Site Products
Ask The Experts: Nan Li, No. 323

Ask The Experts: Nan Li, No. 68

Ask The Experts: Nan Li, No. 68
Butterfly Table Tennis Question and Answer

Blade: Yinhe T-8 Arylate Carbon
Forehand Rubber: Hurricane 3-50 2.1mm 37 black
Backhand Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 80 2.1mm red

Question: I play table tennis regularly at my club. Most players are 1400-1900. I don’t have a rating. I play comfortably with most players. However, there are two types of players I don’t know how to play with:

  • those with Chinese rubbers (hurricane 3 3 years old or older or dead rubber) on both sides. they can block my forehand loops easily. the return ball does not bounce back at all. As a result, I am off balance because the return ball is too slow. I have no trouble with Japanese rubbers (Tenergy 5, 80,64, 25, Amultart or other fast blades).
  • those play very close to the table. they can block my spinny loops. In fact, they can punch my loops. As a result, I am off balance when the ball comes back to me. I have no trouble with players who block normally. I can kill after the 2 or 3 loops easily.

I wonder if you can suggest a good strategy to deal with these two types of players? One type the return ball is too slow and does not travel as far as expected. The other type instead of blocking my loops, they punch my loops as they play very close to the table. Thanks, Linh

Answer: Hi Linh,

Thanks for your question.

I suggest to practice in and out movements to and from the table. It seems to me that you may be too far away from the ball and by the time you contact the ball there is no more pace to take advantage from on the ball. Therefore your contact is too late and you can’t add quality to your shots.

Lastly I suggest to use more wrist against dead balls in order to compensate for the lost energy.

A good exercise is to play 2 balls close to the table and 2 balls away to the table and so on.

Hope you find this helpful.

Best,
Nan Li
Coach @ WCTTA
www.tt-champions.com

Latest News

WAB CLUB FEATURE: EC Sports Table Tennis

August 31, 2025
(By Steve Hopkins) EC Sports Table Tennis was founded by 1996 Olympian Amy Feng to spread the joy of… Read More

Pan American Youth Championships Recap

August 31, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) The ITTF Pan American Youth Championships 2025 finished on Sunday in Rosario, Argentina. … Read More

Team Canada U19 Girls Secure Gold at Pan Am Youth Championship

August 31, 2025
(by Bowmar Sports, photo ITTF America) Canada’s U19 Girls’ Table Tennis Team made headlines at the 2025 ITTF… Read More

TTBL: Kanak Starts Strong, Zhendong Faulters in First Week of German League

August 31, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) USA’s Kanak Jha was one of four players to start the German League season 2-0. … Read More

Be Part of the MLTT Rally Crew

August 29, 2025
(by: Major League Table Tennis) Bring your energy and love for the game Major League Table Tennis kicks… Read More

When Do Most Errors Happen?

August 29, 2025
Robot plays short backspin to Backhand, Jhon Backhand push to long Backhand, robot plays very spinny topspin to… Read More

Back Up a Little Bit More

August 27, 2025
Robot plays short backspin ball to Forehand, Jhon Forehand push to long Forehand, robot plays very spinny topspin… Read More

My Road To The 2025 US National Champion by Sally Moyland

August 26, 2025
(by Sally Moyland) I was leading 3:1 in sets in the women’s single final at the US National… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.