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I have said a few times, if this sport wasn't propped up by China in part because it is an Olympic sport, it would be dead by now.

Playing them is not fun, but training with them is. Training with a disciplined LP or even SP player, especially the close to the table (chop) blockers Dr Neubauer style, is actually a lot of fun and for me one of the best ways for me to develop very spinny strokes that adapt to different...

It's funny because my stroke quality tends to improve significantly when I get practice against lp blocks and choppers on a regular basis. My first two coaches used to give me extensive practice against pips as part of drills to help me raise and control my spin levels ans that was how I...

Someone mentioned it on the other thread already - you might be a candidate for tacky/hybrid rubbers. There is nothing wrong with using equipment that you feel enables you to play more shots even if it is not what most people would recommend for you because they are thinking traditionally. I...

No benefit for a serious or improving attacking spin player IMHO. Slower blade might have a benefit for certain kinds of practice, but in general, it is best to master what you are going to play with and rubber has a bigger impact than the blade. Wasting time with what you are not going to...

I think @passifid Is right, there is nothing that prevents you from wanting to Chiquita a ball, see that the ball is not what you expected, then push it, or even to see that the ball is what you expected, but decide it is a smarter play to push into the opponent's forehand since the ball is 90%...

Not quite true. As long as your opponent isn't using frictionless pips (and even if so, though the skill level required in that case is a bit higher), you can reloop the ball repeatedly as long as you know how to open your paddle and loop.

I play with unboosted H3. It's now easier than ever to play with, and I got tired of losing to players using H3. I couldn't get them to ban H3 so I decided to use it myself.

I can't see the image but I don't doubt the services were flawed, I am juat saying that Harimoto serves long more than average. Watch the finals of the Japanese Championships and see how many times the announcers called it out and how often he won the points against power looper like Togami...

Gauzy is only 2 years older than LJK I think.

The quality of some of the shots that Sun Yingsha made in that match were flat out amazing - it gave you a good idea of how Hayata's defence frustrates regular players but Sun Yingsha ran down and attacked *everything*. The lack of highlight videos for these matches will hurt WTT.

You watch that and wonder how did Hayata get two games?

Gauzy vs LJK had an unhappy ending - no one likes an unhappy ending 🤣. But the first 4 and a half sets were purr magic.

That is one of the reasons I am a huge fan of his. People want to fat shame him but fail to realize he is just stronger than everyone else and uses that strength to bully the opponent with powerful shots. He will not win the "best backhand in the world" title because of aesthetics, but I think...

Looking at the tournament as a whole, while accepting the difficulty of estimating the level of effort being put out against Sun Yingsha in civil wars, it is fascinating that, Hayata, the only player who challenged her in a match without using pips and definitely the only player who got two...

Qian Tianyi and Ma Long amongst others did degrees while playing so this might not mean retiremrnt. Of course she will but when after Paris 2024? I think after WTTC 2025 at the earliest unless there is something private going on. Kuai Man doesn't seem quite ready. Qian Tianyi will leave the...

The other thing is to let the glue dry on both blade and rubber before doing putting the rubber on the blade (some use a blow dryer to quicken the process). Sometimes the glue being too wet let's the glue layers absorb each other without bonding so you don't get adhesion between the layers but...

Another obvious mention which should be completely uncontroversial is Dima. But haters gonna hate...

Moving away from the CNT and Koreans (apologies to Lee, Jang etc.) a bit, listing some guys who hit the ball hard, some of whom are superstars, others whom you have to see live or watch their peak matches to appreciate their Super Saiyan levels. Quadri Aruna, Ovidlu Ionescu, Hugo Calderano...

That's against Waldner, if you are going to say that no one else was playing similarly, it's not by looking at one player who had a forehand oriented style. What about this 3 years earlier? Or this? Kong had a strong backhand but his offensive use of the shot was nothing special. For...