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Mendo or Magna? (9)
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by Donald 22 years ago
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The following message (subject: Re: tactics) was posted by Donald, on 12/13/2002 9:15:38 AM:
Hello Arnau, It seems from your post that you are an attacking, offensive minded player who likes to control the table. If this be the case then I think our styles of play share much similarity. Try this: Pretend you are your opponent. Stand against the end of the table at the center line and place a ball on the center line at the end of the table. Now move the ball in either direction along the endline to the full extension of your arm. Your opponent does not have much ground to cover in the above situation, does he/she? The table is only 1.525m wide and can be defended relatively easy. Now try this: Place the ball on one of the sidelines and pretend it is a shot coming from the other side of the table and extend the ball beyond that point in an imaginary path of flight. You will see that your opponent must now cover a much wider area. If you can break the sideline plane, then, you open the court to move your opponent around (She/he will usually be forced to play away from the table as well). You should gain control of the table if you can break the sideline plane. You must not become predictable in attempting to establish control. Predictability will make you lose most of the time. In general, I try to utilize either loops or well placed blocks to gain control of the table - depending on the shot selection of my opponent but I try never to follow any patterns of placement. Generally, I like to place my shots corner to corner in the hope of eventually breaking the sideline plane. However, never underestimate the value of a strong shot to your opponents body which many times will yield a weak return. If you have a good blocking game then serve long topsin and allow the speed of your opponent's return against him. If you favor looping then short serve with underspin and try to utilize the third ball attack. For me, at least, controling the table means playing close and utilizing my quickness against a less quick opponent. My goal at the beginning of a rally is to attempt breaking that sideline plane in order to gain control. This allows me to move my opponent around and hopefully find a weakness in his positioning away from the table where I can go for the kill. Do keep in mind that once you break that sideline plane then your opponent also has wide angle possibilities against you as well. Is this the sort of discussion you had in mind? Take care, Donald |