Hi Neil,
Thanks for your questions.
The best way to deal with an opponent in this situation is to change up your placement and also vary the speed and spin of your shots to make it more difficult for them to simply block the ball back. Also if they are very close to the table, try to get your shots deep in their half and close to the white line will make it hard for the opponent to get the space to play a solid return.
Also, if the opponent is standing in the middle of the table, play your shots into his cross over point. See this video here for tactics to the elbow: https://tabletennisdailyacademy.com/videos/the-advantages-of-playing-to-the-elbow/ Hope this helps.
Give those tips a try and any other queries let us know! 🙂
