Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[J-fed]

Backhand looks like long pips, so I've got nothing for you there.

I think your forehand is a bit stiff. You seem to not actually prepare for the shot with any backswing or movement, then at the last second you almost rush to hit the ball by pushing your arm forwards, rather than letting your arm come back and then swinging at it.

Your contact timing is fairly consistent though, either slightly early or around peak of the bounce. For shots like that if you close the angle slightly more and brush over the ball, it will have the same speed but also have more topspin and be more consistent. However this also won't work if you are still 'pushing' at the ball.

My advice would be to let your arm naturally move back (easiest cue for me is to just relax my shoulder and let my arm 'hang' for a moment) as the ball moves towards you on each forehand - this might help you minimise the sudden late pushing motion you're making. You can still hit early off the bounce but it's a bit smoother as you'll have more of a backswing (it doesn't need to be that big) and therefore have room to actually swing your arm through on the shot.

More like the shot you play at 9 seconds in. Obviously it was against a weaker shot from the opponent, but the same principle can be applied on a lot of the forehands in this video imo.

Much appreciated. At the start I’m just blocking. I guess it’s my main thing though. I tend to do that and wait for openings to flat hit.
Is it also similarly pushed in the ball machine and multi ball parts? I also think it’s stiff and short in general.
I definitely want to be more proactive and yesterday got a great win by being more willing to loop in games. 21 year old guy who has been beating me for a year. I thought he’d just gone past my level. Was great to get one back by making adjustments.
I might also switch to SP on BH to get involved in more athletic rallies rather than tactical battles.

 

[Amaken23]

Was cleaning my drawer the other day and....WOW. What about a blast from the past 1.8 mm if I remember correctly....doubt anyone, even youngsters play with those sponge thicknesses anymore...Wish they could make 1-colour exclusive rubbers still.

 

[jonol]

Much appreciated. At the start I’m just blocking. I guess it’s my main thing though. I tend to do that and wait for openings to flat hit.
Is it also similarly pushed in the ball machine and multi ball parts? I also think it’s stiff and short in general.

Yeah so with the robot/multi-ball, you still do it. You do have more of a backswing, but instead of your body rotating around an axis, you seem to push forward and up.

Your weight IS shifting, but it's like a short, stabby kind of motion, rather than following an outside trajectory.

Think of it like trying to hit the ball with a whip. With your current motion, you could never do it, because you are not generating much rotation of your body - the whip would simply trail behind awkwardly.

If you bring the whip around with your body though, you can probably understand how it would be quite a different type of arc and movement to what you see in the video.

It may help to think of your hand and arm as the whip, and your body as the machine that needs to generate the rotation that creates power.

 

[Archosaurus]

I was pretty nervous to post this considering the hammering some folks get when they upload their play.
It’s almost a let down to get away with a few gratis likes.
What’s a bro got to do to be mercilessly clowned around here? YouTube?

You need to advertise your supplements, t-shirts or something else like that. Actually posting video of your play is kinda rare nowadays so people don't even make fun of you.

 

[J-fed]

Was cleaning my drawer the other day and....WOW. What about a blast from the past 1.8 mm if I remember correctly....doubt anyone, even youngsters play with those sponge thicknesses anymore...Wish they could make 1-colour exclusive rubbers still.

I play 1.8 on FH. Good for blocking. I'm not sure I could control a really thick sponge on the short game.

 

[J-fed]

Yeah so with the robot/multi-ball, you still do it. You do have more of a backswing, but instead of your body rotating around an axis, you seem to push forward and up.

Your weight IS shifting, but it's like a short, stabby kind of motion, rather than following an outside trajectory.

Think of it like trying to hit the ball with a whip. With your current motion, you could never do it, because you are not generating much rotation of your body - the whip would simply trail behind awkwardly.

If you bring the whip around with your body though, you can probably understand how it would be quite a different type of arc and movement to what you see in the video.

It may help to think of your hand and arm as the whip, and your body as the machine that needs to generate the rotation that creates power.

I'll try. I have a strong and flexible core so I think I can do that part. I also think I'm not putting anything like the power in to my right leg that I used to. When I did, I can see my left leg is not always doing a good job of pushing me back into a ready position so need to do some exercises for that. Can I though at this age? We'll see.
Don't get old. Highly unreccommend.

 

[J-fed]

You need to advertise your supplements, t-shirts or something else like that. Actually posting video of your play is kinda rare nowadays so people don't even make fun of you.

I have merch for my record label but I feel it's a bit off topic for here. I did reference Waldner in a rap tune once though. Maybe that gets me a pass.

 

[JustANoob]

Well, I used my W968 setup yesterday and also the Xuperman S1 setup and all I can say is that the W968 doesn't feel good anymore lol I was hitting with one of my buddies yesterday and all my shots that would hit didn't at all. This is the first time I've gone back to a setup after using a new setup for a few sessions and immediately hated my main one. Honestly, it's very hard to get any information on the Super S1 blade and the ones I've found, they were in Mandarin or some Chinese dialect. Honestly, I think I'm going to use the Super S1 blade more. I had used it 2 sessions ago and I beat a really hard opponent again. I think after I get my Zyre-03 and Helix Platinum 55, I'll like the blade more because the Xuperman Xr 38° feels weak on my RPB, but Xuperman Xb 41° feels solid.

