Anticipating Opponents

From TableTennisTraining

This page is devoted to techniques for anticipating what your opponent will do and taking advantage of it during game play.

Anticipating Serves

Anticipating Strokes

Anticipation is one of the most important skills for table tennis players. Every player may be able to return the ball to the other side but the best players are able to anticipate the opponents shot selection and get ready for the return very quickly. Since table tennis is being played in a very narrow distance compared to other racket sports, players have very limited time to get ready to return the ball efficiently. Therefore, table tennis players should be able to anticipate the direction and the type of the ball using the clues by watching the opponent's movements.