It's always been strange to me how a problem faced by so many players is so rarely dealt with. And that is dealing with distractions. Over the years, how many matches have you lost because something distracted you and you lost your focus? What did you do to solve the problem?

Most likely you just tried to keep your focus in practice matches. That's like developing your loop only by looping in practice matches. It's part of the solution, but you'll develop it a lot faster by doing drills that allow you to focus on that one aspect of your game. Similarly, if you want to work on your focus, find drills that allow you to focus on that one aspect.

I'm going to give one example of how to work on this. When Tiger Woods was developing and practicing his strokes as an up-and-coming junior, his dad would sometimes jingle keys or do other distractions. Tiger learned to focus completely on what he was doing, and the result was nothing could cause him to lose his focus.

You can do the same. It may seem silly, but why not sometimes practice or play practice matches where someone does exactly that - jingles keys, plays distracting music or news, or just talks to you. Your job isn't to just ignore him; that's not the point. Your job is to tune him out so you don't really notice him, so that your entire focus is on what you are doing, like an absent-minded professor who doesn't notice his house is on fire. You need to be so focused and inside yourself that you truly don't pay attention to outside distractions. When you can do that, you'll never have a problem with distractions again. 

If you think about it, this is somewhat obvious - and yet most don't really think about it when fixing a technique, leading to great difficulties in making these changes. They'll try to fix one part of the technique, but unless they fix both parts at the same time, the technique won't work properly.

Imagine a player with perfect technique. Now imagine changing something so his technique is no longer perfect. He'll likely have to compensate somewhere else in his technique for this change or his shots will no longer hit the table. Similarly, a player with one poor part of his technique will almost always have at least one other poor part to compensate.

For example, let's suppose a player's backswing is too short on a loop. To compensate, the player will likely swing more violently to gain the racket speed, leading to a poorly-controlled jerky stroke. To fix this he has to both extend the backswing while slowing down the acceleration to a smoothly controlled swing.  

Or suppose a player hits or loops forehands with his right foot (for righties) too far back. To compensate he'll likely have less waist rotation (since otherwise he'll literally be facing backwards during the backswing, leading to an awkward and less-powerful stroke. To fix the problem he has to both bring the right foot a bit more forward while increasing the waist rotation.

Or suppose the opposite, that the player hits or loops forehand with his right foot slightly forward (i.e. a backhand position) or even with the left foot (for a player who doesn't have a supple waist and/or spend many hours each week training like top players who correctly do this). The player will likely find it difficult to rotate the body properly in the time needed in a rally, and so will tend to stroke with only the upper body and arm, again leading to an awkward and less-powerful stroke. To fix the problem he has to both adjust the foot position and increase the body rotation. (Note how both improper foot positions lead to difficulties with using the lower body and proper body rotation.)

The same is true of a player who plays with his two feet parallel to each other, which makes it harder to rotate the lower body, and so leads again to an awkward and less-powerful stroke. Again, both the foot position and the body rotation need to be adjusted. Telling him to do one without the other won't help.

Or imagine a player who stands too far off the table when forehand looping against backspin, a common problem. He'll have to reach forward too much in his swing, and so to keep his balance will have to pull back with his left side, and so fall backwards slightly, leading to a loss of power and balance. Telling the player not to fall backward won't help unless you also tell him to stand closer to the table. His contact point with the ball may be the same, but it won't be so far in front of him.

Another common problem is the player who lifts his elbow during his forehand drive, leading to the racket angle changing from too open to closed during the stroke, making it hard to control what the angle is right at contact. If you tell him to stop lifting the elbow without also focusing on starting the forward swing with the racket in the proper angle he'll have great difficulties.

Sometimes there are more than two roots to the problem. If a player stands up too straight, this forces all sorts of adjustments to compensate. When the player tries to stay lower with a wider stance and knees more bent (as he should), he'll have to change a number of aspects (for the better) to his stroking technique. But if he doesn't make these changes, his new stance and stroking techniques will be awkward.

There are many more examples like this. What technique problems do you have in your game, and is the root of the problem singular or plural?

