OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi everyone,

I have a fairly simple question for English-speaking users of this forum: What do players say to each other in English at the beginning and the end of the match? There are three basic situations I'm interested in:

1) 'Greeting and handshake': in French, for example, the opponents wish each other success (succès), in German the standard phrase is 'schönes Spiel' ('let's have a good match')
2) Making sure your opponent is ready: The standard phrase is probably 'Ready?' or 'I'm ready when you are.' Any variants?
3) End of the match + handshake: Do you say 'well played' to your opponent?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Some hand gestures would be well enough. E.g. hand-up to indicate unreadiness at service.

Be happy.

Depends at what level you're playing.

In the UK, at local league level most players will know each other so in my experience they chat during the warmup, during the match and after the match.

At a higher level, typically from what I've seen I've attended tournaments it's mainly shake of the head, nod at the start and shake of hands at the end although with Covid around still it's more likely a fist bump at the end. Very little talking unless they know the player.

Thanks for your answers, although I find it hard to believe that the (ever-so polite and usually very articulate) English would not say something to greet their opponent or to thank them for a good match. How about 'thanks!' or 'Congrats' (if your opponent won)? The thing is that people usually don't pay any attention to what they say in everyday situations because it's second nature to them.