Hi Lem496,
Ok I know exactly what you mean and there are a few things that can help you in this area and get you more comfortable close to the table and work on improving your short game. Firstly I would say the best and most simple drill that is effective at working on random ball placements and staying close is getting a partner to block anywhere on the table and you have to topspin into their backhand block. We have a video on this exercise and it’s great for improving recovery and anticipation.
You also mentioned your short game was weak, if that’s the case you need to do a lot of serve and return drills and practice touching short to stop your opponents attacking first. A good and effective fun exercise you can do is short touch to touch with your partner and if the ball goes long or high you can topspin or flick and play the point out. This really helps you practice the short touch but also look to attack when your opponents shot is too high or weak.
I think with focus and time you can really improve the short game and it will have a big impact on improvement, of course feel free to send us in any videos of you playing and we’ll be happy to analyse and give you feedback to help you improve.