One of the toughest decisions a player has to make when serving under pressure - or at any other time - is whether to go "macho" or "tricky." Here's a Tip of the Week on the topic, Trick Serves and Third-Ball Serves, with third-ball serves the same as what I'm calling macho serves here.

Going macho means you serve mostly to set up a third-ball attack, knowing that you will have to follow it up with a strong attack. Most often these serves will give the server a return he server can attack, but the receivers generally don't miss these serves outright, and the server does have to make a good shot or sequence of shots to win the point.

Going tricky means pulling out a serve where you are trying to win the point outright with the serve, either by the receiver missing the serve or giving an easy pop-up. The weakness of these serves is that if the receiver reads them well, they are often easier to attack then third-ball serves. They tend to be all or nothing serves, where either the receiver misses, or the receiver attacks the serve. (Of course, if the opponent plays passively, then things are different - challenge them over and over with trick serves, since there's little danger of them attacking them.)

So which should you choose? First off, you should have complete confidence that you can win by going "macho," knowing that you can follow up your serve. At the world-class level, theses serves dominate. At the same time, you want to play the percentages - that's all tactics is, playing the percentages, and so that's all you should be thinking about here. You can't put an exact percentage on it, but you should be asking yourself, "Do I have a serve he keeps missing?"

Sometimes you might even have a serve you haven't used yet, and pull it out at the end - but I don't recommend that. If it's such a good serve that it should win you a point, use it earlier, both to win the point and to verify it'll work. If it does, then hold back on it for a time until the opponent isn't ready, then pull it out again. Why pull out a tricky serve at deuce when you could pull it out early in the game and perhaps again in the middle (and perhaps not go to deuce), and again late in the game if needed?

Some players prefer to go to simple "macho" third-ball serves under pressure because they are more likely to give predictable returns, which simplifies things. And most of your serves should be of this type, with the trick serves thrown in for a few free points.

So it's all about the percentages. With experience, you'll get a feel for which type of serve to pull in those pressure-packed moments. 

One of the most basic concepts in sports is that you must practice what you want to do in a match. The corollary to this is that what you do in practice is what you'll tend to do in a match. And yet, when it comes to ball placement, these are two of the most forgotten concepts in table tennis.

It's a basic tactical principle that most of your shots should go either to a wide angle - often outside the corners, to force your opponent to move and cover more ground - or at the opponent's middle, which is usually his playing elbow, the midpoint between his forehand and backhand, where he has to make a quick decision on whether to play a forehand or backhand, and then move into position. (There are also short balls, but that's a separate issue.) And so it's somewhat obvious that you'd want to practice putting balls to wide angles and to the middle, right? And yet, watch most practice drills, and you'll see that in the overwhelming majority of drills, players play to the corners, but no wider, and almost never to the middle. And so they are 1) not practicing what they want to do in a match, and 2) since what they do in practice is what they'll tend to do in a match, guess what they'll tend to do in a match?

So perhaps add two types of drills to your practice regimen. First, instead of drills where (for example) one player loops and other blocks, and it's all corner-to-corner, do this same drill, except both players go as wide as they comfortably can. The looper should try looping the ball outside the corner, often with hooking sidespin to go even wider. The blocker should take the ball quick off the bounce, which gives him the widest angle into the looper's forehand, and so he should block the ball as wide as possible. This doesn't mean going for risky extremes; it means going as wide as you comfortably can go. If you go too wide, you get less and less table, and will lose consistency.

You can do many similar drills. For example, when going backhand to backhand in a drill, why not focus on hitting balls a little bit outside the corners? There is an obvious advantage to going right at the corners, since it gives you more table and so it's safer, so you should find the right balance of when to go to the corner, and when to go for more angle.

Second, do drills where you go to the middle over and over. The most basic way is one player attacks the other's middle, while the other blocks from the middle, either forehand or backhand. The blocker can do this drill either by blocking with just forehand or just backhand over and over, or he can move back into a neutral position after each shot, and then react to the next shot with forehand or backhand. The result of such a drill? The attacker gets in the habit of attacking the middle, and so is able to do so in matches. The blocker practices something he will often see in matches - attacks to his middle - but rarely practices against, and so is rarely prepared for. And so both players improve their middle play.

