Just like life, to get better in table tennis we need to learn from our mistakes. We can not solve a problem if we donโt know what the problem is.
The first step is to identify your mistakes and doing this by yourself can be challenging even for the top players in the world who have coaches helping them see their mistakes and helping them improve.
Throughout my years of coaching and playing I have seen all sorts of mistakes people make, including myself. But noticing the mistakes is only the first step to improvement, we need to know how to fix them too.
Now I will share my observations on what are the most common mistakes people make, what causes them, and what to do instead so you can show your true potential.
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You might like our other similar article: 13 Reasons Why Youโre Not Improving In Table Tennis. This article focuses more on mental blockages and training mistakes.
Grip Mistakes
Wrong Grip
Penhold and shakehand are the most commonly used grip types today. No matter which one you choose, your grip should be proper. Whether it is because of old habits or not having the right grip, either can cause you to not have a good feel while hitting the ball.
It will also limit your wrist movement for optimal spins. Wrong bat angle, difficulty while transitioning to different strokes, discomfort or even injuries, the list goes on.
To give an example, the proper way to hold a racket for a shakehand would be to hold the handle like you are shaking someone’s hand.
The index finger should be parallel to the edge of the rubber, and your thumb should be resting on the top, slanted part of the handle. The rest of your fingers should lightly grab the handle.
Read our article here to learn more: Penhold VS Shakehand Grip | Which Table Tennis Grip is Best?
- Note: Each hand is slightly different and so are racket handles. Try to find a handle that feels comfortable with this grip or it might force an improper grip.
Learn how to improve your table tennis game with our tutorials here.
Tight Grip
This is the most common mistake I have seen players make. Gripping the handle too tight because of not having proper grip, thinking the shot will be more powerful, or just not being relaxed.
The reality is, that having a tight grip means not having a great feel of the ball thus not having great control over your shots.
Limited wrist movement will reduce the amount of spin, shots will become shorter and jerkier, your hand will start to hurt and the racket will be pointing upwards instead of following your arm, resulting in a wrong technique.
While holding the racket focus on pinching your index finger and thumb together to hold the racket. The rest of your fingers should be lightly resting on the handle because when the muscle group that your middle, ring, and pinky finger belong to engages, it limits the amount of movement in your wrist.
You can try this yourself to see the difference, close your middle ring and pinky finger like you are holding a racket tight and try to rotate your elbow, then try the same with your index and thumb fingers pinched.
Being Too Tense
It is not just your hand that suffers from being tense. It is common for players to tense up and try to do the strokes as instructed when they are exposed to too much technical information.
They think tensing up will help with controlling their strokes but it makes movements jerkier and reduces the feel for the ball, causing unforced errors. It also happens to many players when they try to hit fast shots.
Counterintuitively they can’t accelerate during the stroke, making the shots slower with less spin
The right moment to tense up is right before contacting the ball so you can explosively use all your power to achieve maximum acceleration and spin. I recommend filming yourself playing and checking the footage to understand if or when you tense up.
Stance and Footwork Mistakes
Standing Upright
If I had a penny for every time I asked one of my students to not stand upright, I would have enough money to buy a TT table. Seriously, so many beginners think it’s okay to stand upright. This usually happens because of old โping pongโ habits, or because it feels easier and more natural to them.
To teach my students the importance of stance, I ask them to stand upright and hold the bat in a shot-ready position, then I slightly push them to one side. They end up losing their balance. After I ask them to place their feet wider we try again. Once more when they bend their knees and lean forward which is the correct stance.
I also asked them how would they get in position if they wanted to push something heavy, like pushing a car. The core principle is the same, to apply more power we bend our knees, open our legs wider, and lean forward.
