Sabine Winter switches to antispin

[NextLevel]

here's another guy who plays a similar style.

you can see he barely misses a block.... the anti rubber is so slow it's practically impossible to miss the table.

I kinda wanted to try this style.... but it's too boring honestly.
you just pass the ball and wait for the opponent to make a mistake.
I ended up going back to inverted and throwing bh bombs.

Don't worry about it, I have already blocked you, go troll someone else please lol.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Now that Montpellier is finished, an interesting picture emerges with respect to Sabine's matches. Since Sabine's loss to Han Ying at the 2025 Euro Top 16 in February, she has not lost to *any* European player. In fact she has only lost to top Chinese and Japanese players. She has beaten the 3 S Korean players she's faced: Lee Eunhye, Kim Nayeong, and Shin Yubin. Additionally, she has beaten Kaho Akae of Japan and Chen Xingtong of China. She will jump up to WR#16 on Tuesday when the rankings are updated and will officially be the highest ranked European woman. What a truly remarkable player!

A result anyone will take with pride!

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Your comment at the time is understandable. In fact, I didn't think she'd make it to top 20 when she made the switch to anti. But I'm happy to be pleasantly surprised.

Would it be fair to say she far exceeded your expectations?

she didn't expect that either, but she isn't a traditional, or defensive anti player
she is still an 100% attacking player and her strategy is attacking.

even the Indian and North Korean pip players, who succeed, are attacking players.

amateur place has a lot of defensive mindset players and most amateurs only resemblance those rubbers as defending. but pro sports is a different sport and when you are able to use these kinds of rubbers in an offensive game, it does give more options to the user and successful utilization is indeed a threat and a threat that even the likes of CNT has no "sparing partners" in their disposal.

 

[the-don]

wang yidi made a ton of mistakes looping against the antispin block.
if the CNT really focus on beating this type of opponent it might be game over for the insane doctor I'm afraid....

still the finalist takes home the sum of 20.000 USD.... not bad at all

 

[driversbeat]

Unfortunately I have to agree with Zeio's assessment that the long term viability of Winter's playstyle is in question. Her game while extremely effective now feels like it lacks dimensions, not just because of Anti, but her attack patterns that don't seem to vary much in terms of placement, spin, and tempo. What my amateur eye is seeing is a lot of crosscourt play which makes it easy for opponents to step around themselves or exploit Winter's own forehand corner.

Ironically, I feel she could benefit from being more backhand oriented, playing more surprise proper backhand topspins and figuring out more ways to manipulate spin with the Anti. Developing a stronger backhand game will also place less pressure on her footwork which is what some netizens are questioning right now. Her Anti play right now feels a little... for a lack of a better term, basic - which is understandable considering how she's barely switched for a year. That said I'm not sure what more she can do with Anti since I've always had the impression that it has even less gears for spin manipulation than long pips.

Tl;dr like many unconventional players, Winter's longevity will come down to whether she can continuously reinvent herself. But whether she succeeds, she has already written an inspirational story for all of us. Big congratulations for smashing her target of WR50. Now she can aim even higher.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Id love to play her style but twiddling is too difficult and my backside BH is too good. Maybe i should use anti on FH !!

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Your comment at the time is understandable. In fact, I didn't think she'd make it to top 20 when she made the switch to anti. But I'm happy to be pleasantly surprised.

Would it be fair to say she far exceeded your expectations?

Not far exceeded. In line with expectations. She avoided the strongest Japanese and Chinese opponents before the final.
DHK is not as strong as she used to be. SYB was totally surprised and unable to adapt.
Of course there is a surprise effect that won’t be there next time but Sabine can improve further still ! She hasn’t been playing for a long time with anti ! For example look at Kim or the Indian players they use sidespin more with their odd rubbers to give them more consistency. Sabine can improve on that. She can also find new attack combos too. Also I think she didn’t have many serve patterns.

She’s the n1 European now . She is also benefiting from the lack of new strong players and the decline of the likes of Polcanova, Han and Bernie but she can beat them all with her new style.

When I saw her videos, her early results and her motivation I was of course more hoping than predicting with 100% conviction but I can’t say I’m surprised either.

I think she can still keep this WR20 for a while but getting another chance to grab a champions title ? Maybe not alas

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

Not far exceeded. In line with expectations. She avoided the strongest Japanese and Chinese opponents before the final.
DHK is not as strong as she used to be. SYB was totally surprised and unable to adapt.
Of course there is a surprise effect that won’t be there next time but Sabine can improve further still ! She hasn’t been playing for a long time with anti ! For example look at Kim or the Indian players they use sidespin more with their odd rubbers to give them more consistency. Sabine can improve on that. She can also find new attack combos too. Also I think she didn’t have many serve patterns.

She’s the n1 European now . She is also benefiting from the lack of new strong players and the decline of the likes of Polcanova, Han and Bernie but she can beat them all with her new style.

