Clever Plan

I am trying to work out a clever strategy for my table tennis.  I reckon I am a fairly good coach but so much seems to go out the window when I play.  I win some and I lose some.  It is the ones I lose I am trying to fix.  It is always close.  Like 3/2.  But when push comes to shove, I am the one going down.  It would be nice to turn that around.
From what I have seen it is good to go for the weakest point.  I am fairly good at that.  I like to assess my opposition and then hammer what is weakest.  One person I played loved their forehand, so I served regularly to their back hand.  It was not all I did though.  Every now and then I put one down the forehand side.  Their eyes lit up but mostly they blew it because they were too excited.  It also kept them guessing.
I reckon it would help too if I knew my enemy before I go on the court (ok they are my friend but we both play to win).  It seems to me the best way I can do that is to talk to those who have a winning record against that person.  I need to know what they do to win.  They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  In this case it is helpful to gleam strategies from others who have gone before.
That to me is a biggy.  I used to play someone who was wiley.  They had a saying that I like.  “Why reinvent the wheel?”  He would take what worked and use it.  He was harder to beat for longer than would have been expected.
For so many things in my life I employ that.  I prefer not to waste my time inventing a way to do something if someone has already invented a way.  So often others have grappled with what I am grappling with and taken it further.  They have learned how to win.  When I use their way, I have more time to concentrate on other things.
Another thing seems to be consistency.   I often tell others just get it back.  Let them make the mistake.  Ok sometimes when I do that I get killed, but often someone else is their own worst enemy.  They lose rather than me win.
One thing I am not so good at, but I encounter others that do it, is learn new tricks.  Often it is in the serve.  I can work it out – eventually.  It tends to be disguised.  It takes a while for me to know what is coming.  But so often it is too late for the game I am playing.  Our club was big on back spin but new people have come along who are big on top spin.  The fruit of it can be seen in the way people play.  They are better.  They have another bow to their string.
It seems to me so much of the strategy used in table tennis is life strategy.  Knowing my enemy and learning new tricks applies to everything I want to achieve.  Now I need to apply it to my table tennis.