To fix this get in the correct stance, legs wider than shoulders, knees bent and body leaning forward to counterbalance. If you struggle to stay in the correct position I highly suggest doing the shadow practice as coach EmRatThich explains here:
Staying Too Close to Table
It is called table tennis so I should be near the table right? Not really. Standing too close to the table will usually mean not enough time for the ball to get to the optimal height for you to execute a nice shot. It also means on long balls, you would struggle to get back quickly.
Another advantage of keeping your distance, as I say to my students is that if they move slightly further away from the table, it will give them more time to get in position and hit the shot simply because the ball needs to travel a longer distance.
The correct distance to the table can be determined by following steps: get in the correct stance and hold your racket in front of your body as if you are waiting for a serve. At this moment, your racket tip should be barely touching the table. This is the preferred stance because our bodies can move forward faster than backward.
A good exercise to help memorize this is one push, one drive combo. Position yourself like we just described, move in with your right foot (if you are right-handed) to perform a push and quickly step back to do a forehand drive on the next ball.
Right Foot Forward
First-time players and people who played tennis before usually find themselves with their right foot forward when using their backhand. While this might feel comfortable and natural at first, it will quickly get uncomfortable when they need to switch positions for a forehand shot.
Table tennis is a fast-paced sport, having the right foot forward during backhands would mean transitioning for a forehand would take too long and require extra effort. The correct foot placement for forehands is to have the right foot parallel or slightly further back than the left foot and for backhands is to have your feet parallel to where you want the ball to go.
- Note: People who have this problem most likely also have the problem of only using their arms for strokes.
Bad Footwork – Reaching
Even if you can hit the fastest spinniest shots, it won’t mean much if you can only hit the ball when it comes right to you, which is rare in a table tennis match. Good footwork is essential and the biggest enemy of good footwork is only reaching out to catch the ball.
If you reach for a shot just with your arm, it will not be a good quality shot, you will lose your balance and will have a hard time recovering for the next shot. Avoid this at all costs when you are building your fundamentals or it will be hard to fix it later on. I would know because this was the biggest mistake I made when I started playing table tennis.
To fix this, practice footwork drills both on the table and at home too. One exercise we did with my students to help with this issue is transferring more weight to your toes and even if the ball comes to the same place, releasing your heels from the ground after each shot.
โBad Footworkโ, Not Quite
โAh, if only I had better footwork !โ is something many people say after being unable to catch a ball. The truth is, thatโs usually not the only problem. Let me explain.
Imagine you are playing against me. I serve to your left side, you move over to catch it. Now comes the important decision, where are you gonna hit the ball? If you play it parallel to the line, it will give me a really wide angle to play on your forehand side, making it hard for you to get there in position in time.
If you play it diagonally, however, I can only hit the ball near where you already are. I will try to explain it in more detail later as this is such an important strategy most people don’t think about. For now, I hope the images and the description help.
Strategy Mistakes
Not Having a Strategy
Table tennis is a chess-like game. Every shot is calculated, and opponents’ shots are predicted before their rackets touch the ball. Even as a beginner, having a strategy can make a big difference. Simply thinking about where your opponent is on the table, and what shots they can do well, or can’t, is a great place to start building your strategies.
Try to fight the autopilot mode when you are in a match. Think about where to place your shots. Practice 3rd-5th or 7th ball attacks to help you get familiarized with game plans.
Only Serving to Win Points
Serves are quite important in a match, so practicing them is a must but I wanna talk about another point here. Serves are not just a potential way to gain a point but a way you start your game plan too.
Serving a heavy underspin short serve would mean your opponent will most likely push the ball as a return, giving you a chance to attack first. A long serve, however, will force them to attack first, so you should plan your next stroke accordingly. Use them as a part of your strategy.
Learn more about serving here: Table Tennis How to Serve + 12 Famous Serving Techniques
Not Having a Personal Style
Table tennis is all about variety. Lots of different strokes, constantly changing spins, unlimited amounts of equipment combinations, and on top of all that, players have unique styles. Not having your own style puts you at a disadvantage.
