Today we talk about the amazing Tomokazu Harimoto and his incredible victory at the Japan Open. We also have all our usual segments so sit back and enjoy the show!

I Googled "how to start a wildfire"

Patrick Franzisca, the man who serves into a shoe, turns 26 years old

Japan Open and Australian Open

Watch Tomokazu Harimoto and Ma Long playing in a match and isolate their leg movement. Then think about how you can move in a match.

Mukesh: Please tell me how to beat blocking players.

Chandrachur:  I know about the 3rd ball attacking in table tennis, and have been recently working on developing it further so that I can surely start the attacks whenever I have the chance to serve. So for a short ball I have been practicing the backhand side-spin flick and for the long balls developing my forehand and backhand topspin attacks. But yet there is another type of ball, which always throws me off-guard. The balls where the ball drops near the center and are long, but by the time they reach the end of the table they are not even close to the peak of their bounce. Also they have a slight-medium amount of backspin to them.

Deniz : Which serves should i learn first as a beginner?

Dimple: Hello, My question is that we have to choose a service or side during the toss. There is a benefit of choosing a service but what is the benefit of choosing a side?

Australian Open Purchase Tickets

Playing A Blocker

Hitting Topspins From Below Table Level

How to Serve

Must Learn Serves

Patrick Franziska Serve Into a Shoe

Harimoto vs Zhang Jike in Japan Open Final

We have a massive show for you today. There's our usual segments and some great questions. One PingSkiller asked whether they should start taking the ball earlier especially given how the plastic ball behaves. Enjoy!

A patient bursts into a doctor’s office, "Doctor, I believe I'm a deck of cards!" 

Jun Mizutani turns 29

China Open

Japan Open

Australian Open

Learn a new serve and use it in a game

Alex: Hello, I would like to ask: it's said a lot that long pips do a lot of spin reversal, but even with inverted blade when you chop a topspin you also reverse the spin! Same you do with pips: you chop, you change the incoming topspin into backspin. I would like to know, what is the difference between two types of spin reversal: with long pips and inverted rubber.

Adam: It has been a while since my last question and i have improved a lot ever since i found this website. I have noticed that i'm a more passive attacker. i only attack with forehand topspins and drives with my backhand. Also, i will push back most backspin balls that falls short on my backhand side.I'm starting to think that i'm getting quite vulnerable against attacks. Especially now that the younger generations are catching up with me. I have developed a very powerful forehand topspin which now everybody is afraid of. But i'm now trying to develop a powerful backhand topspin as well as the modern banana flick receive. I'm already starting this development and i'm not sure whether to continue on. What do you think?

Scotch:  I just wanna ask about getting into the right position to achieve the optimal stroke power and timing. With the introduction of polyball, I think a key change in table tennis is the increased dependence of players on power. Because of this, I was advised by many of my teammates to hit the ball earlier (around peak bounce) and hit the ball harder. The problem is I'm used to hitting the ball late and tend to do brushing motion, which was very effective with celluloid. Should I follow this advice? Because another problem is I don't think I have enough physical strength to do it. What I think of doing instead is to focus on my footwork to get into the right position for the ball and be able to perform the optimal stroke I wanted. Is this a better path to take?

Bruce: Do you have to be a premium member to ask a question?

Purchase your Australian Open Tickets

China Open Results

If you're Russian going into the restroom and Finnish coming out, what are you whilst you're in the restroom?

We announce the 5 winners of a PingSkills T-Shirt

Chen Xingtong, Cho Seungmin, Nicholas Lum, and Darren Webb have birthdays.

World Teams Championships Results

Watching the best players and thinking about the future.

Chandrachur: The start position and the finish position of the backhand topspin you have mentioned in the tutorials seem to work great only when the ball is in front of the body. But if the ball is just a little bit left of the body (I am a right hander.) then I find it very awkward to do the backhand topspin shot with these start and finish position.

