Is Table Tennis Harder Than Tennis? (7 Reasons To Look At)

Whether you are table tennis or tennis enthusiast, you can probably agree that racket games, in general, are so much fun and not from the easiest end of sports. As a person who has played tennis and table tennis for considerable amounts of time, I have been asked which one is harder and requires more skill, so that is what I’m about to tell you.

In this article, I will enlighten you on the skill requirements for table tennis and tennis, what benefits they carry, the most important skills, and more! But first, is table tennis harder than tennis?

In general, table tennis isn’t as hard as tennis because of many reasons. First, tennis is physically more demanding, and the risk of injury is far greater. Also, tennis games last far longer, and they may be under high temperatures. Finally, the distances are longer, so tennis players need to move quickly.

That being said, tennis is harder in general. However, by any means, doesn’t this mean that table tennis is easy if you were to play competitively? It’s just different. Now, let’s take an at table tennis against tennis and see what each one requires and how they differ in difficulty. Let’s begin!

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1. Speed

When it comes to the speed of table tennis and tennis, both require lightning-fast reactions if you want to be in a good position to hit the ball. First, let’s take a look at the speed of both table tennis and tennis ball.

2. Distances

As I quickly visited the subject above, the distance differences are big, and it’s clear that a tennis court is much bigger; therefore, it’s harder to reach the opponent’s stoke than it is in ping pong. Let’s talk numbers.

The Tennis court is always 78ft (23.75m) long. The width differs as following; 27ft (8.25m) wide on singles and 36ft (11m) wide on doubles. When it comes to the table tennis table, it is 9ft (2.75m) long and 5ft (1.525m) wide.

When we take the speed of the ball and the size of the court and table, the table tennis ball will actually reach the player faster than in tennis, so it requires excellent reflexes as well.

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3. Stamina

In terms of stamina, tennis and table tennis will suffice as a hard workout if played right. However, if we would need to pick one as the harder when reviewing stamina, it’s certainly tennis. This is because the courts are so much bigger, the games last longer, and the weather can be burning hot. More on game length and weather later.

4. Technique

This is when things get interesting. Even when tennis is harder in the general sense, table tennis is much harder technically. This is because of more stroke options, more grips with different perks on them, more tweaks to be made on the racket, and the spin!

There are many styles to play, but most people are clearly either offensive or defensive players, which both benefit them. Offensive players are aggressive, and they usually use rubber that will give much power for the smash strokes. In comparison, defensive players use soft rubbers on their rackets to dampen the opponent’s strokes. Also, defensive players use much more spin to beat the opponent.

5. Game length

This is where the considerable difficulty differences are shown as well. When you are playing a physically demanding sport, time will significantly impact how much mental and physical energy it requires. This is why tennis is the harder in-game length as well. Let’s take a look at the game times.

In short, a typical tennis game will last twice as long as a typical table tennis match. On average, that is. Tennis games are usually played as best of 3, which will roughly last around 90minutes, whereas table tennis is commonly played as best of 5, which will usually last around 40minutes. Notice that if tennis were played as best of 5, the average time would be 2hours and 45minutes, which would widen the game time gap even further.

6. Environment

The environment is yet another reason why tennis is harder than table tennis. Think about it, tennis is nearly always played outside, so there can be high temperatures, moisture, blinding sunlight, debris, wind, and you name it. All these will make the game session a little more difficult when compared to a well-airconditioned, chilly table tennis hall.

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7. Other reasons

Now, there are even more difficult differences between tennis and table tennis, such as injuries. The risk of injury is far greater in tennis because of many reasons. Common tennis player injuries are usually found on the elbow, shoulder, wrist, back, knee, ankle, and even toes. By any means, this doesn’t mean that table tennis players don’t suffer from injuries because they do. However, when comparing tennis and table tennis, it’s clear that tennis players have more of them more often.

Both spots need a great sense of ball and opponent as well. This skill will come in time, but the ”sense of ball” is definitely needed if you want to rise to competitive levels. Finally, every athlete has their own other reasons that might affect the difficulty of the sport.

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Is table tennis physically demanding

Table tennis is physically demanding because you need to be in constant movement and focused state on reaching the ball on time and striking it often as hard as you can. A typical game of table tennis lasts around 40-50minutes; therefore it will demand a good level of fitness to make it through without problems.

Of course, if you were to play some casual ping pong without any competitiveness in mind, then it won’t require much physical effort as tennis, for example, even when played without competition in mind.

Is table tennis the fastest sport in the world

Even when table tennis is one of the fastest sports in the world, it isn’t the fastest. Badminton is the fastest sport globally with incredible 1.7 hits per second, whereas table tennis is averaged at 2. Also, a shuttlecock can travel at the speed of 300mph, whereas a table tennis ball is set at 70mph, on average.

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Is table tennis good for the brain

Table tennis is good for the brain for many reasons. Table tennis enables a good mind-body stimulation where you need to focus, react fast, and even anticipate the opponent’s next stroke, keeping the brain active. Also, you will gain social interactions and hand-eye coordination that is beneficial for the brain.

In fact, I have an in-depth article about the best 11 table tennis mental training tips that I highly encourage you to read!

What is the most important skill in table tennis

In short, the most important skill in table tennis is ball control. If you have good accuracy, know how to stroke hard and receive them, and add a good spin and countering them, you will win more matches than lose.

Does ping pong help with tennis

In general, table tennis drastically helps when playing tennis. Both sports are racket games with similar strokes even when the size differences on the court, table, and rackets are different. It isn’t a coincidence that table tennis has tennis on its name.

Are tennis players good at ping pong

If a tennis player were to play ping pong, the athlete would have a headstart on the skills, even when there aren’t much spin and similar ball control in tennis. The principles on most of the strokes are similar in tennis as they are in ping pong; therefore, tennis players may be good at it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, tennis is harder physically with harder components to it, however, table tennis is far more difficult technically. All in all, it is extremely difficult to make a final determinator which one is harder period so I leave the final answer to that question in your hands! I hope that you enjoyed this article and that it gave you help so you can see the difficult aspects of both sports.