WTT Singapore Smash 2025 (30 Jan ~ 9 Feb 2025)

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I could foresee BTY lsd alc near in the future if not sooner.

well, Butterfly did loose ZJK (end contract), and FZD (retirement) literally instantly.

 

[Brs]

yeah, all those expensive fzd blades peeps just bought, guess the used market will be busy

 

[NextLevel]

well, Butterfly did loose ZJK (end contract), and FZD (retirement) literally instantly.

I wonder what FZD is up to nowadays.

yeah, all those expensive fzd blades peeps just bought, guess the used market will be busy

Nah, ZJK blades would still be on the market if ZJK hadn't had some scandals. FZD blades will still be advertised and sold by FZD until well after he really stops playing and that will be a few years since he will still be in Superleague and play in National Games. And while LSD and WCQ and LJK are currently holding the fort, all it will take for people to ask for FZD to return is one bad performance by the CNT against the Harimotos, Lebruns and yet-to-be famous Taiwaneses/Korean/German players.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

@Sims @NextLevel

I have to agree that the announcer over did it.
table tennis players have different ways to hype up before the match and the WWE approach shouldn't be the one imo.
You don't see WWE in tennis - where the sport is considered elegance, the crowd doesn't make noise and have way more class in there cheering on good rallies.

WWE is too scripted, and the whole script comes from the intro, to how players fake everything. and the last thing I would want is to see table tennis players resemble to that.

Someone mention about having player videos introduction.
I mean, why can't they make a Lin highlight clip, and a Liang highlight clip in the video, say highlight from Singapore smash and have some basic info in the intro for the audience that doesn't know who he is.
the important part is the content, not the tone or energy of the announcer going WWE mode. I feel table tennis class should follow more elegance, than that of ring fighting.

But wtt is going the ring fighting approach of being dark themed, while other racket sport choose brightness.

PS, having spoken to players, they don't like the dark intro versus bright playing area.
or dark during timeout and back to bright playing area.

no idea which genius came up with it, but I would like to have more brightness
all the sports I follow or watch don't dim lights to the extreme (NBA, baseball, cricket, tennis, badminton etc). Its not the cinema.

 

[NextLevel]

@Sims @NextLevel

I have to agree that the announcer over did it.
table tennis players have different ways to hype up before the match and the WWE approach shouldn't be the one imo.
You don't see WWE in tennis - where the sport is considered elegance, the crowd doesn't make noise and have way more class in there cheering on good rallies.

WWE is too scripted, and the whole script comes from the intro, to how players fake everything. and the last thing I would want is to see table tennis players resemble to that.

Someone mention about having player videos introduction.
I mean, why can't they make a Lin highlight clip, and a Liang highlight clip in the video, say highlight from Singapore smash and have some basic info in the intro for the audience that doesn't know who he is.
the important part is the content, not the tone or energy of the announcer going WWE mode. I feel table tennis class should follow more elegance, than that of ring fighting.

But wtt is going the ring fighting approach of being dark themed, while other racket sport choose brightness.

PS, having spoken to players, they don't like the dark intro versus bright playing area.
or dark during timeout and back to bright playing area.

no idea which genius came up with it, but I would like to have more brightness
all the sports I follow or watch don't dim lights to the extreme (NBA, baseball, cricket, tennis, badminton etc). Its not the cinema.

It's an American thing according to wiser people than myself - you just need to find out who the Americans WTT are consulting and they will fix it.

As to whether sports dim lights or not, it varies, the Bulls did a lot of light dimming for their introductions. Baseball is an outdoor sport so introducing players is often done under the lights. Tennis is also outdoors so pyrotechnics and lightshows, which have been used at events in places like O2 arena, are only available for night and indoor events. I watched a lot of sports for many years so I don't think it is true that most sports don't dim lights to the extreme while introducing players.

