Exploring the temporal and spatial characteristics of the stroke performances in the semi-final of the man's singles in 2015 table tennis world team cup

Table tennis is a sport of fast pace. Many points are determined within the first 4 strokes. Therefore, the performances of the first 4 strokes of a rally have become the focus of the game analyses. Most of the table tennis research investigated the type of strokes used and the effectiveness of the early phase of the rallies while little attention has been paid to the temporal and spatial characteristics of each stroke. The purpose of this study was to examine the performance of the stroke time and the range of landing location in table tennis competitions. Two singles matches were selected from the man's semi-finals (Chinese Taipei vs. China) of the 2015 Table Tennis World Team Cup. The notational analysis was used on the basis of the video playback. The results showed that the mean flying time of the ball for the serving strokes was longer than that of all the other strokes. One player showed a significantly shorter flying time and a wide range of landing location for the second stroke than those of all the other strokes and the other players. This indicates the planned attacking tactics of the return strokes. In conclusion, the temporal and spatial characteristics of the table tennis performance provide useful information to understand the tactics used by the players and can be used in training and coaching education. Future studies will extend the application of the temporal and spatial analysis to different levels of players.