When I saw her videos, her early results and her motivation I was of course more hoping than predicting with 100% conviction but I can’t say I’m surprised either.

I think she can still keep this WR20 for a while but getting another chance to grab a champions title ? Maybe not alas

Was actually asking zeio, but kudos to you for seeing the top 20 potential even if it was more hoping for than prediction. She's in elite company if you look at the names in the top 20.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Was actually asking zeio, but kudos to you for seeing the top 20 potential even if it was more hoping for than prediction. She's in elite company if you look at the names in the top 20.

well when she was younger she already wasn't far from top20 so it wasn't so unrealistic

 

[NextLevel]

Unfortunately I have to agree with Zeio's assessment that the long term viability of Winter's playstyle is in question. Her game while extremely effective now feels like it lacks dimensions, not just because of Anti, but her attack patterns that don't seem to vary much in terms of placement, spin, and tempo. What my amateur eye is seeing is a lot of crosscourt play which makes it easy for opponents to step around themselves or exploit Winter's own forehand corner.

Ironically, I feel she could benefit from being more backhand oriented, playing more surprise proper backhand topspins and figuring out more ways to manipulate spin with the Anti. Developing a stronger backhand game will also place less pressure on her footwork which is what some netizens are questioning right now. Her Anti play right now feels a little... for a lack of a better term, basic - which is understandable considering how she's barely switched for a year. That said I'm not sure what more she can do with Anti since I've always had the impression that it has even less gears for spin manipulation than long pips.

Tl;dr like many unconventional players, Winter's longevity will come down to whether she can continuously reinvent herself. But whether she succeeds, she has already written an inspirational story for all of us. Big congratulations for smashing her target of WR50. Now she can aim even higher.

Long term viability against whom? What quality of player is going to exploit her limitations? In the Doo match, did you see enough of a switch in attack dimensions/placements to convince you she can add a few?

 

[NextLevel]

Not far exceeded. In line with expectations. She avoided the strongest Japanese and Chinese opponents before the final.
DHK is not as strong as she used to be. SYB was totally surprised and unable to adapt.
Of course there is a surprise effect that won’t be there next time but Sabine can improve further still ! She hasn’t been playing for a long time with anti ! For example look at Kim or the Indian players they use sidespin more with their odd rubbers to give them more consistency. Sabine can improve on that. She can also find new attack combos too. Also I think she didn’t have many serve patterns.

She’s the n1 European now . She is also benefiting from the lack of new strong players and the decline of the likes of Polcanova, Han and Bernie but she can beat them all with her new style.

When I saw her videos, her early results and her motivation I was of course more hoping than predicting with 100% conviction but I can’t say I’m surprised either.

I think she can still keep this WR20 for a while but getting another chance to grab a champions title ? Maybe not alas

Far exceeded for me without a doubt though you could see hints of it in previous matches (which of course, some would just use the results to ignore the underlying dynamics). I would never have expected a player with material on one side to beat Shin Yubin after using it for less than a year. And that she would be at the level of Akeela/Batra and sometimes even better coming out of Europe is a complete surprise to me. And I don't think Polcanova or Bernie have declined in any way that is demonstrable by serious analysis. At the last European Teams event, Polcanova didn't lose any matches, she just played for Austria. Bernie lost only one and that was to Kaufmann in 5 games.

Sabine has always been able to beat Han Ying because of teammates and her forehand. Kaufmann will likely be her biggest threat, but the point is not that she cannot lose, the point is that she is in the conversation. It said a lot that she played the #1 spot for Germany throughout the Teams competition. After all, Boros gets to decide that and she is the one with the players.

I await the adjustments but her forehand and serve are strong enough that it won't be a trivial task. And I think she will add new things in response to adjustments. I don't see her leaving the top 30 anytime soon and that will likely help Kaufmann by giving her a target.

All that said, it will still be helpful to see her play more material experts. More of the Japanese girls, more of the Chinese B team, especially the choppers. We need to see more. But in Europe, I don't have any serious doubt even as much as I would like to see her play Sofia, who is still a beast, and Adriana Diaz, who I think is the best outside Europe and Asia, and maybe Bruna as well.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

well when she was younger she already wasn't far from top20 so it wasn't so unrealistic

you said the keyword yourself, "younger".
but her career high was 40-50, not 20 or any where close to it.

as I mentioned every early on, she said if she continued as is, she won't be able to compete with the elites, the Chinese, as her speed is not fast enough, and with age, we all know what happens with speed. So her (initial) goal was to just match that of her "younger" career high.

And with that mindset, and the view of making a change to give once last attempt at reaching a former height, was the reason of her change and to that, to give herself a new challenge and with that, the element of fun.

We can say it is something like a frail Xu Xin trying out shakehand and actually ending up with astonishing results, or even the likes of Lin Gaoyuan, before retiring, trying out pips or anti, to do something exciting before he retires or get removed to sparing partner roles.

