Update 2026 May

[Zezima]

Tall players with more experience can probably advise further; but I don't see how you'd be able to get good mechanics contacting that low relative to your torso. I may be wrong, though.

Here is a forehand shot performed by Omar Assar onto a ball past the apex and in the falling phase. He is 1.96m? IIRC, so probably a good representation of tall people.

View attachment 41627

Now you are comparing a far away from the table shot with my close to table shot.

This shot I know looks similiar to mine when it rarely happens and is not a big issue for now. I struggle more close to the table. Mid distance I also feel comfortable

 

[Archosaurus]

Now you are comparing a far away from the table shot with my close to table shot.

This shot I know looks similiar to mine when it rarely happens and is not a big issue for now. I struggle more close to the table. Mid distance I also feel comfortable

I don't consider the shot I took an example of to be close to the table, but it's good you have everything figured out and don't need help.

EDIT: In case it helps you: Here is a close to table shot by Omar Assar in a real game. Against a different type of ball, but it's just to illustrate.

 

[Zezima]

I don't consider the shot I took an example of to be close to the table, but it's good you have everything figured out and don't need help.

EDIT: In case it helps you: Here is a close to table shot by Omar Assar in a real game. Against a different type of ball, but it's just to illustrate.

View attachment 41629

Whats the point with that picture now? That his stance is wider? I can't comment on anything else since I can't tell the arc or the spin on the ball from a picture.

He is also pivoting here so a different stroke also anotomy wise (left leg in front of right leg by a large margin)
In my training video I am looping more from an almost parallel stance.

I will compare the height of my elbow more in comparison to him but need to find some timestamps myself that come closer to the balls I was doing in my drills to see if my elbow starts from way higher than his.

 

[sebi]

Everybody should just stop giving advice its the same everytime.

 

[Archosaurus]

Whats the point with that picture now? That his stance is wider? I can't comment on anything else since I can't tell the arc or the spin on the ball from a picture.

He is also pivoting here so a different stroke also anotomy wise (left leg in front of right leg by a large margin)
In my training video I am looping more from an almost parallel stance.

I will compare the height of my elbow more in comparison to him but need to find some timestamps myself that come closer to the balls I was doing in my drills to see if my elbow starts from way higher than his.

What is the benefit to your method of hitting low and in front of the body?

 

[Zezima]

What is the benefit to your method of hitting low and in front of the body?

I am not sure if I understood your question right. Can you reframe it?

I don't really follow a method. Most balls I have to deal with on my fh (except open ups) are midhighish slowish nospin light spin balls or faster blocks where I don't get much time to react if I used my bh in the previous shot.

So vs the slowish balls with light spin I am usually way too late to get in position to hit it at its peak. So I default to pushing or weak topspin.

In matchsituation the most success I have is when I 3rd ball attack with my serve (I rely on them returning weak) or they get to attack and I somehow block uncomfortable for them. Then they somewhat drive the ball back and that ball I attack and pressure them.

 

[Zezima]

Ok finally edited the match.

This is a match I have no excuse about exhaustion other than the normal exhaustion that happened during the game. It was a long 50min Match so I had to cut a lot of offtime.
I was the one taking about 15sec before serving. He would serve almost immediately after getting the ball in his hand. I sometimes even delayed giving him the ball lol.

Interesting points that came up when I was analyzing myself while editing:

7:32 ok this is just to show his athleticsm not sure how he got up so easily.

9:24 this error where my body feels off during the topspin happened quite a lot. I just need to understand better why this happens and how I can avoid it. Is it the timing the distance etc...

9:29 same as above

10:34 Here I don't understand why my rubber didn't grab the ball at all. I had balls grabbing my rubber with a much slower motion than this so I got surprised.

10:36 here my 2nd FH loop I was aiming at his elbow. He got it back so I aimed at his elbow again. He brought it back and so I tried to go for a wide fh shot but missed. I just don't understand how to take these balls. The just rise up so unpredictably. I seem to get the general timing right (at peak) I am definetly less comfortable if I need to take these balls earlier. I rather take it when its falling again. But even then its hard to get it on the table if it arcs this high.

So basically the elbow rising problem and how to better take these balls he is giving me from his defense. He also spins them very unpredictably with his sriver 1,7mm or whatever he has.
I also beat him twice one time 3-2 and another time 3-0 but overall he has a positive record against me.
This hall had bad lightning (too dark) so it favours him and makes me very doubtful. But it is what it is.

 

[Nima Abadi]

@Zezima

Wow, you really have improved. Great job man!

