Recommended Ping Pong Tables for Serious Players

"Professional" or "Serious ping pong players" are strict when it comes to their training especially to the table that is going to be used on their practice. They strictly follow the official rules that are being regulated by the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation).

What exactly is the reason why serious players cannot use just ordinary tables on their training?

Ordinary ping pong tables actually have many differences when compared to the tables used by the professionals in international competitions (such as in the Olympics). Here are the following differences between them:

1. Table Top Dimensions

The official ping pong table dimensions must be exactly 5 ft by 9 ft with a height of 2.49 ft. But for the ordinary ping pong tables, they have varied sizes.

2. Smooth Table Top/Surface

The table top or surface should be well inspected which must be perfectly smooth. You have to know that a table with smooth surface gives better control over the ball. Unfortunately, most outdoor ping pong tables are designed with rough surfaces. It's for this reason why professional players only play indoors.

As for the ordinary type of tables, most manufacturers focused on durability and less on the quality. Thus, they most likely have rough surfaces.

3. Bounce of the Ball

To test the table surface if it meets the ITTF's criteria regarding about how the ball must properly bounce back upon impact, a standard ball must be dropped at a height of 30 cm from the table top. As a result, the ball must bounce back in vertical direction and its first bounce must reach a height of at least 23 cm. Most ordinary ping pong tables fails to meet this criteria.

4. Height of the Net

ITTF had stated that the official height of the net must be fixed at exactly 6 inches high. But for casual players, they may choose to make the necessary adjustment according to their compatibility or playing comfort.

5 Top Lists of Ping Pong Table for Professionals


Here are the top 5 following lists of ping pong tables in the market that are preferred and recommended by most professional players:

1. Sportcraft Ping Pong Table

"Sportcraft ping pong tables" has already been around for several years in the market. Today, it is considered as one of the top sport brand that manufactures tables with supreme strength and durability. Their tables also comes in two different versions which can be "Portable" or "Fixed" type of table.

Portable tables can be folded in half for easy storage that doesn't take too much space. Fixed type of tables is the opposite.

Overall, most Sportcraft tables follow the official table dimensions recognized by the ITTF organization.

2. Stiga Ping Pong Table

Most "Stiga ping pong tables" are designed by the manufacturers as portable types but most importantly, they followed the ITTF table standards. Although, Stiga tables are quite heavy to move around without the rollers. The heavy weight of the table are actually due to the durable materials used.

3. Kettler Ping Pong Table

"Kettler" sport brand is owned by a German Company where they are running their company for quite some time. They actually gained their reputation in manufacturing good quality of ping pong tables because of their good structural designs which follows the ITTF standards. And just like Stiga brands, they mostly produce portable tables.

4. MD Sport Ping Pong Table

The pride of "MD Sport" brand are the perfectly smooth-finishing of their table tops. As already mentioned above, a smooth table surface gives a good bounce of the ball. And apart from the smoothness of the table surface, the leg-supports are enhanced with sturdy metallic materials which ensures stability of the table while at play.

5. Prince Ping Pong Table

When it comes to positive feedback from the satisfied customers, the "Prince" sport brand has the higher number. Although, there were still a few negative feedbacks but none of them concerns about the quality of the table. Those issues were all about the confusing instructions from the manual.

Overall, those are the top 5 ping pong table brands that most professionals or serious players do recommend for beginners who are aiming to become a pro.