Feels Like Table Tennis Hurting My Tennis Game: Tips & Recommendation Pls?

[haqq777]

Hi guys,

Quick backstory here is that I played very decent table tennis up until high school. Played decent tennis as well concurrently. And then, I stopped for whatever reason for a good decade and half with table tennis. Kept on playing tennis. Moved to college, then job, life kids etc. Didn't touch table tennis for serious practice or long hours of play.

Anyway, just last week purchased a Joola table on sale, out of the blue, on whim. Brother in law is visiting for a month and he is really good so decided I'll play with him. Dusted off my good blades with custom rubbers and got into it all. Very fun high level table tennis that I have been enjoying since. We have been playing for atleast 3-4 hours daily (an hour here, an hour there etc).

Now comes the troublesome part. Today I went back to tennis courts after almost 2 weeks since my last hit. Our local college team who I hit with is on Christmas Break (last week was finals week) and no one is available to hit with till early January now. I found a decent rec league guy to hit with and I swear, it is as if Suresh's spirit has forced itself in me. Terrible strokes, I can't find my legs, shanking balls, wristing everything etc. Not to mention so many misses because timing. Everything is a mess. Never used to hapen to me because I remember playing both table tennis and tennis back in school days and being fairly decent at both. Never even thought about it twice!

Any tips etc.? Is it just because it was after a break of almost two weeks with tennis and having played table tennis most recently (that too nonstop for over a week) ? How do I get rid of bad table tennis habits in tennis? Any tips ideas etc from fellow table tennis players welcome.

 

[PMChambers]

I used to play tennis summer and table tennis winter. Table tennis is very wristy and that if used similarly in tennis can result in shanks. So concentrate on reducing wrist motion or after contact so head is inline with the flight if the ball longer.
Never experienced issue with length as they're so extreme but could be an issue.

 

[Chadalina]

Ping pong is terrible for your tennis, ruins your extension/follow through

I lost 0-1 as the #1 seed in the first round (guy was good though, played for ohio state) after playing ping pong 5 hours the previous night. Couldnt hit anything past the service line

 

[PMChambers]

Ping Pong isn't table tennis. Different sport. Table tennis more similarities but swings are generally huge much more torse rotation and wrist action.

 

[haqq777]

Ping Pong isn't table tennis. Different sport. Table tennis more similarities but swings are generally huge much more torse rotation and wrist action.

Wow. I always thought that the two were same; just that some people called it pong pong informally and officially it was called table tennis. But did not know the two were completely different things altogether.

According to the article below ping pong has different paddles, different scoring and a few other differences. I haven't seen ping pong being played anywhere so I am guessing table tennis is more prevalent everywhere I've been.

Anyway, learn something new every day!

Huge Differences between Table Tennis vs. Ping Pong • PingSunday

What is the difference between table tennis vs. ping pong? Are they the same or different? Trust me! It's not the same! There are indeed many different rules between these two names.

pingsunday.com

 

[Ronaldo]

Head to the badminton court and your strokes may come back

 

[haqq777]

Head to the badminton court and your strokes may come back

Negative. That's even worse. Played badminton a few times as well. Did not help at all. Feels like a damn fly swatter.

 

[Mountain Ghost]

High level tennis ... and high level table tennis ... cannot coexist. You will have to choose which one you want to be your primary "racquet game" ... then ... (if your choose tennis) ... you can actually improve your tennis muscle memory IF ... and that's a big IF ... you practice tennis-specific technique in the table tennis environment.

ONE ... don't put your index finger behind the blade. Put all 4 fingers under the handle ... on the forehand the wrist is laid back throughout ... short backswing (like on a half volley) ... elbow forward ... and stroke forward and up with a bit of a windshield wiper finish.

TWO ... if you want to emulate a 2HBH tennis stroke ... you'll need an extended handle (4" added) to accommodate the grip. If you have a 1HBH the backswing will not be to the side ... but the paddle head will go to just below the belly button ... with the wrist bent forward (paddle face more closed/down) ... and the wrist position does not change as you swing (once again) with a slight windshield wiper follow through.

A table tennis environment is actually very beneficial to your tennis muscle memory training ... IF you don't succumb to the urge to use table tennis technique ... like you might in order to win points. You will, however, need to know what good TENNIS technique IS ... in order to not screw it up by practicing muscle memory that will hurt your tennis game.

You also really need to buy robot and high quality practice balls. There is not enough time or consistency when initially learning these techniques if you're only playing with another player. They are available for under $200 ... though mine cost $800 ... Paddle Palace A32W ~ MG

 

[Born_to_slice]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1180108011127263234

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Head to the badminton court and your strokes may come back

or get worse!

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

I played a lot of both in HS and never had a problem. Of course, who knows how good in tennis I would have been if I didn't play TT ["I coulda been a contendah!"]?

 

[Ronaldo]

Damn, no sob stories about volleyball ruining tennis strokes?

 

[giantschwinn]

I have the opposite problem. My pingpong forehand is all forearm and not enough wrist. I am a penhold.

 

[haqq777]

I have the opposite problem. My pingpong forehand is all forearm and not enough wrist. I am a penhold.

Always wanted to play with someone using proper penhold. I have the Ma Long style shake hand grip. If only I could play like him too.

 

[dominikk1985]

I read that some atp players play table tennis left handed to not hurt tennis strokes, especially on the backhand side which is very wristy in table tennis. Some atp guys like to play it during rainouts or so.

 

[Clay lover]

The Fh in table tennis isn't really that wristy as it requires ulnar deviation and locking the wrist in place. You can still add spin consciously but wrist movement is pretty minimal. Agree with others though that the BH is wristy as hell. Another problem is that topspin strokes are executed with a much more closed racquet face in tt especially against topspin balls.