Of course, the aesthetic that WTT chose, both during introduction and during match play, is theirs to defend. But my point is that you need an aesthetic. Without the aesthetic, it becomes harder to sell the sport to television or get deals. You are competing largely with sports that are built around that aesthetic. You will go broke if you don't have an aesthetic that can command attention. It's a Darwinian issue, there is only so much in resources for people's attention.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

It's an American thing according to wiser people than myself - you just need to find out who the Americans WTT are consulting and they will fix it.

wwe is American?
the whole WTT and wwe has too much similarities.

As to whether sports dim lights or not, it varies, the Bulls did a lot of light dimming for their introductions. Baseball is an outdoor sport so introducing players is often done under the lights.

basketball, badminton, all indoors.
and many still make use of colors cleverly and seldom rely on dimming.
players eyes are uncomfortable with the constant dark and brightness during breaks.
mine too.

Of course, the aesthetic that WTT chose, both during introduction and during match play, is theirs to defend. But my point is that you need an aesthetic. Without the aesthetic, it becomes harder to sell the sport to television or get deals. You are competing largely with sports that are built around that aesthetic. You will go broke if you don't have an aesthetic that can command attention. It's a Darwinian issue, there is only so much in resources for people's attention.

not many sports do wwe approach
and surely, there are quite successful TT leagues in the world that don't do wwe approach.

the way you write, make it seems all those other TT leagues who don't do wwe approach is failing or gone broke?

the fans in the hall (announcer) has a problem now, as they are majority fan boys, and don't care who is talking, including when the CTTA boss is on stage. Otherwise, most fans will listen to just regular announcers.

there is always a big possibility, wtt gamble on its wwe approach isn't going to pay off and there is other ways of approaches.

 

[NetProphet]

@Sims @NextLevel

I have to agree that the announcer over did it.
table tennis players have different ways to hype up before the match and the WWE approach shouldn't be the one imo.

Hi Tony
He did over do it, definitely, and imo it was funny.
I don't know what comments survived from yesterday but I said it sounded like life or death the way he did it 😂

You don't see WWE in tennis - where the sport is considered elegance, the crowd doesn't make noise and have way more class in there cheering on good rallies.

Personally I don't have any issues with the WTT production, I've actually been to a few events and really enjoyed them!
Things only went sideways when someone declared that events without certain things weren't real events but they won't stand behind what they said now anyway so I will say nothing else about that 🙄
But I agree with you, they don't need to go in the world wrestling direction!

Someone mention about having player videos introduction.
I mean, why can't they make a Lin highlight clip, and a Liang highlight clip in the video, say highlight from Singapore smash and have some basic info in the intro for the audience that doesn't know who he is.
the important part is the content, not the tone or energy of the announcer going WWE mode. I feel table tennis class should follow more elegance, than that of ring fighting.

This would be great! And it would make terrific use of all the big screens and sound system they have. Nothing whets the appetite like watching a short montage of some great moments.

But wtt is going the ring fighting approach of being dark themed, while other racket sport choose brightness.

PS, having spoken to players, they don't like the dark intro versus bright playing area.
or dark during timeout and back to bright playing area.

I can see how that is undesirable. The ball is small and the necessity to calibrate sight and coordination in TT is second to nothing else. Changing the lighting every 7-8 minutes cannot be helpful in this regard.
It's not the same in basketball where the ball is massive and makes direct contact with your hands.
Snooker and golf would come closest I suppose.

One thing I think the dark room helps with is the viewing experience when you're at the arena. The dark background it makes it easier to focus on the table and follow the white ball Vs a bright background that you can see and is sometimes moving.
I expect this darkened playing atmosphere probably helps the players too, having the background mostly muted. So just set the lighting and leave it so no sweeping lights between sets to disturb the players?

There's certainly a point where something (particularly an indoor event) can have too much production but I don't know if we're there yet but not listening to the players isn't going to help the sport in the long term.

