TB,
Tony just politely told you that you got a little head stuck up ur azz action going on.
Backup ur opinion with some facts. Is friction LP harder to play vs? No, I eat up friction LP players above my level. is SP harder to play vs? only if opponent is way better player. Is it difficult to play vs a 2x inverted player who cannot spell SPIN and flat hits everything? Only until you can attack first or figure out how to hit no spin.
Why do so many 2300-2400 hotshot power loopers struggle to win vs 2100 rate Rich Dewitt? Rich knows how to slow ball down, kill spin, and place the ball well... those are legit TT skills and Rich uses 2x inverted... my BH rubber is always more wore out than his rubbers. Until a player can figure out how to discern impact, they gunna struggle... it is a fundamental skill in TT.
We love you for your dedication to TT... you would not be posting so enthusiastically for so long here if you did not have true love for tt. We respect that and people who do not respect that are worse than head in azz syndrome.
I like Tony's point about diversity of play styles. When you had a ball that LP could better manipulate spin (Celluloid 38 and 40) there were so many different play styles going on. That was GREAT for our sport.
Now with 40+ ABS that is EASY to hit through spin, (and make your own) it nudges even amateur players to play advanced offensive strokes (flip, counter vs topspin) like a boss at a relatively low level.
I see professionally trained and some self trained players doing a rally that goes like serve under, flip, counter the flip, counter the counter, counter that counter even more fast and win point... I see 1000-1200 rated players playing this in California now.
This was UNHEARD of 5 yrs ago. Now it is commonplace. The larger new gen ABS ball with a truer bounce allows for this kind of play.
I have always advocated for LP players. When ITTF banned frictionless, literally every nation copy/paste the ittf laws into theit national assn laws... and forced out a large amount of players. In USA, we need every damn body we can muster. LA area, bay area, Dallas, NYC, Florida always gunna have a base, but the rest of the nation really struggles to make any TT action. We need everyone.