There is always the next tourney and the next and the next.... no worries my friend.
I know you are trying to get some laughs but given that it isn't clear you know how to use your blade either, not sure whether to laugh...
One of the benefits of the USATT rating system is that it gives you good context on your opponent's playing level. My first rating coming out of a tournament in 2011 was 563. I lost to everyone I played other than the club owner's wife, who I beat twice. 8 months later, after taking lessons for four months, I got closer to USATT 1300. But because of the knowledge of my opponent's ratings, I was never completely lost on who I was playing against. I did struggle to imagine I would ever be able to beat 1400 and 1600 players. There was even a kid who was 1400 when I was 1200 who I thought I would never beat but I beat him when we were both 1700.
Lol, I keep thinking I can beat anyone, then get thrashed in real games
It can be a positive though, as I always think I have a chance. My first tournament I was down 1-2 in sets and 4-7 in the 4th game against an 1800s guy and ended up beating him. Got me an overrated 1800s rating that I think realistically I'm only recently starting to live up to.
Wow, you're up to 1800 already? That's a huge improvement. What were you like a 1 year? I think I remember you saying a much lower rating back then.Lol, I keep thinking I can beat anyone, then get thrashed in real games
On and off I have about 5 years, but I got my 1800 about 14 months after starting to play. Unfortunately lost all my practice options soon afterwards and stagnated for a few years. When I picked it back up in '22 I decided to revamp my game and I think it's just starting to show results.
Your serve looks pretty good, what spin are you putting on that?
Yea, I think I posted them in the mytt board and asked for advice, and adjusted my technique accordingly. I had a table in my apartment building at the time and practiced against a glass wall. It was surprisingly effective, but then the apartment took the table away, my training partner stopped playing, and the club shut down and I had to go far to a crowded space where we had to play doubles half the time so everyone got a chance to play. I was starting to develop a backhand, but that stopped without training and I stagnated into a FH only game.
Yeah your fh got a lot better. Snappy and crisp with good power.
I use a lot more body now with my FH, that was the last focus of improvement when I last trained for FH. I'm focusing on footwork mostly on the FH side these days, but most of my focus is still on the BH. My BH really regressed after I stopped trainings, but now it's finally becoming useful. I aim to have my BH become a reloop machine in the next couple of months, then really focus on the FH to make it a point winner.
"
So it feels like you are hitting the ball up more? Do you aim for less rotation then and it's maybe a bit less rotation but a higher percentage shot seeing as really heavy backspin open ups are one of the lower percentage shots (for non pros like me). Or is it some other type of feeling. Asking as I'm prob moving to a faster setup and this will be my Achilles heel.
Most ppl fail when they try to brush too much against backspin to lift it up. I try to hit the ball from below which will achieve this slightly more than 90 deg contact. See illustration below:
Yep, I see Truls doing this a lot but less so with other players. He’s either pushing the ball up more with less rotation or actually pushing up and adding a bit of side to add a level of difficulty for the opponent.
Yeah taking lessons for 6 months so far once a week, so I know rebuilding my technique is going to take some time. I'm having fun with it, but it's definitely a grind to travel a bit to get coaching and to play in tournaments.
Actually with this approach angle you can still control whether you want max topspin or a dead ball. Truls definitely does vary it very well, other players tend to stick with just trying to loop with max topspin. Anyway, the concept is to use the angle of approach (as well as blade angle) to make lifting heavy backspin much easier.
I'm in the same scenario. The ratio of pips out players I'm playing has got to be over 50%, ensuring the ball finds the other side of the table is my main concern over hitting clean winners.
This has to be one of the smartest statements period in TT when it comes to playing pips players, I find too many players who want to hit the ball hard against a pips player before taking their time to figure out what is on it, and how to get the ball they can put away.
