Types of shots

Drive

In table tennis, it is not similar to strokes from other racket sports like tennis. The racket is primarily perpendicular to the direction of the stroke, and most of the energy applied to the ball results in speed rather than spin, creating a shot that does not arc much, but is so fast that it can be difficult to return. Drive is often the bread-and-butter stroke of a player's arsenal, used mostly for keeping the ball in play, applying pressure on the opponent and potentially opening up an opportunity for a more powerful attack. This the most basic thing in table tennis, and the first thing you learn.

Loop

Textbook Table Tennis DVD - Forehand Loop (Brian Pace)

It is essentially the Extension of the Drive. The racket is much more parallel to the direction of the stroke and the racket thus grazes the ball, resulting in a large amount of topspin. A good Loop will arc quite a bit, and once striking the opponent's side of the table will jump forward, much like a kick serve in tennis. Loop is dangerous because of its topspin — while not as difficult to return as a Drive, it is more likely to rebound off the opponent's racket at a very high angle, setting up an easy smash on the follow up. As the Loop requires a lot of topspin, players generally use their entire body to generate the movement required.

Variations in spin and speed adds to effectiveness of this shot. Chinese players categorized Loop in 3 variations based on trajectories:

1. The "Spin Loop" (or is called the "ultra-topspin") Produces a more pronounced loopy arc, with a higher trajectory and extreme topspin, but is typically slower.

2. The "Speed Loop" Produces a flatter trajectory than a typical "Spin Loop" but carries much stronger topspin than a regular Loop. It can be as fast as a Loop, particularly when executed by the European players who typically replace Speed Loop with it. The ball seems to "rush" forward and downward upon hitting the table, and hence the nickname. (Compared to the "kicking" or "jumping" actions resulted from the high-arc "Loop")

3. The "Hook Loop" Similar to a regular Loop, but carries a tilted topspin, it bounces sideway and downward upon hitting the table. Similar but stronger than the defensive shot.

Counter loop, It is usually a counter attack against loop (usually loop that go pretty high). You have to close the racket and stay close to the ball. You have to hit the ball off the bounce (before it reaches the highest point), with a pretty short movement in a way that the ball goes faster to the other side. A well-timed, accurate counter loop can be as effective as a smash.

Flip(or Flick in Europe)

Forehand Flipping - Table Tennis (HD)

When a player tries to attack a ball that has not bounced beyond the edge of the table, he/she does not have the room to wind up in a backswing. The ball may still be attacked, however, and the resulting shot is called flip because the backswing is compressed into a quick wrist action. A flip is not a single stroke and can resemble either a drive or a loop in its characteristics. What identifies the stroke is instead whether the backswing is compressed into a short wrist flick. Also known as 払い "harai" in Japanese.

Smash

Forehand Smash - Table Tennis

The offensive trump card in table tennis. A player will typically execute a smash when his or her opponent has returned a ball that bounces too high and/or too close to the net. Smashing is essentially self-explanatory — large backswing and rapid acceleration imparting as much speed on the ball as possible. The goal of a smash is to get the ball to move so quickly that the opponent simply cannot return it. Because the ball speed is the main aim of this shot, often the spin on the ball is something other than topspin. Sidespin can be used effectively with a smash to alter the ball's trajectory significantly, although most intermediate players will smash the ball with little or no spin. An offensive table-tennis player will think of a rally as a build-up to a winning smash; only a calculated series of smashes can guarantee a point against a good opponent. However, most players will be able to return at most one or two smashes consistently. Provided that the opponent is not too close to the table or too far away from the ball, a smash can be lobbed, chopped, blocked or even counter-looped, albeit with some difficulty. A player who smashes generally works out a series of smashes (and possibly drop-shots) to rush the opponent out of position, put him off balance, or both. Smashers who fail to do this find it difficult to win a point against an excellent defense.

