The real core skill in table tennis: read which way your opponent's bat brushes the ball to know which spin is coming — then set your own bat angle to match.
After the bounce, the ball does whatever the spin tells it to: backspin brakes it or even rolls it slightly back, topspin arcs it over the net and then drops it steeply. The rule behind it is simple — the direction the bat brushes the ball is the direction of the spin: brushed underneath means backspin, brushed up and over the top means topspin. Your answer is the mirrored angle: against backspin you open the blade, and that's the push; against topspin you close it over the ball, and that's the block. The classic mistake is staring at the ball instead of the hitting arm. Experts read bat angle, shoulder and hip before the ball is even on its way, and that alone separates them from beginners with around 90 percent accuracy. It isn't a gift — it's trainable perception.