What Should I Work On?

Tom Goodwin Asked 12 years ago

Here's a video of me playing.

I'm wondering what i need to improve on. Anyone else who has any pointers please say as well.

Jeff Plumb Answered 12 years ago

Hi Tom,

It looks like you are progressing well and you played some good points. Here are some things I noticed that you could work on.

When returning serve, you tried to push a lot of the balls back. The serves were coming long and without a lot of spin so you should try and play a controlled topspin off these.

Your forehand topspin can be very powerful but I'd like to see some more consistency with this stroke. See if you can practice playing forehand topspins with a training partner who will block the ball for you. Count how many you can get on in a row.

Also with the forehand topspin, I'd like to see you get the finish position a little higher rather than across in front of your body. Take a look at our video on the Forehand Topspin Against Block and try to practice the stroke over and over without actually hitting a ball until you have the perfect start and finish positions. And then try to practice it on the table, and again aim for consistency and see how many balls you can get on in a row.

With your service, I'd like to see you work on your placement. See if you can serve the ball either short, so it would bounce twice on your opponents side, or very fast and deep.

Overall you play well and are starting to develop a good attacking game. Keep up the good work.