I know that this will be solved if I move and position myself so that the ball is in front of my body and then hit the shot. But I just want to verify if we can hit a ball that is only a little bit to the left of the body by making any modifications to the stroke if somehow I find myself in that situation. Or is it that in such a situation I in no way can make a strong effective backhand shot?

Josh: Hi there with my backhand I can easily hit back a fastball and guide it back but say it was a slower maybe higher ball I'm not very good at attacking that. Any shot that would help me attack those slower balls.

Dib: I've got some tournaments coming up which I really need to do well in. one thing I notice with tournaments however is that I always burn out too early and end up losing my momentum. what can I do to increase my performance and fitness so that I can play full day tournaments without burning out at the beginning.

Donald: I'm confused as to when players back up from the table and how quickly.  Obviously you back up when expecting hard shots from your opponent, but exactly how and at what point to move backwards is not is unclear to me.

2018 World Teams Championships

What to Expect at a Tournament

ITTF Statistics Page

How to Counter a Slow Spinny Topspin

Congratulations to the following people who all picked Germany as the silver medalist in the Men's Teams event at the 2018 World Teams Championships:

1. Masoud Parkho

2. Gunnar Östberg

3. Rex Bradburn

4. Andreas Simon

5. Mats Sundin

You have all won a PingSkills T-shirt which we'll be sending out shortly.

Even if you didn't win I hope you enjoyed watching some of the brilliant table tennis at the championships, and maybe you'll be luckier next time :)

In this show we discuss how the Women's event has progressed so far. We also have the Joke of the Week and On This Week segments but unfortunately due to some Internet issues we couldn't complete all we had planned for this show. However we will be back soon with a part B where we'll hopefully be able to finish this show and announce the winners of our competition.

A teacher is speaking with their students and an interesting conversation emerges.

This week we tell you about 3 great birthdays, 2 of which are famous table tennis players.

An update on the Women's event from the World Championships.

Klampar featured in the "Remember When" section of our PingSkills Show

In this episode we announce a competition around the 2018 World Team Championships. You could win one of five PingSkills T-Shirts by picking who will win the silver medal in the Mens competition. Plus we have all our usual segments. Enjoy the show.

Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? Great food but...

Win a PingSkills T-Shirt

Jorgen Persson celebrates his birthday

2018 World Team Championships

Variation of speed with topspin

Do a drill where you are topspinning to your partner while they are only blocking. Change the amount of table each player uses depending on the relative strengths of the two players. Try one game where you only play fast topspins and then play a second game where you use your variation and see if that is a better approach.

Ayush: How I can practice my backhand chop?

Ali: I've noticed that during the game, if I receive a fast ball on backhand, due to having less time to do the topspin, my backhand stroke is shorter, and essentially looks like a drive. How is it possible to impart top-spin even when there's no time to do the full stroke?

Waliid: What is the rarest serve that you do not often see?

Tian: I was looking all over for the answer to this, but I just can't find one. When do you switch playing sides of the table with your opponent? 

Shalibu: I am from indonesia .. very happy with pingskills but i do not understand english whether it can be translated to indonesian thank you

Enter the World Teams Competition

2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships

Windshield Wiper Serve

Help with subtitles for our YouTube videos

In this episode we announce a competition around the 2018 World Team Championships. You could win one of five PingSkills T-Shirts by picking who will win the silver medal in the Mens competition. Plus we have all our usual segments. Enjoy the show.

Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? Great food but...

Win a PingSkills T-Shirt

Jorgen Persson celebrates his birthday

2018 World Team Championships

Variation of speed with topspin

Do a drill where you are topspinning to your partner while they are only blocking. Change the amount of table each player uses depending on the relative strengths of the two players. Try one game where you only play fast topspins and then play a second game where you use your variation and see if that is a better approach.

Ayush: How I can practice my backhand chop?

Ali: I've noticed that during the game, if I receive a fast ball on backhand, due to having less time to do the topspin, my backhand stroke is shorter, and essentially looks like a drive. How is it possible to impart top-spin even when there's no time to do the full stroke?

Waliid: What is the rarest serve that you do not often see?

