(By Brian Pace)
Brian Pace Coaches’ Blog: MASTERING THE FLIP
One of the most overlooked shots in table tennis is the flip. Developing this shot can extend your off the range of attack to over the table position. Being able to flip the ball does have strict guidelines outside of doing it technically correct. The flip must fit into your sequence of play to ensure that it is being executed in a way that will give you the upper hand. Below are the reasons to flip as well as it’s tactical purpose. Your goal is figuring out which of these approaches organically fits into your game.

Reason to Flip 1: Flipping the Serve
This is one of the most widely used type of ways to flip. Flipping the serve has a couple of advantages. The first advantage is, it can disrupt your opponent’s attack sequence, especially if they like to attack a push. You can see in this clip that the player had already started to pivot the corner to prepare for an attack, and the flip disrupted this attempt and put him on the defensive.

Reason to Flip 2: Creating a Wide Angle
If you aren’t flipping the serve because the push isn’t ideal, you can flip it because you can create an angle on your opponent. Most players have their serve and attack sequences set, but each of their sequence has a trending position open to exploit. You can see in this clip, that the opponent is in neutral position and that leaves the wide forehand position open.

Reason to Flip 3: Flip to Surprise
The next way to execute the flip, is to flip to surprise your opponent. On the serve, most players are accustomed to a certain return, and they crowd the table as a result. The objective with this return, is to be able to play the ball outside of their attack range. That means placing the ball just outside of where they would normally make their attack attempt. You can see here, the flip was made to the middle position, which reduced the opponent’s attack attempt, which gave opened up an easy counter attack.

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