Sabine wanted to do it earlier, but the German national team was opposed to her change and wanted her two inverted in the Euros, and after that, she was "allowed to change".
just imagine if she had changed earlier.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Sabine's ranking history

since her Anti, she has reached career heights.
this would be a story that would likely not happen often or again.

Her wins includes these players that she probably wouldn't be able to beat before the change.
Shin Yubin
DHK
Bernie x 2
Han Ying
Chen Xintong
Sofia Polcanova
Nina Mittelham

and she only started anti in December last year, its not even a full year yet!

 

[zeio]

Curious, what did she need to prove to DTTB bigshots? I love the way you make up narratives that are completely unsupported by anything other than delusional Tieba users.

Dementia? Have you ever gone through her Instagram? In response to missing out on Paris 2024, Winter wrote "I wonder what I’ll have to do next time to convince any doubters" and her father even hinted at favoritism for other players.

As usual, stop wasting my time.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...ns-japan-2025-7-11-aug-2025.35819/post-534432
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...sh-sweden-august-14-24-2025.35820/post-537175

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

rankings is a log scale. not so much difference between top 20 and top 40... as much difference between top 20 and 40 as between N1 and N2...
and you don't need to compete with Chinese to be in top20. it suffices to compete with Puerto Rico

 

[NextLevel]

Was actually asking zeio, but kudos to you for seeing the top 20 potential even if it was more hoping for than prediction. She's in elite company if you look at the names in the top 20.

I think he is using the results with 20-20 hindsight. Anyone claiming that Sabine would be a top 20 player after switching to anti is joking. Even Doo Hoi Kem for this event looked like Doo, so I leave it to all the "she ain't who she used to be" to say the obvious while ignoring that her form was very good for this event. And Shin Yubin for a long time had a reputation of being good against defense and combination players, so this was a complete eyebrow raiser - maybe she was good against defense and bad against combination players and I just got confused and mixed up both?

Yes, Sabine had a decent draw, but I watched the matches, Han Ying has played decently this year even through struggles, Sabine made her look old. Bernie didn't learn anything from the last time they played, that was quick to see. But the Doo match I think was Sabine learning and adapting, I think if Doo doesn't push her and expose her like Doo did, I suspect Shin would have had a much easier time.

That said, the matches against Wang and Doo showed what is possible when a really strong topspin player knows what to do with the pips ball. But losing to just top players outside Europe is good enough for a medal, especially in the Teams event. And at some point, they have to take a look at Kaufmann-Winter, you think right?

 

[NextLevel]

Dementia? Have you ever gone through her Instagram? In response to missing out on Paris 2024, Winter wrote "I wonder what I’ll have to do next time to convince any doubters" and her father even hinted at favoritism for other players.

As usual, stop wasting my time.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...ns-japan-2025-7-11-aug-2025.35819/post-534432
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...sh-sweden-august-14-24-2025.35820/post-537175

Stop trying to mix up the context. What would winning a title have done that getting the finals hadn't already? You keep moving the goalposts rather than answering the question.

She played in the #1 slot throughout the Teams event. She is the highest ranked woman in Europe. So please, remind me, what would winning the event have proven to the bigshots that she hadn't proven already with her current ranking and play?

 

[NextLevel]

rankings is a log scale. not so much difference between top 20 and top 40... as much difference between top 20 and 40 as between N1 and N2...
and you don't need to compete with Chinese to be in top20. it suffices to compete with Puerto Rico

I know you are trying to be funny, but this is not true at all, Puerto Rico has only one player in the top 20, if they had 3, they would be Olympics medal title contenders. For most events, it is not about having one player, it is about having multiple players.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

i'm actually trying to be serious. Im saying basically there aren't 20 Chinese in the top20 slots. there are many Japanese, and then there is one Korean, one Brazilian, one Romanian, and one Puerto-Rican. I'm pretty sure if you look back into time there were like 4-5 slots as well at least for non-chinese-non-Japanese... so no she can't compete for N10 or even N16 is difficult but there is room for her to sneak into top 20. and with the points she just got, she's probably there for a whole year...

 

[NextLevel]

i'm actually trying to be serious. Im saying basically there aren't 20 Chinese in the top20 slots. there are many Japanese, and then there is one Korean, one Brazilian, one Romanian, and one Puerto-Rican. I'm pretty sure if you look back into time there were like 4-5 slots as well at least for non-chinese-non-Japanese... so no she can't compete for N10 or even N16 is difficult but there is room for her to sneak into top 20. and with the points she just got, she's probably there for a whole year...

She is already in the top 20. There is room for her to go where her results can take her. She could viably get 500 pts at the next European Singles Champs or Euro top 16 right? And even without winning Champions, she can still do reasonably well in Contenders as long as she isn't injured right? How did Bernie get into the top 10? Diaz?

It's not completely about playing level. It's about ranking points and getting breaks and opportunities. IF Bernie can do it, why can't Sabine if the argument is form?