Btw, I showed the intros to a few 'non table tennis' folk. They compared it to boxing and they thought everything (lighting, music, player walk ins, commentary) was great! 😃
If they dialled it back and did your video idea I'm sure that would also be great

I reckon to most TT fans the production is welcomed and appreciated.
Maybe the bigger question is whether or not it can help to draw new fans to the sport?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I reckon to most TT fans the production is welcomed and appreciated.
Maybe the bigger question is whether or not it can help to draw new fans to the sport?

this is indeed key!

WTT is taking on the initiative of hosting the event in terms of all these "production".
the rest is up to the local organization to promote and bring in the crowd

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

so today the Youth Smash kicked in, and the 7 point, BO7 format started.
I spoke to a coach and player who played today, indeed needing to get used to it.

so I spoke to my pal, who is Chang Yu-An's coach and ask how does it feel and does he like the 7 point.

he said, well, Yu-An won, so it must be great!!!
haha

 

[piligrim]

so I spoke to my pal, who is Chang Yu-An's coach and ask how does it feel and does he like the 7 point.

he said, well, Yu-An won, so it must be great!!!
haha

Who knows what would be results if it was 11 points ...

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Who knows what would be results if it was 11 points ...

well, he sure doesn't care, a win is a win
haha

but to be fair, Chang Yu-An is the 1st seed either way.
WR2 in U19 in the world, only behind Felix

 

[NetProphet]

Who knows what would be results if it was 11 points ...

Such a valid point 👌
Losing 6-7 is so often turned over to win by two at or after 11.
Which is why I personally think messing with the scorelines like that just devalues the game.
Some things are fundamental and should not be tampered with without very good reason!
The 3 point in Basketball is one where it was a good change but to most sports the scoring is fundamental to the flow and even the psychology of the matches

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Such a valid point 👌
Losing 6-7 is so often turned over to win by two at or after 11.
Which is why I personally think messing with the scorelines like that just devalues the game.
Some things are fundamental and should not be tampered with without very good reason!
The 3 point in Basketball is one where it was a good change but to most sports the scoring is fundamental to the flow and even the psychology of the matches

Euros have decider game at 6 with no deuce
so it is a test on who opens the scoring first and who can handle pressure with no deuce.

end of the day, same playing field, so its all testing adaptions.
some players will suffer - ie WLQ
it does make it more difficult, so you can't waste opportunity. Pressure is also way more and can't loose concentration

if it stays, players need to adapt, but until then, not sure if the other Smash Youth will have it.

here is the graph for the U19 finals:

 

[piligrim]

well, he sure doesn't care, a win is a win
haha

but to be fair, Chang Yu-An is the 1st seed either way.
WR2 in U19 in the world, only behind Felix

I think other way, he doesn't feel same as it was 11 regular game. I wouldn't if I was he

 

[Oliverpool]

@Sims @NextLevel

I have to agree that the announcer over did it.
table tennis players have different ways to hype up before the match and the WWE approach shouldn't be the one imo.
You don't see WWE in tennis - where the sport is considered elegance, the crowd doesn't make noise and have way more class in there cheering on good rallies.

WWE is too scripted, and the whole script comes from the intro, to how players fake everything. and the last thing I would want is to see table tennis players resemble to that.

Someone mention about having player videos introduction.
I mean, why can't they make a Lin highlight clip, and a Liang highlight clip in the video, say highlight from Singapore smash and have some basic info in the intro for the audience that doesn't know who he is.
the important part is the content, not the tone or energy of the announcer going WWE mode. I feel table tennis class should follow more elegance, than that of ring fighting.

But wtt is going the ring fighting approach of being dark themed, while other racket sport choose brightness.

PS, having spoken to players, they don't like the dark intro versus bright playing area.
or dark during timeout and back to bright playing area.

no idea which genius came up with it, but I would like to have more brightness
all the sports I follow or watch don't dim lights to the extreme (NBA, baseball, cricket, tennis, badminton etc). Its not the cinema.

