(By Larry Hodges) A major weakness of many players is an inability to change the pace, and thereby throw their opponent’s timing off. Not doing so is a quick way of helping your opponent’s timing. Many players try to change the pace, but do so unsuccessfully – either because they don’t know how to do […]

(By Larry Hodges) If you are primarily a forehand attacker, many of your opponents will get used to your relentless forehand attacks, often from the backhand corner, especially after your serve. Why not throw them off with a backhand loop? This is especially effective against an opponent who routinely pushes your serve to your backhand […]

(By Larry Hodges) Some players have reputation as being “winners” because they seem to be able to pull out close matches. There are two aspects to this. One is mental – nervous players don’t do well in close matches. The other aspect is tactical – you need to learn what to do tactically in a […]

(By Larry Hodges)  One of the more difficult styles to figure out is what to do against a player who attacks and blocks with a “dead” surface – either a slow inverted surface or short pips. The inverted may be slow because it’s designed that way (often for beginners) or because it’s old and used. […]

(By Larry Hodges) Some players are too patient – they mostly just keep the ball in play, rallying while missing opportunities to score. Others are too decisive – they jump on every ball with little patience or judgment. Develop a sense of “patient decisiveness” – in other words, pick your shots carefully, but once you’ve […]

(By Larry Hodges) One of the most difficult shots to handle is a ball attacked by a player with long pips. You have little time to react to an attacked ball, and so have to rely on your reflexes – except your reflexes usually aren’t tuned to reacting to a ball attacked by long pips. […]

By Larry Hodges  When you push (backspin vs. backspin), you don’t think of yourself as “going for a shot.” It’s just an easy shot that you can normally do over and Over and OVER, with few mistakes. But when you learn to loop (topspin vs. backspin, forehand or backhand), at first it’s a tricky and […]

(By Larry Hodges) Is there a certain score or situation where you play best? Some players play better when they are behind; others play better when ahead. Some play best when they are way down, say, 4-10, and figure they have nothing to lose and so play relaxed. Others play better when up 10-4, since […]