How important is to watch the table tennis ball carefully in a game? Do you have to watch the ball until it hits the paddle? You may get different answers for these questions.
The table tennis is all about spin. There are different spins that a player has to face in a table tennis game – top spin, under spin, side spin and combination of all of those. A beginner player should always watch the ball as soon as it is released from your opponent, from there to the table and to where it spins and you hit the ball with the paddle. This can improve the reflexes.
An advanced player will find top spin and underspin are easy to handle without doing whatever I have suggested in the above paragraph. But the side spin can add more complexity to the game. Unless you watch carefully, it would be hard to counter ‘top and side spin’ loops that curve to your left or right. Also it would be hard to handle under spin balls that come with side spin.
When I play, I give careful attention to serves. I play against some players who do tricky serves – top spin or underspin without tossing the ball high and sometimes hiding the ball with the palm. I don’t complain much against such serves. I carefully watch the flight of the ball to understand what kind of spin it has. There are penholders who use very tacky rubbers and can trick their opponents with the spin they serve. In such cases, it is important to watch the flight of the ball to have a feeling of what kind of spin the ball has.
At the world class level, the players give attention to serves. When a top spin rally starts, normally they look at opponent’s movement rather than the ball.
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