I've watched a lot of your videos (especially the older ones) and I'm just going to mention a few things that you seem to repeat from back then till now.

1) Push: For some reason you really hate to push, you mainly do a very safe soft receive. Practice attacking by pushing or pushing really hard (super spiny).

2) Looping with right leg in front of the left leg: You used to do this a lot but I think here you did it only around 2:25 mark. Basically you either get jammed or you loop falling back. Just remember to reset after you loop, you seem planted to the floor after you loop.

3) Counter looping: I don't think I've ever seen you really counter loop (you do counter loop a soft attack here and there), but generally once you start your passive play, you rarely switch back to attacking. A good example is 5:18-22, he's literally asking you to attack, but still you can't shake off the block state especially on your backhand.

4) Placement: You mainly place the ball in the middle especially if you are blocking. A good example is 3:54 to 4:05, I think you played around 8 shots all in the middle. You play a controlled backhand so you need to use it to control the placement but instead you mainly play most of your BH shots in the middle.

5) 9:24/9:29/10:34: A key point to remember is how upright/crouched you are standing. But mainly, you are just misjudging the spin (and timing) and racket angel (9:29 you got jammed by the ball topspin kick so you had to force it). If you adjust the angle right, then you can at least get them on the table. You both are around the same level so it's natural, happens to everyone depending on our level (even pros vs pros do this).

6) It's an uncomfortable ball to hit, that's why people lob. You did a good job at 6:10, so just practice it more, watch how pros jump smash these balls.

Last point, you can always also check your well-played points and see what you did there. I mean look at 6:22 to 6:33, you played so well in those points.

Again, great job

 

[Zezima]

@Zezima

Wow, you really have improved. Great job man!

I've watched a lot of your videos (especially the older ones) and I'm just going to mention a few things that you seem to repeat from back then till now.

1) Push: For some reason you really hate to push, you mainly do a very safe soft receive. Practice attacking by pushing or pushing really hard (super spiny).

2) Looping with right leg in front of the left leg: You used to do this a lot but I think here you did it only around 2:25 mark. Basically you either get jammed or you loop falling back. Just remember to reset after you loop, you seem planted to the floor after you loop.

3) Counter looping: I don't think I've ever seen you really counter loop (you do counter loop a soft attack here and there), but generally once you start your passive play, you rarely switch back to attacking. A good example is 5:18-22, he's literally asking you to attack, but still you can't shake off the block state especially on your backhand.

4) Placement: You mainly place the ball in the middle especially if you are blocking. A good example is 3:54 to 4:05, I think you played around 8 shots all in the middle. You play a controlled backhand so you need to use it to control the placement but instead you mainly play most of your BH shots in the middle.

5) 9:24/9:29/10:34: A key point to remember is how upright/crouched you are standing. But mainly, you are just misjudging the spin (and timing) and racket angel (9:29 you got jammed by the ball topspin kick so you had to force it). If you adjust the angle right, then you can at least get them on the table. You both are around the same level so it's natural, happens to everyone depending on our level (even pros vs pros do this).

6) It's an uncomfortable ball to hit, that's why people lob. You did a good job at 6:10, so just practice it more, watch how pros jump smash these balls.

Last point, you can always also check your well-played points and see what you did there. I mean look at 6:22 to 6:33, you played so well in those points.

Again, great job

Thank you for the feedback.
1) Yep I do practise a bit ~2-5min once in a while and it works in training mostly but I agree I don't really do an effective fast spinny push 90% of the time. Mostly I push with the backhand and mostly safe to the opponents backhand.

2) This one I am a bit confused. Oh I guess you mean I should try to avoid that. I think it happened quite often maybe it's hard to see when I play on the opposite side. This is actually something I know myself but struggle to fix it.
So the problem is I am too worried about my bh. So I tend to stand "square" which feels good when I do backhand loops. Then I get a fh ball which I hit somehow awkwardly with the right foot in front (in case I have to step in or I am just square footed) and then can't really use hips or anything. And I agree with you I don't really reset properly with my legs it's planted after the shot. All I seem to care for now is that I somehow cover the table with my positioning, but don't seem to care to also reset my foot position taking the right one back. That's why I also stop looping after looping 1 "fast" one. The ball is loopable again but my stance is so wrong so my upper body refuses to loop again.

3) Tbh I did train a few sessions. But nowhere near enough to implement it in my game. My leg position is also wrong most of the times I just seem to react to the ball. Here you won't see much progress for the next half/1year I think.

