Newgy’s Blog

I would like to explain the importance of a good serve return in table tennis. While your opponent is serving, you don’t have control of how they serve, so you must make the most out of what they give you. Your opponent will give you all sorts of spins and speeds that are all over the table. So, that is their advantage at the beginning of the point. Your advantage is being able to be in good placement for starting the point. So, with the advantage you have and if you know the spin on the ball, that will be enough to set you up with a good return.

Once you are confident in getting back all types of serves, you can work on putting the ball where it is tough for your opponent to return. I feel that one of the best places to return a serve is to your opponent’s middle. That shot will put them in a place where they feel uncomfortable and won’t be able to make an offensive shot.

Samson Dubina once gave me the best piece of advice about serve returns when he said, “The main objective of serve return is getting the ball on the table.”

So, making an amazing shot is great, but missing it 4 out of 5 times is not great.

Perry Wilson

What’s the most fun shot to hit in table tennis? To me, it’s definitely a smash – probably the fastest shot, and one of the most difficult shots to return. But so many people do not practice it, and it can sometimes cost them the match.

Since it is looked at as such an easy shot, people don’t see the need to practice it. But, you should practice this almost as much as any other shot you work on. I am going to tell you what you must look for and do, so you can execute the perfect smash.

The first thing you should look for is the spin on the ping-pong® ball. So many times people underestimate the spin on a high ball and just wait right next to where they think it will be. You have to watch what they do when they hit the ball. Whatever direction they swing their paddle, the ball will go the opposite way once it hits the table.

The other thing people mess up on a lot while smashing the ball is the placement of the ball. For most people, lobbing is not their best weapon while playing, some do not even know how to lob. So, if you are smashing at them that is one thing, but when you can place it well, they will not stand a chance. The best thing to do while smashing is to keep smashing to the same side for 3 or 4 shots, with each shot getting a little bit wider. Once they are out wide, then you go for the kill to the opposite side that you were playing the ball originally.

With doing those two things, I’m sure that your smashing game will improve a lot, and could take your game to the next level.

Perry Wilson

What is the first shot in every point of table tennis?

The serve.

So this should be one of the shots you need to work on the most. All of the best table tennis players have amazing serves that are difficult to make an offensive shot. Here are some tips and ideas you can use to improve your serve.

– When serving, you should swing your racket the fastest right when you make contact with the ball.

– The movement for serving should be with your forearm going back and forward to create power, and the movement of flicking your wrist should be to create spin.

– When hitting your serve you should be contacting the ball close to the table to avoid a lot of bounce on the ball. Because when you hit the ball high in the air, it makes the ball bounce high in the air, and it gives your opponent an easy shot to hit.

If you want to see examples of these attributes in action, check out some videos of Ma Lin, Timo Boll, Wang Liqin, and Jan Ove Waldner serving.

Good Luck!

Perry Wilson

Forehand Loop Off of Backspin

One of the hardest shots to hit correctly and effectively in table tennis is the forehand loop against underspin. I will be taking you through things you should do and shouldn’t to while hitting this shot.

So many times while hitting this shot, people tend to lean back. When people lean back, they lose all of their power because your energy is going up. While losing power and energy, the ping-pong® ball goes more up than forward. So if you do end up making the shot, it will be high and soft, making it easy for your opponent.

They to hitting this shot correctly is using your legs and bending your knees. You have to bend down to get your paddle lower than the ball. Once that is done, you have to use legs as springs to get power. With doing those to things, and swinging forward, not up, you can get a much more effective shot.

If you can make those changes to your shot, you can really bring your forehand loop against underspin and your entire table tennis game to the next level.

Perry Wilson

At the beginning of every point in table tennis, you are either serving, or returning the serve. Today, I am going to focus on the position you should be in while returning the serve, and after you hit your serve.

When you are serve returning you need to be careful where you stand. Most players stand in the backhand side just because everyone else does. But really you should be diagonal of where your opponent is standing, because they are most likely to serve it cross court. Another thing people seem to have a problem with is getting jammed because they stand close to the table. A good rule of thumb when serve returning is if you can touch the table with your racket, you are probably too close.

While serving there is really one main thing you need to do between your serve and next shot. It really doesn’t matter where or what you serve, but go directly diagonal from your shot. I would say about 6-7 out of 10 times, your opponent will return your serve cross court, so going across from your serve will be the most logical thing to do.

With making these two small changes to your table tennis game, I believe it can help tremendously with your game.

Perry Wilson