So try out these drills, or come up with your own that allow you to practice placing the ball at wide angles and to the middle, perhaps by matching patterns you see in matches. And then do in matches what you do in practice!

Playing a tournament in absolutely perfect conditions is like that mythical annual vacation at the beach where everything goes perfect. But life is not a beach vacation, and neither is table tennis. You not only should be prepared for poor conditions, and as players, you should expect them. This doesn't mean you should just accept them; by all means work to make sure tournament and club directors have great conditions. But as players you have to adapt to the playing environment. Tactical players adapt; non-tactical players complain. Here's a short primer.

• Slippery floors. If your club has great floors, there's nothing more frustrating than showing up at a tournament primed to play like greased lightning, only to find you're playing on a skating rink. Most major tournaments are played on concrete or wood floors, and unless they are treated properly, they will be slippery. So what can you do?

  First, have a good pair of table tennis shoes. They are designed to give the best possible traction. Make sure to have a new pair as worn-out ones won't give as much traction. Many players who play at clubs with good floors get lazy on this, letting their shoes wear out, and don't realize this until they are stuck on slippery floors. I suggest getting news ones for such tournaments, and use them only when needed, until the ones you use in practice are falling apart.

  Second, step on a wet cloth between points. Watch the top players and you'll see this all the time if they aren't playing on good floors. It can be a wet paper towel or a cloth, it doesn't matter. You'll get much better traction after stepping on it for several points.

  Third, use it to your advantage. Players can't move as well on slippery floors, so move them around!

• Poor lighting or background. There's only one good answer here - adjust. You do this by practicing. One common mistake is that sometimes only one side has a bad background. So make sure to practice on both sides of the table, and on any tables you might play on that might have bad backgrounds.

  And once again, use it to your advantage. If the lighting or background is poor, it's harder for players to follow the ball. This favors attackers, since defenders are trying to pick up on a fast-moving ball. This doesn't mean wild attacks, but when it's harder to see, play a bit more aggressively, and expect shorter rallies.

• Bad tables, balls, or a breeze. This means the ball is going to take funny hops, or move about in the breeze. It's going to be difficult to play well, so accept that. Rallies will tend be short, and will favor the player who focuses on consistency. This doesn't mean completely changing your game, but focus on keeping the ball in play and letting the opponent make mistakes off the erratic movement of the ball. (Note - there are generally two types of "bad" tables - ones with slippery surfaces, where the ball slides, and ones where the ball dies when it hits near the side-lines or end-lines. Good tables have tops that are thick enough - usually one inch - so the ball bounces consistently all over the surface.)
   
• Humidity. There's nothing more frustrating than doing that perfect loop you've done ten thousand times before, and the ball slides off your racket into the net. When it's humid, both the ball and racket can get damp, and it'll change the characteristics of how the ball comes off your racket. How do you combat this?

  First, make sure to have a dry towel to dry your racket and the ball off with. If you sweat a lot, you should bring two towels, one for you, one for the racket and ball. Then use the towel(s) a lot, making sure the racket, ball, and your hands are dry. (A wet non-playing hand means the ball gets wet; a wet playing hand means you can't grip the racket very well.)

  Second, adapt tactically. You won't be able to overpower an opponent with spin, so loopers have to either go to more drive loops (sinking the ball into the sponge, and so less spin, more speed, not as consistent), or steady loops where you mostly keep the rally going. Hitters and blockers have the advantage here, so you might do more of that - but often they too have problems with the humidity as it changes the friction on their racket, and so they block loops into the net. One of the most successful ways to play in humid conditions against a looper is to simply dead block over and over, and watch the poor looper try to loop with any effectiveness.

• Cold. I've seen many players in the winter struggle in their early matches because their racket is cold - and they often don't even notice it. Or they aren't warmed up because their racket was cold when they were warming up, and now that the racket is warmer, it's playing different than it was when they were warming up. A cold racket plays deader. So if you are driving to a tournament and it's cold outside, keep your racket inside the car with you, not in the trunk where it'll get cold.

Finally, a reminder - when faced with bad conditions, you can either surrender to them and lose, or take advantage of them and win. Save the complaining for when you aren't playing, which usually means after the tournament is done.