I was helping a young tennis player to learn table tennis strokes at the club yesterday. My observations of him made me think he had to understand the table tennis game. He was comparing table tennis to tennis. He had to change his strokes too. Here are some tips I gave to him.
1. In Tennis, you will deal with large balls. In table tennis, you deal with small celluloid balls.
2. In Tennis, you will deal with balls that are little heavy. In table tennis, you deal with balls that are very light.
3. In Tennis, you need faster rackets because the court is long and you need speed. In table tennis, you don’t need very high speed paddles.
4. In Tennis, you have to swing hard to play top spin strokes. In table tennis, you can make short strokes and can generate heavy spin.
5. In tennis, you call a ball rotating reverse as slice. In table tennis, you call it underspin.
6. In tennis, you take a standing posture to make stroke. In table tennis, your upper body is forward with weight balanced on two legs.
7. In tennis, you are tempted to play slice strokes. In table tennis, you should be temped to play top spin strokes.
8. In tennis, you are tempted to hit the balls. In table tennis, you should spin the ball.
9. In tennis, you play longer to finish a match. In table tennis, you can finish a match in few minutes.
10. In tennis, you have ample time to think before acting on the ball. In table tennis, you have to act fast.