Tian: I was looking all over for the answer to this, but I just can't find one. When do you switch playing sides of the table with your opponent? 

Shalibu: I am from indonesia .. very happy with pingskills but i do not understand english whether it can be translated to indonesian thank you

Enter the World Teams Competition

2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships

Windshield Wiper Serve

Help with subtitles for our YouTube videos

This week we have a special show where Alois talks about his experiences at the 2018 Commonwealth Games! We also have our usual segments so enjoy the show.

What did the Alien say to the garden?

Vladimir Samsonov turns 42!

2018 Commonwealth Games

2018 Asian Cup

Preparation is the key. Think about your next important matches and work out what you need to do between now and then to prepare yourself for it (training, mental preparation, nutrition, research)

Owen: I need some tips for a basic no spin serve. I'm just learning it and it always seems to have topspin.

Krishnagopal: Today, I played with one of my play buddies. He served a long fastball to the corner. How to deal with those. As it was a serve, I didn't know where he would serve long, short, left, right. Hence I stood in the neutral stand around a foot back from the edge of the table. I tried to loop the ball with topspin or counter hit the ball. The ball either went into the net or outside the table. I am very much frustrated. I want to know how can I return the ball in the best possible way.

Ashish: Hey Alois,

I have a problem with moving around the table. I believe I am slow and not able to cover the table quickly. Can you share few tips to have the faster movements and improved coverage? 

Oslo: Alois, Am I allowed to hit the ball off the sides when serving the ball?

Basic Stance

Basic Footwork

Backspin and No Spin Variations

Returning Long Fast Serves

What if there were no hypothetical situations? Why do you always find things in the last place you look? Why are pirates so mean?

Ma Wenge turns 50.

German Open - Ma Long is back.

Flick when the time is right (not all the time). Practice by getting a training partner to serve short.

Gerard: Lately, I've been trying to practice my forehand topspin. I feel like I'm not getting very good power from doing the move. I think it has to do with the footwork. Could you please explain to me what I need to focus more on?

Tam: I am a chopper.  This week I played some players who push against me all the time when it goes long to their forehand. its actually thrown me off a bit as I'm not quite sure what to do because I'm used to going out then coming back in, but this style of play I am forced to stay close to the table, and because they push all the time when they push to my backhand 24/7 it actually starts to go quite high because I have no room to chop and they push with float. what should I do?

Tri: Hi, How do I deal with backhand dominant player?

2018 German Open

Forehand Flick

Advanced Forehand Topspin

There are some great questions this week including what should you be practicing in the lead up to a tournament. I hope you enjoy the Q&A and all the regular segments.

Jiang Jialing's Birthday (and more) and the first day of Autumn in Australia.

I asked my son if he'd seen my newspaper. He told me that newspapers are old school. He said that people use tablets nowadays and handed me his iPad.

Team World Cup

Add an extra training session per week and add a serving session to your training.

Greg: How would I score this, if two people are doing a consistency drill. Who would score more or would both score the same?

Greg: Can we still do regular practice 1 week before the actual tournament? Regular practice like for example your session 52?

Tam: Could you tell me how a defender could beat the style of Wei Shihao (Panagiotis v Shihao) league 17/18 someone who just blasts through with their forehand regardless of chop.

David: You have mentioned on several occasions that it would be watching the Serving Secrets revealed, not sure why I can’t find this where do I look. 

Alexandros: I want to buy a pair of table tennis shoes but due to my large size (48.5 Europe) I can't seem to find any that fits.Could you recommend an alternative shoe? My table tennis coach says volleyball shoes have the same principle. 

Zach: I have a friend that I play a lot and he uses a lot of spin, side and back. Every time one of his balls hit my paddle they either hit the net or go off to the side.  I play fine against people who hit flat. How do I fix this problem?

PingSkills Consistency Chart

Choosing Table Tennis Shoes

Serving and Receiving Tutorials

Training 101 Series

Team World Cup

Playing as a Chopper

Tournament Preparation Training Plans