4) Placement of my blocks: I try to aim to their elbow so I get a weak ball back that I can attack hard. But he is an annoying opponent for me because he spins the ball with slight sidetopspin. It's so hard to predict the balls curve on my side. I played him 9 times now and when I attack those balls I seem to hit edges or it kicks more than I expected or I whiff even. Against other opponents you will see me looping that kind of pace balls more. Also you see me struggle with placement to the ellbow thats cuz of the spin he gives me.

5) Yeah I guess this one will get fixed over time. I just need to get exposed more to these kind of players at this level.

6) I don't really have a practise partner who can lob. They usually stay very close to the table and if I hit a good shot its just a straight winner.

7) Yeah I did a highlight reel when I first started playing these racecups of the best points. So in the future I have only 7min that I can watch. But I am just too slow at editing and I got burned out. Even editing this match (it was 50min long) It took me what 2h or so maybe since I also analyze the points during editing.


------------------------

Today I played in 2 RaceCups(12 Matches ~6,5h). Never again (especially not after playing 3h padel the evening before)

I lost to the 1900TTR 1-3 / 1-3
Then I played against Peter(the one on the video 1700-1750TTR). So something interesting I tried out both of my setups. I lost with T19 and Petr Korbel 1-3 to him. And in the 2nd RC right after I won 3-1 with the W968 H3n and d09c setup.
Then I won vs a 1550TTR twice. So overall net positive.
I failed so many smashes against medium height balls some with light backspin. I feel like the W968 setup is terrible for those shots. The headheaviness makes the path so awkward the racket "pulls" down? not sure how to explain also I hit too flat and couldn't apply spin over the table. Behind the table it was much easier to use. I def like the Korbel setup for those medium high balls to smash.

Will see tomorrow If I hit the 1600TTR for the first time.

I will try to put more focus on getting my right leg back during rally. Or commit playing with my backhand. But I think learning to constantly use fh after looping once already is better unless my opp blocks parallel ofc.

Also a bit offtopic if anyone knows a good leg routine against exhaustion that would be nice. I go to the gym train my legs, play TT and now Padel aswell but even though I rest 1 or even 2 days My legs get exhausted quite early. Like I sit after 2h and it's almost painful to stand up again. As a 30y I don't think thats normal.

 

[Zezima]

@Nima Abadi

here a countertopspin from 2 days ago final in a tournament. I guess it helped going for the shot when 10-7 and 2-1 ahead.

 

[vossi39]

Main problem with your FH loop is still your shoulder and upper arm. Especially at 9:25m you mentioned. See how your upper arm rises, elbow rising. Too big of a motion.
If I were to train you, I would do a training session, where I would bind your upper arm to your torso and let you do opening loops against backspin only with your body, underarm and wrist.

With respect to your smashing problem. You are too far from the ball to effectively smash. Against your opponent, you need to go back to the table, once he backs off. Take the ball earlier an use more angle to make him run. Also these type of players react to in and out movements, so varying lengths is a good tactic. Good luck next time.

 

[Zezima]

Main problem with your FH loop is still your shoulder and upper arm. Especially at 9:25m you mentioned. See how your upper arm rises, elbow rising. Too big of a motion.
If I were to train you, I would do a training session, where I would bind your upper arm to your torso and let you do opening loops against backspin only with your body, underarm and wrist.

With respect to your smashing problem. You are too far from the ball to effectively smash. Against your opponent, you need to go back to the table, once he backs off. Take the ball earlier an use more angle to make him run. Also these type of players react to in and out movements, so varying lengths is a good tactic. Good luck next time.

The funny thing is thats how I teach beginners in clubs how to loop backspin. I even show show them to loop with only wrist then with forarm and wrist and so on.

In matchplay I bet I would sometimes get more quality just by using wrist and forearm in comparison with the whole body.

But 9:25 was not against backspin. I don't know why my subconscious decided I need to lift that ball. This I want to get out of the system. Maybe hit harder so I don't need to lift the ball?

I understand not every loop can look perfect but it feels like my loop motions are all over the place in terms of execution. It's like I have 1000 variations and only 10 variations that are executed well but I need a specific stance towards the ball and the ball has to come with a specific arc and spin etc.

Smashing problem:
I usually don't have a smashing problem unless it's a ball that I need to flip smash over the table. I can do it but my rate is still too low for now.

But against the higher spinny balls that he gave me it's very difficult.
Just look at the depth of his "lobs" on my side. It's either backspin when he chops or sidetopspin landing close to the white line.
I am not familiar with these balls. And I even tell myself that I am too close to the table to attack those. Either take them when they are falling or I watched omar assar jump smashes yesterday or do something like that because when it's in my hitzone it's at its peak very high up.
I am not comfortable looping when its in rising phase still.