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One thing not mentioned so far is Timo's form. Both his forehand and backhand are a bit different than most players. He has extremely compact strokes and is incredibly balanced when playing. He almost always seems in control of the point and rarely overextends himself. He might not have won...

His video channel was great. Hopefully he will make some new videos soon.

Sandbagging is a pretty big problem. Lots of people do it, especially those around the 2500 rating and the 2200 rating. The people who are around 2500 have no chance to win the open, so being rated 2501 will ensure they can't win money at tournaments. The under 2500 event usually pays a...

That is amazing dedication. I played for my city's soccer team and got invited to tryout for a national level traveling team that played international matches when I was around 10. When my parents found out they would have to drive me to practice everyday about 100km each way, their answer was...

All of those players and Ulf Karlsson were definitely awesome players. Having that many quality players definitely helped out making the training camps extremely beneficial.

The equipment is irrelevant. China could be forced to use any reasonable brand and rubber and after 1 month of practice they would still dominate the world championships. No other country in the world, except maybe North Korea, could take that many kids and make them practice that hard...

China just has a superior training system. It comes at a cost to the players who don't make it but it will produce the best players in the world. The players start young, can play 6-8 hours a day, have great coaching and an abundance of practice partners. No other country can come close when...

You wouldn't like being in America much then. For some, the rating is the be all and end all of everything. Even when picking a coach, the vast majority of American players will pick the coach with the highest rating rather than say a good track record of helping players improve. If I were...

One fact people might be overlooking about "2000 rated players" is that they might not be telling the truth about their rating. All the time in the club people ask me to train and then spout off some rating. More often than not what they say and what their max rating was, are two different...

NextLevel is spot on with his analysis. I think table tennis is more like speaking a language than playing a typical sport. Something happens and you must instantaneously react in the correct manner. How many people do you know that learned a second language as an adult and speak perfectly...

Hugo's dad is a PE teacher as well I think. If you are going to try, good luck. One important thing to remember is your improvement will not be linear. When you learn a new tactic you might actually play worse for a while until you get used to it and perfect it. The important thing is to put...

I should be clearer. When the coach said decent level of playing, he meant Chinese National Team level of playing, not necessarily world champion. There is quite a bit of difference.

Never let anyone place limitations on what you can and cannot do. That is up to you. With that being said, if you want to be a pro it is not going to be easy. Most pros started playing anywhere from 2 to 6 years old and at a certain age they are playing 6-8 hours a day, 6 days a week. They...

Also, the CNT women only care about one thing: beating other women. I have practiced with many province team players and a few women on the national team. It is pretty standard that they prefer to play with women because the spin, speed and rhythm of the game between the genders is different...

There is a dramatic difference in the level of abilities of the men and women on the CNT. How do I know? Because I have personally asked members and ex-members of the CNT the question "What happens when the men play the women in practice?" The men have to spot the women points to make it fair...

My first coach insisted on wrist usage for every shot. She was fairly well known in China and one of the kids she coached became world champion in the 80s. When I went to China to train, the coach there hated wrist usage on the loop. H A T E D it with a passion. I would get lectured to when...

This is true. The Chinese are just that far ahead of everyone else. Back in the 90s on the CNT, the top guys would spot the best women 7 in a game to 21. Now the men spot the women 3-6 depending on who is playing. One thing about the CNT women players is that they find holes in people's...

The Olympic selection changes are not good nor fair. The Americans with the highest world rankings automatically get to go under the new criteria. In the past a player had to be in the top 16 to be automatically selected. Also in the past the world rankings actually meant something. Now, as...

The whole ranking system is kind of a scam. If you play in a weak region, you get a huge boost in your world ranking. Kanak places well in two Pan Am events and then gets a world cup invite because of this. If you calculate those points, Kanak is already ranked 43 in the world or so with 5...

The world rankings are, for now at least, fairly meaningless.