Professional Table Tennis Rules

Professional table tennis has a very clear and direct set of rules for competition. These rules are designed so that the game can be played fairly and equally in every part of the world. Table tennis has even been an Olympic sport and the rules that are played by professionals are almost identically similar to those used at the Olympic Games. The rules focus on the ball, the table and the scoring.

  1. The Ball

    • The game of table tennis is focused around the ball. Players will go to great lengths to control the ball through spin, power and directional aiming. The important thing for all professional table tennis is that the ball be uniform. For this reason there are strict guidelines regarding the ball's shape, size and weight. The ball must be spherical with a diameter of 40 millimeters. The ball must weight 2.7 grams, and must be made from celluloid or similar plastic material and must be either white or orange in color.

    The table

    • The table used for professional table tennis is designed to allow players the most consistent and fair surface to routinely play on. Much in the way a football field or a basketball court must have the same dimensions so that players can have fair games, the same is true for table tennis. A professional table tennis table must be rectangular in shape and be 9 feet long by 5 feet wide. The table must be elevated in a way that the surface lies in a horizontal plane 2 feet 6 inches from the ground. The surface must be of a dark color and there is to be a line outlining the court that is white and 3/4 of an inch thick.

    Point, game, match.

    • Professional table tennis has very direct scoring rules. A point is scored in a number of ways but the most common is if a player's opponent fails to make a good service, fails to make a good return, if the ball passes the end line and fails to touch his side after the opponent touches it, if the opponent strikes the ball twice successively or the opponent's free hand touches the playing surface or the opponent or any of the opponent's clothing moves the table.

      Games are played to a score of 11 in professional table tennis and they must be won by two points. So for example if each player has 10 points, the first player to take a lead of two points wins the game.

      A match is considered to be the best of any odd number of games. The number, three or five, shall be predetermined before the match has begun.