Trouble finishing games

Table Tennis Mental Preparation

Last updated 11 years ago

laurence shields

laurence shields Asked 11 years ago

I was recently playing a game in a tournament. As I went 2-0 10-8 up i started to get nervous.I started to not hit the ball very hard and my opponent just hit the ball past me.I lost the game and the match.I would appreciate your tips on how to finish off players.


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago

Hi Laurence,

This is a really common issue for players.

The first thing to think about is how you felt.  Understand that you will have those feeling when it gets into a close situation.  It is more a matter of dealing with those feelings.

One simple way is when you start to feel like that, stop take a deep long breath.  This will have the effect of calming you down.  Then focus on your tactic for the next point.  So to get to 2 - 0 and 10 - 8 you must have been doing something right.  Try to think about what you have been doing and then maintain.  You don't have to do something different or more spectacular, just stick with your tactics.

Everyone goes through this at some stage.  You are not alone and in fact the person at the other end of the table is probably feeing similar to you.

Also take a look at previous Ask the Coach questions by typing in some key words from your question to the box at the top of the Ask the Coach page.  YOu will see a lot of other responses to similar situations.


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Thoughts on this question

Alex Thyer

Alex Thyer Posted 11 years ago

I just try to carry on playing the ball to the opponents weekness


laurence shields

laurence shields Posted 11 years ago

thanks both of you for the advice i will try to focus on the points from now on

 


Atanas Atanasov

Atanas Atanasov Posted 11 years ago

When the result goes to 10-8 or 10-9 I just become focused and trying to make my strokes nice and consistently. Another thing that can help is to not show your opponent you are nervous. Just play your game trying to reduce the mistakes and I think you should win these crucial points. 



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