When looping, where should I place the ball?
Most players would answer by saying that there are 3 main locations that you should be aiming your loop at:  wide backhand, wide forehand, and at the elbow (the backhand/forehand transition point).  This is the correct answer.  In this blog, I’m going to detail when you should loop to each location for a righty playing against a righty:
 
#1 Wide Forehand

I have attended many tournaments over the past 17 years and have heard many coaches give advice to their students.  In this article, I’m going to quote some coaches and tell you what they advised their students between games.  Before reading my comment below, you decide for yourself if the advice is good or bad…
 
The score was 9-9 in the final game, the coach called timeout and told his student, “Do the right thing.”
 

 
This year, set some high goals in table tennis and work consistently to reach these goals.  Look ahead to the competition 200-rating points ahead of you and think about your previous matches against them in tournaments.  What shots worked?  What shots didn’t work?  Did you need to alter your strategy?
 

Here in the Midwest, the Seemiller grip is fairly common among older players.  There are 3 different versions of the grip, but we won’t go into the details about the grip itself.  We will look more closely at the strategy against these players.
 

In table tennis, try your best to build an early lead in points, try your best to win the first game, try your best to win the match 3-0. 
 
One of my students recently lost to a player who had an amazing forehand and a terrible backhand.  This opponent’s forehand was at least 1900-level and his backhand was around 800-1000 level.  After losing, I asked my student why he played so many balls to the forehand.  He responded by saying, “Well, I didn’t want my opponent to know that I knew his weak point.”  What a terrible way to lose a match. 
 

Despite its reputation as a leisurely game, at the competitive level table tennis brings out some potent extremes of emotion.  And I hate to say it, but it'd be silly to deny that I've earned a reputation as one of the fairly "hot-headed" players in the Ohio region.  I've been approached about my use of language one time (oops), and have overheard other players scolding my emotional outbursts, or learned about their bemused reactions through the grapevine.

I asked Wang Zhen if he had any thoughts to share with us about his recent match against Fan Zhendong at the ITTF Grand Finals.  Here is what Wang says...
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BreKhWaa5ZY
 
Let's talk about the match. Before the match Dejan (my coach for the match) helped me to analyze Fan's game, we both agreed I need to be more aggressive then usual, otherwise I won't have any chance to challenge him with my regular performance.

When you play against high-rated opponents, do you play better or worse?
 
If you play better against them, it is probably due to the fact that you are more mentally relaxed having a “nothing-to-lose” mentality.  If you have this focused, relaxed attitude – wonderful!  Try to go into every match and every practice session giving your best, having fun, and not putting the pressure on yourself.  This is a great experience!
 

It is important to always keep a positive attitude even when you are losing.  In my short table tennis career, I have seen many players beat themselves as they gave up when losing or beat themselves up after playing a poor point.  Everybody makes mistakes in their strategy and/or technique during matches, even the most elite players in the world.  I have made comments to younger players that were losing to stay positive and heard back “Positive?  This guy is killing me!  I have no chance.”  I often say to myself, “This isn’t over yet.  I can do it.”

Generalizing all lefties into one category is difficult, but I’ll do my best to explain some general strategies that would apply to most lefties.  I’m assuming that you (the reader) are right-handed.
 
Serve Return
When the lefty is serving a forehand serve from the backhand side, adjust your position slightly more to the right.  The lefty will often use a sidespin serve to curve the ball away from your wide forehand.  By standing more to the right, you will be able to better cover the wide forehand.
 
Down-the-Line Block