Types of Shots

In table tennis, the strokes break down into generally offensive (producing topspin) and defensive (producing backspin). Spin exceptions are the smash, block, and lob.

Offensive Strokes

1. Drive
   The drive in table tennis is 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 doesn't arc much, but is fast enough that it can be difficult to return. A 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.

2. Loop
   The loop is essentially the reverse of the drive. The racket is much more parallel to the direction of the stroke (or "closed") 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. A loop is dangerous because of its topspin - whilst 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 followup.
3. Flip
   When a player tries to attack a ball that has not bounced beyond the edge of the table, they do 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.
4. Smash
   A smash is the offensive trump card in table tennis. A player will typically execute a smash when their opponent has returned a ball that bounces too high and/or too close to the net. Smashing is essentially self-explanatory: enormous backswing, rapid acceleration, and impart 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 can't return it. Due to the violent nature of such a shot, often the spin on the ball is incidentally something other than topspin, perhaps sidespin or in some cases even backspin.

The way a point develops obviously varies widely, just as in any racket sport, but a very basic tactic for an offensive player can be: drive until an opportunity for a loop opens up, loop and then smash the high-bouncing return of the loop.

Defensive Strokes

1. Push
   The push is analogous to the drive in some respects; it is very simple, usually used for keeping the point alive and creating offensive opportunities. A push 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. Whilst not immediately obvious, a push 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 push, a player must lift the ball back over the net. Often, the best option is to simply push the ball back again, which repeats and results in pushing rallies.
2. Chop
   A chop is the defensive backspin counterpart to the offensive loop. A chop is essentially a bigger, heavier push, 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.
3. Block
   The block 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 their own shot blocked back to them. Blocks almost always produce the same spin as was received, which is nearly always topspin.
4. Lob
   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 (advanced players sometimes go 20 feet 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 like Jan Ove Waldner 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.