This problem is usually caused by focusing too much on training and not playing matches often. You need to play matches and face different opponents to build your style.
Having a coach to analyze your skills would help a lot when it comes to building a personal style too.
Even the best players in the world have their traits, Ma Long has a strong forehand, and Fan Zhendong has a powerful backhand.
Let’s not forget about Adam Bobrow with his trademark snake shots too! Each player has strengths and weaknesses, and not having a personal style means you are not playing with these traits in mind.
You need to understand your strengths to use them effectively, or you might want to avoid your weaknesses. As you start doing this, you will develop your play style.
You might enjoy our articles spotlighting pro players here.
Equipment Mistakes
Wrong Equipment
You start playing, you get better and you decide to get a proper racket to unleash your potential. If you are not careful with what you buy, you might get frustrated with the shots you miss, or worse, develop the wrong technique.
Why would this happen just because of the racket you chose? It is because most people go shopping for the fastest, newest, best products out there are and they think that they are gonna hit better quality shots.
What ends up happening is they get a racket that is too fast and doesn’t provide enough feeling.
They shorten their strokes to not overshoot the ball, they miss their placements because they can’t feel the ball, and as a result, the racket that was โthe bestโ was no help for the quality of their shots.
On the opposite side of things, some of my students went ahead and bought the best premade racket they could find in a sports store.
Some premade bats are decent but many of them are not suitable for anyone who is at all competitive. They have cheap blades and low-quality rubber, meaning they don’t provide the feel or spin required to learn proper technique.
Learn more about how to choose the right bat here
Focusing Too Much on Equipment
As important as equipment is, focusing solely on it is not gonna improve our skills. Blaming the equipment you have for your mistakes and changing it constantly will make you forget about training and improving your skills.
To avoid this from happening to you, learn about how to choose the right equipment first. Do not upgrade unless they get worn out or you know exactly what you need for your skills.
- Note: When you look at what professionals use, don’t just copy them. Learn about why they use those types of equipment. We all want to play like them, but buying the same equipment they use is not gonna magically transfer their skills to us.
Training Mistakes
Just Playing
It is important to put in more hours, but whatโs more important is the quality of training you do. This is another mistake I made myself, mindlessly playing forehand drives with my friend for hours and hours with my feet glued to the ground.
So be mindful of what you are training, remember the fundamentals of table tennis, and implement them in your drills.
Rushing The Training Steps
This one really upsets me. Many beginners start chasing new strokes as soon as they know how to do a basic drive. Table tennis has lots of different techniques to be mastered so they feel the urge to go to the more advanced ones as soon as possible.
The problem with this is that every stroke and technique is based on the fundamentals. Without solid fundamentals, you will not be able to advance to the next step so take your time.
Getting out of Control
Are you having a great time when you are training but when it comes to matches your technique gets out of control? Then it is time we think about what sort of training to focus on.
This happens usually because you canโt recover from your previous shot in time, or because of bad footwork. To fix this, you should work on your recovery and footwork.
An exercise I recommend is if you are doing forehand loop drills, do two spins and one block, to give yourself more time to recover and get used to the pace.
Not Analyzing Yourself
If you havenโt watched yourself play table tennis before, you are missing out. I was feeling like Ma Long with my forehand until I watched myself play. How we think we play and how we actually play can be worlds apart.
It is so much easier to see your mistakes when you watch yourself play. It is even better if you can find a good training video of a professional and copy the camera angle so you can compare them more easily. Doing this will at least double the rate of your improvement speed.
On top of watching your videos, practicing the strokes in front of a mirror can also be a great way to improve your technique. Just grab your racket, find a mirror and a good training video, and start practicing!
Match Mistakes
Shot Selection
This is something we never stop practicing and improving, even professional players can misjudge and make mistakes in selecting which shot to perform. To help with this, always include some sort of irregular drills in your training to get used to deciding your shots and getting in position.
