Is Strategy different with a mysterious opponent?

I recently had to play a best of five at high stakes against someone I NEVER saw before. It was much different than playing somone I've played before or someone I've had the chance to study. There was no time to slowly get into the game.

TheThinker raised this point and I thought it would be a good idea to discuss it . . . Is the strategy to play someone whom you never played before and will never play again different than your normal tournament play strategy?

Should you be more aggressive?

Should you be quick to pull out more "tricks?"

you should ALWAYS adjust to your opponent. The whole point of the tactical element in Table Tennis is that you need to as soon as possible figure out what your opponent's weaknesses are, and then exploit it in your own favour.

So in short, against an unknown player your playing style should be more experimental, trying to find out how you should play in order to be most effective.

With mysterious players i usually get to know their playing style when you are warming up with them. Also look at what blade and rubbers they have that can tell u a bit about their style as well. I normally just play my own style, and let the opponent adjust to me. Once he has adjusted to me i vary my style a bit so he has a difficult time. But if that doesnt work i hvae to adjust to him :(

In my last infamous match I had the good fortune of using a style that was extremely mysterious to my mysterious opponent, but it's nice to have a plan when playing players you never played before. I think saving that secret serve is a good plan when going for a win.

start with playing your own game, of course, that's your best quality. Looking at the opponent's material is a good thing to do of course.

I'm not good at adjusting after the 1st game. I usually get the 1st game. Then they go to a coach or friend and I've not adjusted at all because I don't have a lot of time to think. 

To play someone you don't know is not easy. Supposed you are vacationing in a foreign country, say, Vietnam and someone you don't know bet you a match for $500 and you are stupid enough to say yes. You quickly realized that you only have $200 in your pocket and so you can't lose.
How do you play to win? The game being 11 points there isn't much studying that you can do. Maybe the first few points. The best way I think is to be aggressive with you best serves and short game follows by your best attack game. You have to be the FRONT RUNNER. If you don't take the chance you don't win. Hopefully by the time your opponent adjust to you, if able at all, the match is over. Of course, you have to be physically fit to do this. This is a strategy good players like Waldner and others used in the past, I noticed. They are laid back and students of the game when it doesn't count, but in a big game they bring out their best attack game. Waldner, Olympic, too late for Kim and Gatien. Waldner, World against Samsonov. Liu, World against Ma, all out attack.
So go to the national and if you play someone unknown who is rated higher, win this Dec.

I am assuming for this discussion that you probably don't have a second chance to play the same person, i.e. if you lost you don't have a chance for revenge. Haha. If you know you are going to play the same guy again of course it's a different story.

u shud always play your own game for at least the first set use this to see which elements of your game are causing your opponent problems if you find none then you do the reverse. You try and discover the elements of his game that are causing you problems and tehn do your best to disrupt hios game so as he can not play partiular shots which you are finding disrupt your rythm