Slice

The slice or push is analogous to the speed drive in some respects — it is very simple, usually used for keeping the point alive and creating offensive opportunities. A slice resembles a tennis slice: the racket cuts underneath the ball, imparting backspin and causing the ball to float slowly to the other side of the table. While not obvious, a slice can be difficult to attack because the backspin on the ball causes it to drop toward the table upon striking the opponent's racket – in order to attack a slice, a player must lift the ball back over the net. Often, the best option is to simply slice the ball back again, which repeats and results in slicing rallies. Otherwise, another option is to flip or drive the ball, only when it is far enough away from the net. Slicing can have its advantages, but it's a shot worth avoiding. Players should only slice when their opponent makes easy mistakes. Offensive players should only slice for variation and not for general rallies. A slice can easily be counter-looped into the opposite corner, if it doesn't drop short enough on the table. The goal of most player's slice is to make it too short to be attacked upon, rather than attempting to over-spin the opponent.

Chop

Backhand Chop - Table Tennis

Forehand Chop - Table Tennis

A chop or cut is the defensive shot, backspin counterpart to the offensive loop. A chop is essentially a bigger, heavier slice, taken well back from the table. The racket face points primarily horizontally, perhaps a little bit upward, and the direction of the stroke is straight down. The object of a defensive chop is to match the topspin of the opponent's shot with your own racket speed. A good chop will float nearly horizontally back to the table, in some cases having so much backspin that the ball actually rises. A chop such as this can be extremely difficult to return due to the enormous amount of backspin. Sometimes a defensive player can impart no spin on the ball during a chop, or frequently add right- or left-hand spin to the ball. This may further confuse his/her opponent. Chops are difficult to execute, but are devastating when completed properly because it takes a tremendous amount of topspin on a loop drive to return the ball back over the net..

Block

Forehand Block Table Tennis

How to Do a Table Tennis Backhand Block - Ping Pong

The block or short is a simple shot, barely worthy of being called a "stroke," but nonetheless can be devastating against an attacking opponent. A block is executed by simply putting the racket in front of the ball — the ball rebounds back toward the opponent with nearly as much energy as it came in with. This is not as easy as it sounds, because the ball's spin, speed, and location all influence the correct angle of a block. Disregarding the difficulty of a block, it is very possible for an opponent to execute a perfect loop, drive, or smash, only to have the blocked shot come back at him just as fast. Due to the power involved in offensive strokes, often an opponent simply cannot recover quickly enough, and will be unable to return his own shot blocked back to him/her. Blocks almost always produce the same spin as was received, which is nearly always topspin.

Push-Block

High level players may use what is called push block or active block, adding speed to the ball (with a small topspin movement). When playing in the Penhold Grip, many players use push blocks when being pressured on the backhand. Chinese pen-hold players refer it as push-block as they literally "push" their backhand forward, instead of simply blocking it.

Side Loop

This spin is alternately used as a defensive and offensive maneuver. The premise of this move is to put a spin on the ball either to the right or the left of the paddle. The execution of this move is similar to a slice, but to the right or left instead of down. This spin will result in the ball curving to the side but bouncing in the opposite direction when the opponent returns it. Do not attempt a right-side spin (moving your arm to the right when hitting the ball) when too close to the left side of the table, and vice versa. To return, simply execute the same sided spin as your opponent just gave you.

Lob

Table Tennis Lob Against Smash

The defensive lob is possibly the most visually-impressive shot in the sport of table tennis, and it is deceptive in its simplicity. To execute a lob, a defensive player first backs off the table 8-10 feet (2.5 to 3 m, advanced players sometimes go 20 feet or 6 m or more); then, the stroke itself consists of simply lifting the ball to an enormous height before it falls back to the opponent's side of the table. A lob is inherently a creative shot, and can have nearly any kind of spin you can imagine. Talented players use this fact to their advantage in order to control the point. For instance, though the opponent may smash the ball hard and fast, a good defensive lob could quite possibly be even harder to return due to the unpredictability (and heavy amounts) of the spin on the ball. Thus, though backed off the table by tens of feet and apparently running and leaping just to reach the ball, a good defensive player can still win the point using good lobs.

Stop

Stop (or short push) is a high level stroke, used as another variation for close-to-table strokes. You have to position the body close to the ball and just let the ball touch the racket (without any hand movement) in a way that the ball stays close to the net with almost no speed and spin and touches the other side of the table more than twice if the opponent doesn't reach it. This stroke should be used when opponents are far from the table and not prepared to get close to the table. This technique is most usually done by pen-holders and players who use long pimples or short pimples. A very deceiving technique, this could result in the opponent failing to reach the ball after misjudging the distance of the ball. A perfectly executed stroke after a topspin sequence can win a point.