Nah. I think WCQ will actually accelerate the desires, and it might actually be used against him in 2028 lol so Felix can win. Ma Long just became too big and clean to be stained.Now you gotta wait until WCQ retires
Not if the CNT has anything to say about it
The server still has a distinct advantage over a player doing chiquita, but it requires a change of mindset in serving. In the past the norm is to serve short and then attack the 3rd ball. Now that will simply get you killed because of the amount of sheer variation you can do on the short receive. That is why now you can see a lot of fast long serves and wide serving to keep receiver guessing. Chen Meng vs Miwa Harimoto - there were way more fast long and wide serves than short serves, many were direct winners.Not if the CNT has anything to say about it
Seriously though, I wonder if with the advances in BH flicks that if service rules are strictly enforced that services may be detrimental to the player at the highest level, like in say volleyball. After all, it's the only shot that needs to bounce twice. If that's the case, then it's possible that pros may simply try to serve to avoid being attacked, so everyone just serve really short backspin/nospin all the time kind of like in doubles.
Yeah, long serves are definitely useful for countering chiquitas, but as you mentioned, part of it is the variation in spin. If spin can be more easily read, would it be less effective as well at the very top level?
A hawk's eye would already help a lot but why wait. Any self-respecting referee can see that irregular services are given and far more in men than in women. Just about all services where the player serves from the side of the table go wrong. The fact that almost only when the 16cm rule is thrown up, as with Dima, is almost laughable. So many others go wrong with other tricks that are much more detrimental to an opponent.
Mmmmm, I see more and more players now (among the men, anyway) returning a simple short serve. From their BH service to the middle (or to their opponent's FH) of the table without/with backward effect. (Seen the Lebrun brothers do this several times at the World Cup)
If the receiver can read the serve perfectly every time, the server is indeed at a disadvantage for sure. But it is really not easy to read serves in TT....
Part of the problem with serve calls is that a protesting player can bring embarrassment to the sport over inconsistent officiating. What Hawkeye on serve faults does is take the call out of the subjective realm. In the match I watched where it was used, when the umpire called the fault, the player would complain. And then the video would show that the player (Ma Long or Liang Jingkun) was clearly serving behind his body to some degree, but because the aerve looked normal and was from Ma Long, people could pretend the machine wasn't working instead of accepting that Ma Long drops the ball behind his body most of the time. In the current situation, making the call just requires a brave umpire and it can be hard without a way of closing the conversation.
yeah, LYJ's pain came back too.
Some sports just don't want that though. Baseball is probably the most egregious, since the pitch zone is literally involved in every single pitch.
In other sports there is no problem, tennis, hockey, volleyball, basketball, etc....
Yeah but look at the number of referees they often have in other sports. Table Tennis is too complicated for the puny resources we put into enforcing the rules.
Gosh in my view there is actually little that can go wrong in refereeing table tennis. Each on a side of a table gives more than enough opportunities to judge something, in my opinion, even without a hawk's eye, but the biggest problem is as you also wrote, the referees' sense of responsibility but above all the nerve to go against (renowned) players.
The biggest problem is the players have not taken the cultural responsibility to make serving obviously legal and the umpires are largely volunteers not professionals. The complexity of the rules leads to many pros serving illegally in one aspect or the other. The pendulum serve often leads to a shielding of the ball with the body depending on where the receiver stands to see the serve. Same with other side on serves like the hook. Then there is the tradition around warning. Then inconsistent punishment of dodgy serves.
I don't remember who it was with but I did see a referee in the last World Cup reprimand a player on a ball that was thrown too much to the body. If it is flagrant, it can be noted. yet there are players who can throw a ball metres high straight (or almost straight anyway). So...
