will drastically slow you down from recovering and getting back into position for the next shot.
7. Take a little hop just before your opponent hits his shot. This allows you to drop down into a relaxed crouch as he’s hitting, with your feet ready to spring you in either direction. Watch the top players and you’ll see how they do this. (Here’s a tip on this – You Can Be Light on Your Feet.)
8. Think of yourself as a mean green moving machine. (Wearing green is optional.) Much of footwork is in the mind – if you think you’re greased lightning, you’ll tend to move more quickly.

When I started out in 1976, the consensus among coaches that I worked with was that you didn’t have time to grip change between forehand and backhand. And so I learned to use one grip for both. I ended up with a more forehand grip and developed a strong forehand. The victim was my backhand, where I became steady but never developed a strong attack. As one of my fellow coaches said after I explained this to him, and he tried hitting with the same grip, “I can’t even hit a decent backhand with my forehand grip.”

Since I’ve recently started a comeback as a player competing in senior events, I’ve been working a lot on my backhand. This grip issue was a big issue. So, how did I address it? The exact same way you should.

First, I went to the table and worked out the perfect grip for my forehand. This took about two seconds since I already had that grip. You should do this as well – find the perfect grip for your forehand.

Second, I went to the table and worked out the perfect grip for my backhand. This took a little longer, and involved putting a little more pressure on the racket with my thumb, and a small rotation of the top of the racket away from me. But once I had it, my backhand was much better in drills. You should do this as well – find the perfect grip for your backhand.

Third, I spent a bunch of time practicing the grip change. I could literally do this while watching TV or while walking about coaching a group session. Just fiddle it back and forth until it feels natural.

Fourth, I spent a lot of time at home with a racket, shadow-practicing moving side to side, alternately hitting forehands and backhands, where I changed grips back and forth until the grip change became automatic when I moved to play backhand.

Fifth, I did live drills where I had to alternate between forehand and backhand shots, thereby incorporating the grip change.

Sixth, I did live drills where I had random shots between forehand and backhand, so that I could incorporate the grip change as part of the recognition of whether I would be playing forehand or backhand. By the time I got to this stage it was surprisingly automatic.

Seventh, I played matches with the new grip changes.

And guess what? My backhand is much better – mostly. When I played a tournament against unfamiliar players, I found myself a bit uncomfortable attacking with the backhand, especially early in matches. It got better as the matches went on and I adjusted to the different opponents, but this part still needs work. And so I’ll add:

Eighth, play lots of matches against unfamiliar player with the new grip changes, especially in tournaments.

The sequence above is actually similar to how you’d incorporate any change or new technique into your game – so even if this doesn’t apply directly to you, it should give you a good idea of how to work the techniques you need work on. Go to it!