I think it’s meant to be relevant to the younger generation. I was watching the finals and my friends kid was saying during the intro that the music and light show was cool. Just like in e-sports event. So maybe that’s the target audience that this is meant to attract 🤔

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I think other way, he doesn't feel same as it was 11 regular game. I wouldn't if I was he

i don't think kids think too much
we do give them friendly matches at non 11 structures,
ie, start at 7 or 8, so in essence a 3 or 4 point structure (with deuce or no deuce)

 

[RefereeNumber2]

You don't see WWE in tennis - where the sport is considered elegance, the crowd doesn't make noise and have way more class in there cheering on good rallies.

Since I also follow pro tennis, I just wanted to chime in to say this isn't quite true. Check out these player intros at the world tour finals event in tennis:

The first clip is from when the tournament was in London, and the second was in Turin, so this isn't an "American" thing.

I think one thing that makes the tennis tour great is the variety between different tournaments. Wimbledon and the Tour Finals in tennis have completely different atmospheres, traditions and overall feeling -- in fact every single tournament has a distinctive setting, camera angle, unique trophies, etc.

The problem with WTT is that every tournament looks and feels the same -- right down to the identical trophies. IMO, the production value is good and does help the image of WTT as a "legitimate" world-class sports tour. But I hope they push in the direction of giving each tournament a distinctive character and flair. It seems like an easy way to boost the prestige of each individual event for both players and fans.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Since I also follow pro tennis, I just wanted to chime in to say this isn't quite true. Check out these player intros at the world tour finals event in tennis:

The first clip is from when the tournament was in London, and the second was in Turin, so this isn't an "American" thing.

I think one thing that makes the tennis tour great is the variety between different tournaments. Wimbledon and the Tour Finals in tennis have completely different atmospheres, traditions and overall feeling -- in fact every single tournament has a distinctive setting, camera angle, unique trophies, etc.

The problem with WTT is that every tournament looks and feels the same -- right down to the identical trophies. IMO, the production value is good and does help the image of WTT as a "legitimate" world-class sports tour. But I hope they push in the direction of giving each tournament a distinctive character and flair. It seems like an easy way to boost the prestige of each individual event for both players and fans.

these 2 I think are okay
have a look at the replay of the Smash finals
it as 100% wwe announcement mode imo.

I think it is nice to have different atmospheres with different tournaments and you are right, we need that in WTT, can't be the same every time.

 

[NetProphet]

The first clip is from when the tournament was in London, and the second was in Turin, so this isn't an "American" thing.

The tour finals are run by the ATP which is an American company, setup in the 70s in America by American entrepreneurs
It was me who initially referred to the production element as American and it most certainly started in America with American sports and has been exported and adopted across the world.
And I didn't mean anything negative when I said it. So the production being as good as it is and being referred to as American is something to be proud of imo.
My referencing of it as American only came about when someone said events that don't have it aren't real events, with which I disagreed because, culturally, events in UK and Ireland have always had much less of the production asthetic in the past 40 yrs of my attending them but they were still very real. 👍

 

[NextLevel]

Since I also follow pro tennis, I just wanted to chime in to say this isn't quite true. Check out these player intros at the world tour finals event in tennis:

The first clip is from when the tournament was in London, and the second was in Turin, so this isn't an "American" thing.

I think one thing that makes the tennis tour great is the variety between different tournaments. Wimbledon and the Tour Finals in tennis have completely different atmospheres, traditions and overall feeling -- in fact every single tournament has a distinctive setting, camera angle, unique trophies, etc.

The problem with WTT is that every tournament looks and feels the same -- right down to the identical trophies. IMO, the production value is good and does help the image of WTT as a "legitimate" world-class sports tour. But I hope they push in the direction of giving each tournament a distinctive character and flair. It seems like an easy way to boost the prestige of each individual event for both players and fans.

I think the goal was to bring a different vibe to the Smash events to give them an enhanced aesthetic. Probably not for everyone but not adding more ceremony to your bigger events begs the question of what makes them bigger...