You should do a review on that xu xin blade, as you said very little info on it.

 

[RPB Enthusiast]

You should do a review on that xu xin blade, as you said very little info on it.

I was thinking about writing it aftet next session, but I think I will wait until I get my Zyre-03 and Helix Platinum 55° because the Xuperman 38° doesn't feel that good right now, but Xuperman 41° feels nice on the forehand.

 

[Der_Echte]

A common tactic people employ against me is to serve short to my FH then push long to my BH. I get jammed by that a lot

This tactic has been used by old people everywhere since Julius Ceasar was a Junior.

 

[NextLevel]

This tactic has been used by old people everywhere since Julius Ceasar was a Junior.

Not just old people - even younger and more naive people than myself in order to challenge and test footwork. IT is the first pattern I go to when I am down against a player who is faster than myself and unlikely to be as drilled.

 

[NextLevel]

I depart from the US on Wednesday at some point to do the TTD meetup. It will be interesting for sure.

 

[Tyce]

First match of the season and it was a humbling experience, at least score wise.
I played the opener, lost the first two games plainly because I wasn't running up to speed yet. Then I took the third 12-10, equaled with 11-9 playing decent but not in full control anywhere. Lost the last game by running out of options and missing a couple of optimistic balls early on. But we had a good matchup, I really enjoyed the game.
Doubles was one of those games where one combination of serve/receive players worked for them and the other worked for us. We let it slip in the end but not bad for a debut with my new teammate.
The second singles game, this guy was so quick on the ball and strong at the table. It didn't matter what I did, he sent me left right and center. I'm happy that I made him work for it, but I had no chance playing my usual game. Couldn't adapt well or quick enough.

So there it is, 1-4 loss against, on paper, the second last team (us in last). It's quite a different experience having to play to win again, rather than playing to not lose. I really don't want to relegate this season so gonna have to get a grip on it ASAP.
I know I have the playing level. It's adaptation and execution that need the work.

 

[J-fed]

This tactic has been used by old people everywhere since Julius Ceasar was a Junior.

No one gets me with that despite being almost old. I request that pattern in multi ball because I know I am a target for it.
I have definitely used that as standard tactics Vs whipper snappers though. You gotta beat them by gnarl cuz you ain’t winning on loop strength.
Also return long to FH then block the loop past them, or just sweep short wide to FH. These are my standard tricks.
Need more though. Any suggestions?

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

this is a classic modern TT tactic. Serve to opponent backhand side with sidespin; ball will come back to server's bh. Server pivot aka step-around and fh loop for the win.

this is just like the classic four moves checkmate in chess. every serious players knows it but sometimes, just sometimes you can still surprise even the most veteran of players. sometimes we get lucky.

 

[Der_Echte]

I depart from the US on Wednesday at some point to do the TTD meetup. It will be interesting for sure.

That gunna be one grand ole Goon Squad meetup.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

On Monday I had a round robin tournament . Played bad as usual recently 3w3l but level wasn’t very good.
At least my RRTTR stopped going down after dropped 150 in last months.

—-
So on the following day, I wasn’t expecting it at all but I had my best practice match of 2026, beating cleanly a guy I’ve never ever beaten, though it’s been years since we know each other.

He’s playing Ryu Seung Ming style and still in his young 30s with strong serves. He wasn’t in a bad day, saw him play just before me. Maybe not 100% focus as usually it’s rather easy for him, but what feels good is I dominated him totally in serve receive and he couldn’t play his strong FH as he liked.

I was in the zone. Practicing serves and receives paid off.
And I managed to maintain a good low and knees forward stance especially for receiving and FH opener, and focused on swinging forward above the ball and avoiding to swing upwards and losing balance . Also in receive focused in taking more time before making a move (really should be the same all the time but receive is where I miss most)

Guy is probably around 450+ my current level. It’s a bit strange how my level can change in 24h. [ofc it’s practice only and no pressure …]

 

[Archosaurus]

No video yet again because no regular partner yet again, but it is what it is. I think he has some kind of logistical issue right now. I may try to see if more people are happy appearing online.

Back healed enough to play, and it didn't get worse from the session, so that's great. A little stiff but all good.

I'm being told my play has suddenly improved a lot and better players ask me to play lately, so maybe it is so, but I don't feel terribly much more skilled. I am objectively winning more sets, though. Still really questionable shot choices and lacking feel most of the time, but I'm chipping away at the big pain points and particularly on the backhand being a bit more aggressive.

 

[Tyce]

Improvement isn't necessarily about getting your maximum level up as much as it is about getting your minimum level up. A little consistency can be a lot of difference.

 

[JustANoob]

Today I learned there are "pro" extra numbers or something like that butterfly blades aka pro versions, because of course there are, it makes perfect sense those exist, and obviously the normal mortals wouldn't really benefit from whatever extra they are, but its still a bit demoralizing considering the premium bt prices. More of a stupid ego thing than anything else.