What's the one thing that leveled up your game the most as an intermediate player?

Taking lessons. If you haven't had any so far, chances are that you have some bad habits which a coach can help improve.

Get even better at defending the double glass, always room for improvement here and you can never be too good at this! Getting better at reading opponents and identifying their patterns of play. Identify earlier their strongest shots and adapt game to give them these balls the least, e.g. if one of them has an amazing smash, stop giving them any ball to smash. Sounds simple but I see this over and over again with partners. Identify which shots you should stop playing because you're making too many mistakes, they're too risky or they're giving the opponent easy balls and STOP playing them. This applies to both your overall game e.g. if you aren't that good at bajadas, why do you keep trying them, go train them and bring them to the game. And also within individual games e.g. some days your overheads just suck, identify this and adapt your game to play less of these (it can be a challenge fighting your ego on this). Finishing points - when you get a super easy ball at the net, finish it! Playing calm - the more calm you can remain, the more time you feel like you will have to play shots and make decisions. And keep playing players at your level or better. It pushes you to raise you game and eventually that level becomes your level.

TLDR; Groundstrokes and volleys from stronger opponents will crush you I have recently started meeting much stronger opponents as I have climbed the ranking in Norway and hit top 100 after a few decent tournament results. Please note top 100 in Norway IS NOT the same as top 100 in other countries like Sweden, Netherlands etc. The number of players in Norway is still quite low so only reaching a few quarterfinals/semifinals in a 250 tournament is enough to get ranked top 100. Regardless, I was finally feeling able to win a decent number of matches and potentially fight for the title in these 250 category tournaments in Norway. Unfortunately, due to lack of players, the past months I have placed in the 500 and even 1000 category tournaments, meeting some of the top players and top young talents in the country. In these matches I have gotten destroyed 6-0 6-0 etc, and had a bit of a eye opener as to what really matters against better opponents. People here mention dealing with glass, tactics, improve overheads and so on but in my experience that is not the case. For me, the biggest takeaway is to improve the most basic of shots. Groundstrokes and volleys. The quality of the groundstrokes from these better players are much better than what I am used to. The groundstrokes are coming fast, barely crossing the net height-wise and with slight topspin so it goes below the net immediately after crossing it. I have practiced volleys for hours and hours, but I can't use my practice against these groundstrokes because they are much different shots to volley - you don't have time for a full preparation and need to react fast, and often you hit the shot below the net. Without experience tackling these groundstrokes, your volleys will suffer and the opponents get a chance to take the net with a lob or chiquita CONSTANTLY. Now on the flipside, the same is true - my groundstrokes in defense, which I have to say is one of my better shots and gives me a lot of opportunities against same level players, are too easy for these stronger opponents. For them they are attacking balls, or at the very least comfortable balls, completely opposite of my reaction to their groundstrokes. And their volleys are very good, they will successfully attack your groundstrokes and choke you in defense. Of course, the better players have other qualities as well - they smash well, dropshots, passing shots, chiquitas are all in the mix. But for me the most important part is the basics. If you can't volley with high enough quality against their groundstrokes you will lose the net all the time. If your groundstrokes are not pressuring their volleys when you are defending, they will attack you more and more until you get crushed. After losing the first round of a 1000 category tournament a few months ago I played the "plate" bracket and made it to the final and there I met Louis from Padelactico who played with one of Norways top young talents. My experience there was the same. They crushed us. Here is [his video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKAQFxUYuSM) from the tournament where meeting us is at the very end. Also my [full video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq3PxT1E9dY) from the match if anyone is curious. I'm the leftie he mentions as "table tennis background with good hands" :P

What helped me was to reduce the frequency and focus extra on strength training and conditioning. As the level improves your rallies will be longer and tend to get more tiring physically. Patience and positioning is key

Getting my ass delivered to my hands playing against better players Having a steady partner Training with a group and individually Relaxing during play Emotional control and ofcourse the biggest factor is my new racket!

50% using the glass, 50% changing pace on overheads.

For me it was shot selection, especially when defending. Knowing when I can hit lobs and relying on good flat ground strokes when under pressure. Too often we lob off the wrong ball and set up easy shots for opponents.

strength training with kettlebells

Besides taking lessons in both technique and tactics (movement on court situation-based) I think that: 1. Took away 80% of my smashes 2. Learned to play chiquitas Has leveled up in both unforced error-margins and perhaps more important - it took away a massive amount of lay-ups I just gave for free = my risk-ratio is a lot better.

After you learn all the shots and the basic tactics, there’s not one key thing that clicks. The more slice and power and placement you can put on the same shots with the same consistency, the better player you are. But this is a constant slow improvement, not a 1 off fix

Apart from lessons & technique I think the easiest way to win more matches is changing the tempo

Watching recordings of my games. What you think you’re doing vs what you’re actually doing, can, and in my case was, worlds apart :) big learning that helped me level up.

For me, at that stage, it’s more about tactics, like understanding positioning, where to place the ball, and decision making made the biggest difference. Things like when to play a chiquita, when to go flat, who to target, and what your next move is. For example, when you play a chiquita, you’re basically buying yourself time to move forward to the net. But if you hit a cross-court chiquita and move forward without communicating with your partner, you’re just opening a gap that your opponents can easily exploit. I feel like at the intermediate level, a lot of mistakes come from decisions, not lack of skill. You’re not necessarily losing because the opponent has better shots, but because you’re giving them easy balls or creating space for them. Also, being aware defensively against overhead shots is somthing important like how to block a vibora properly and where to position yourself if your opponent prepare for vibora ..etc

I haven’t moved up yet, but I’ve had lessons monthly the last few months and noticing the improvements. My coach who is Portuguese, always says just have one a month so you can go away and spend 4 weeks working on it, you don’t need lessons every week. Also, positioning and transiting quickly from back to net and being a “crab”.