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You’ve Heard About Playing the Middle. You Know Others Play the Middle. You Might Think You Play the Middle. But Do You Really?
By Dr. Ping Pong
Except at the advanced levels, few players really play the middle effectively. Many think they do, but what they think is playing the middle often isn’t. For example, their crosscourt backhand "to the middle" might cross the table in the middle, but by the time it reaches the opponent, it’s moved diagonally into their backhand court. (So they need to aim the shot so it reaches the middle as it reaches the opponent.) Or a shot that seems to go the middle just feeds a moving opponent’s forehand attack off that middle shot. (So they need to judge better when to go to the middle, and perhaps do so more aggressively.) Or a player might start a rally by going to the corner, planning on going to the middle on the next shot but faced with a strong return, are unable to make a strong shot to the middle. (So they need to play the first shot at the middle.) So are you really playing the middle?