One of the worst things you can do in a table tennis match is be tentative. I should know. I’ve been way too tentative more times than I care to remember.
A tentative shot is a shot that you don’t really commit to. You hesitate. You tense up. You only play half the shot.
There’s never really a good outcome to this. The shot is always weak. Often you will make an error. Even if your tentative shot does go over the net, you always present your opponent with an easy chance to win the point.
Why are some of us prone to tentative play? And what can we do to fix it?
Lack of confidence in technique
A tentative shot will often occur when a player lacks confidence in the shot he is trying to play. For example, I lack confidence in my backhand topspin vs backspin. Under match pressure, this lack of confidence often results in me tensing up, not fully committing and only playing half the shot.
It’s incredibly frustrating, but I know there is only one way I will fully cure this. I have to practise my backhand topspin vs backspin a lot more. I need to massively improve my confidence in the shot. I need to truly believe that I can make the shot with good quality.
But how you develop confidence in any shot is important. You need to go through a few stages…
Stage 1 – Drill the technique. You have to play the shot over and over again until you have a high level of consistency. For my backhand topspin vs backspin, this means a lot of multi-ball, either with a coach or a robot. Backhand topspin, backshand topspin, backhand topspin and repeat. The focus here is getting the technique right and being about to repeat the same technique every time you play the shot.
Stage 2 – Drill the technique in a realistic scenario. This means doing some drills which simulate what may happen in a match. For my backhand topspin vs backspin, this could be doing a drill where I serve backspin, my partner pushes and then I do my backhand topspin. I am having to transition from one skill (serving) to another skill (topspin vs backspin). This is much more challenging than stage 1, but essential if you want the technique to develop and be usable in real matches.
Stage 3 – Drill the technique in a realistic scenario with some randomness. Real table tennis matches have a lot of randomness. So the technique needs to be tested in scenarios where you don’t know where the ball is going to go. If I expand on my drill in stage 2 (serve + topspin), then the drill would change so that my partner could return the serve to either my backhand or forehand. This randomness again makes the drill much harder, but is also much more match realistic. If I can consistently execute the shot in a random drill, then my confidence increases again.
Stage 4 – Use the technique in practice matches. The real benefit of practice matches is that they are simply another form of ‘practice’. The results are not recorded. No one really cares about the outcome. You have an opportunity to use the shots you have been developing in your drills in an actual match. For my backhand topspin vs backspin, I might decide to serve backspin most of the time. This increases the chances I will get lots of push returns and then I can try to use my backhand topspin. If I can consistently execute the shot in practice matches, this gives me another confidence boost and indicates the shot is ‘competition ready’.
Stage 5 – Use the technique, with confidence, in a competitive match. The final stage! If you have followed stages 1, 2, 3 and 4, you should be in a great position to use the shot for real. The extra pressure of a league or tournament match can send the shot back into hiding. But we have to overcome this. For my backhand topspin vs backspin, this means being brave enough to try and potentially fail. If I do miss the shot, then I have to remember all the good quality training and try again. The more I do it, the more I succeed, the more my confidence grows.
You must progress beyond stage 1
Many of us get fixated with stage 1 and think it’s good enough. We think if we can drill the shot enough in a regular feed then we have acquired the skill. To be honest, I think this is the case with my backhand topspin vs backspin. I have done a lot of work in stage 1, but not nearly enough with the other stages. This is why I still lack confidence and end up playing the shot far too tentatively.
Stage 1 is absolutely necessary. You do need to know how to play a shot and do it consistently from a simple feed. But it’s just the first stage. To get a shot match-ready, you have to go through all the different learning stages.
Ultimately you want to get to the position that you are 100% confident you can play the shot and are really surprised if you miss. When you lack confidence in a shot, you are more surprised it has actually landed!
In summary, if you have a particular shot which you often play too tentatively, have a think about how you can build the confidence in this shot. You can use my 5 stage process if it helps, but obviously tailor the drills for your specific shot.
It should massively help you remove tentative shots from your game.