Do you prefer the old Table Tennis matches over current matches?

[TensorBackhand]

I was just watching this old ZJK vs WLQ match. I was struck by how different the old matches look to today's matches. The old matches seemed to be much more of a "dance". There is more in and out movement, there is more kills and winners. There seems to be a more strategic movement and pivot-kills. There seems to be more variety of tactics and varying of paces.

Personally, I find this old style of play much more pleasing to watch.

Why did the game change so much? ( is it just the ball? or something else?)
Which version of TT do you prefer to watch? Personally I do not like the more "crab" style of play.

 

[zeio]

I was just watching this old ZJK vs WLQ match. I was struck by how different the old matches look to today's matches. The old matches seemed to be much more of a "dance". There is more in and out movement, there is more kills and winners. There seems to be a more strategic movement and pivot-kills. There seems to be more variety of tactics and varying of paces.

Personally, I find this old style of play much more pleasing to watch.

Why did the game change so much? ( is it just the ball? or something else?)
Which version of TT do you prefer to watch? Personally I do not like the more "crab" style of play.

Ahem, people said the same thing back then when they watched even older matches...

 

[TensorBackhand]

many players didn't have a very offensive backhand (like wang liqin).
so they were forced to move more and pivot more.
zhang jike's generation started to introduce a more modern style... you can see he attacks more with the bh.

I watched this one recently and it's even more evident the lack of bh attack
still you can see in persson he's starting to do the bh loop movement.

but to me if today they played like this I would enjoy it as well.
I watched this whole video so definitely entertaining.

Yes, I see that compared to WLQ, ZJK has a more offensive bh, thus he isn't forced to pivot as much.

But even compared to many modern players, I feel like ZJK still has a lot more "dancing" and a much more beautiful style

 

[AmanooMan]

In terms of beautiful rallies and outrageous shots, I don’t think that today’s game has anything less than before. We even have backhand-to-backhand rallies far from the table with the likes of Lin Shidong, Hugo, Felix, etc.

However, there is one thing that I don’t like about today’s game, which is everyone going for speed almost all the time. If you look at Zhang Zike’s banana flicks, he’s going for slower, higher arcing, spinny shots way more than the likes of Fan Zhendong, Lin Shidong, Felix, etc. Another example is Timo Boll, who slows the game down a lot more than the new generation.

 

[TTLOVE]

In terms of beautiful rallies and outrageous shots, I don’t think that today’s game has anything less than before. We even have backhand-to-backhand rallies far from the table with the likes of Lin Shidong, Hugo, Felix, etc.

However, there is one thing that I don’t like about today’s game, which is everyone going for speed almost all the time. If you look at Zhang Zike’s banana flicks, he’s going for slower, higher arcing, spinny shots way more than the likes of Fan Zhendong, Lin Shidong, Felix, etc. Another example is Timo Boll, who slows the game down a lot more than the new generation.

This is a problem with the plastic ball; the old celluloid ball was spinnier, so it was difficult to counter high spin with high speed. Today, the ball has less spin, making it easier to counter, even when played close to the table, which significantly increases the speed of the game.

 

[Tembel]

The biggest change came in 2000 with the larger ball. Game slowed down and less spin. The matches might look slower, but pre 2000 the players had super fast speed glued bats and a much faster and spinier ball. Very different game. This is why we see so many more unforced errors in the Waldner/Persson match for instance, compared to the later matches.

In the ZJK/WLQ match they are using celluid ball which is lighter(and slightly smaller) and spinner than what we play with now. That is also a reason for why the games look a bit less of the sluggerfests that we are used to now.

I am not denying that todays pro's are probably just as good or even better athletes then previous generations. But the material change matters a lot.

 

[mihalichtheone]

The variety is gone, that's what sad. Less styles, whoever has more power wins.

There are exceptions of course, like Harimoto mostly counterplays, Xu Xin playing in Chinese Super league basically still plays his own style no matter what, Truls being somewhat creative...but then again WCQ destroyed Truls with power.

Basically, it's more interesting to watch players who still hasn't lost their style: Truls, XX, Hashimoto, Harimoto, etc

To me any Ma Lin game would look unique and cool. One of my favorites:

 

[ZFT]

Best way to both slow the game down and have a wider variety of tactics and styles re-emerge is to have weight limits on rackets.

I believe 180g would be a good starting point and potentially lowering to 170-175g.

It would be very simple to enforce, just a kitchen scale.

 

[Sriver1]

Best way to both slow the game down and have a wider variety of tactics and styles re-emerge is to have weight limits on rackets.

I believe 180g would be a good starting point and potentially lowering to 170-175g.

It would be very simple to enforce, just a kitchen scale.

I don't agree at all. If you want more different styles you need more spin. The Ball must be smaler. Maybe 39mm.

 

[igorponger]

THE BEAST.

Some revelation from a fostering tutor of Mima Ito
--- It seems I did cultivated a beast. Be alert you all.

@Youtube luckily preserved Mima's performance at her best. Lets take the opportunity.

si=F68RZX_mVDIeBFao

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Prefer the older style: think Jang Woojin where magnificent and fantastic FH play are seen and appreciated.

Current meta style is wearing toward girly play: BH bitch-slapping each other. Indistinguishable btw watching men or women game anymore.
NB: Women are better at BH bitch-slapping play, so when man emulate it, it looks effeminate.

 

[PhoenixTT]

Speaking of old matches, I just stumbled across possibly the most painfully boring game I've seen. Unbelievable because they're normally two of the most watchable players (Waldner and Oh Sang Eun)

Enjoy (you won't):

 

[Lando]

Yes, because I am a penholder lol

 

[PenHoldSandro]

The old matches are more extravagant imo, I prefer those Penhold v Shakehand matches or Penhold v 2 sided penhold

 

[netdriver]

I don't agree at all. If you want more different styles you need more spin. The Ball must be smaler. Maybe 39mm.

with technological advancements of today i think we can afford to make a new plastic ball that is spinnier (either by reducing the size or experimenting with the materials for the ball)

celluloid was switched out for plastic bc of hazard concerns and the ball size was enlarged partly due to the 38mm ball being hard to see when filmed at that time period

now with high def cameras i think we can manage to reduce the ball size but ofc it will b hard to enact change (no amount of technology will help WTT/ITTF not take crappy low-def footage of matches)