My students’ favorite training is the irregular backhand drive. Each player stays on their respective left side of the table as you start a backhand drive rally. After 5 consecutive shots, the one that started the rally has the choice to play the ball anywhere they want.
It can be the 5th shot or the 50th! The randomness of this training is what makes it fun and effective. After the rally has been randomized, it turns into a match point where you can do anything to win the point.
Always Hitting Hard, Trying to Finish fast
Hitting hard is not the only way to win a point. It can be nice to try pushing your limits but donโt make it a habit during matches as it will cause unnecessary errors.
Focus more on your shot quality instead and develop your game strategy. Remember that your brain plays an equally important role as5 your body when it comes to winning points.
Shy To Attack Long Balls
Another mistake I struggled with, and so do many other players. Pushing a long ball feels safer than trying an attack until you realize you are giving control of the game to your opponent.
If you have trained and learned how to loop against underspin, you should try it in matches. Remember that mistakes are great if we learn from them so try recording your matches to analyze them further.
Technique Mistakes
Hitting with Arm Only, No Body Rotation
One of the first lessons you need to learn in table tennis is hitting with your body. The arm should follow the body, not the other way around. This is because the main power on our shots is generated from the ground, through your legs and hips.
Another advantage of this is having multiple muscles and parts of your body controlling the stroke instead of just your arm, meaning you can generate more power and have more control over your strokes.
I always used the phrase โto rotate the ball, you need to rotate your bodyโ to explain the relation between our bodies and spin to my students. If you want to get better at body rotations, try doing shadow practices like in the video I included earlier in this article.
Big Follow Through-Shot efficiency
Big follow-through means your forehand or backhand strokes are longer than they need to be. Having a bigger stroke can give more power to the shots in some instances but it comes with a heavy disadvantage, a long recovery time. We know how fast-paced table tennis is, so the longer recovery time usually outweighs the added spin and speed to our strokes.
I have also seen a correlation between players having big follow-throughs and players who only use their arms to hit. Focusing on adding body rotation will help with your shot efficiency too.
The ideal finishing position for a forehand stroke is the middle line of our body. If you go past this line, getting back to position for the next shot will require a lot more time so only do this if you are far away from the table,
Mental Mistakes
Being Too Harsh on Yourself
Table tennis is an individual sport, 99% of the points you lose are because of your mistakes. This can result in someone being highly critical of themselves. I have seen people smash their rackets, stamp on balls, or just leave the match just because of their mentality.
I suffered with this, blaming myself for missing a shot I hit 400 times during training, missing serves, and losing to someone who I believed had a worse skillset than me.
What helped me get through this was to see each match as an opportunity to test the skills I learned during training. The match is like a test that shows my strengths and weaknesses.
Enjoy winning, but also learn to enjoy losing. I was really afraid to go against highly rated players at the beginning because I thought there was no way I could win, why would I even try?
Now I will do anything I can to be in the same tournaments as highly skilled players in order to get a chance to see how they play firsthand.
Even if I lose 11-1, just feeling the amount of spin professional players put out gives me a whole new perspective on where I am in terms of my skills
The โI am good enoughโ mentality
Being the best player in your friend group, in your club or even the whole city might make you feel like you made it. If that’s all you wanted, and you are happy with where you are then sure. But know that there are always better players out there and thinking you are good enough will make you not wanna improve your skills.
You might also like our article: 13 Reasons Why Youโre Not Improving In Table Tennis. This one focuses more on mental blockages and mistakes in training structure.
Closing Thoughts
I love table tennis. The precision, the spin, the feeling you get after a nice rally, and the community.
I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am if it wasn’t for this awesome community and the amazing coaches who publish videos or articles about table tennis like PingSkills, PingSunday, and Tom Lodziak.
I wanted to give back by sharing my experience with coaching and playing to highlight common mistakes and their solutions. Go ahead, take what you learned today, implement it in your play, and as always, have fun!
