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Someone heard the translator complaints and they brought out Liu Jia...

The Chinese Taipei team is the one team with lopsided skills - Two amazing forehands and relatively weak backhands but those forehands can trouble anyone including the top CNT.

It's you - she has always looked like that since she trained after her injury- she is easily the most powerful CNT player since LXX retired. WMY may get there one day on sheer length.

That was SOOO wrong!!!

It's hard for anyone to play that way consistently and Xu Xin has higher quality than most. But Harimoto can still adjust to that. XX has to be careful.

The ref/umpire for the Xu Xin - Harimoto Tomokazu match is Paola Bongelli, who infamously called Ding Ning for her low toss reverse tomahawk at the Olympic Finals in 2012. Good to see that she is still in the game.

Niwa has also improved. It's just almost impossible to beat Fan Zhendong at Super Saiyan God power levels.

These were my exact sentiments watching Hirano. Her shots were more mature and her sequences were strong but she didn't play like someone who knew her true level.

It is actually well known that Boll doesn't practice that much and it isn't a recent thing either. It is probably more justifiable now because of his public injuries but compared to other TT players, some consider him lazy or injured. He does like it when he plays enough matches to keep his...

Truly a legend.

To be fair, DHK has the best wide forehand game I have seen vs Ito.

She looks flat and to be fair, Doo Hoi Kem chases everything down.

The CNT women are fixing that quickly. We should be back on schedule soon.

European men too. It is a general difference on technique. There are individual exceptions but your general observation is correct. Part of it is driven by equipment but it is a stylistic difference across countries and continents.

Yes. I actually believe Japan now legitimately has the best women defenders in the world.

Hirano's level is back, her mental approach and confidence has to catch up. She also needs to round out her slow game a little but I could definitely see this quality of game winning a gold in Tokyo. Unless it faces Liu Shiwen maybe.

I think Ishikawa's blessing is the introduction of the mixed doubles event. They will find a way to encourage her to play that and forget the singles event.

Really enjoy and appreciate your commentary on the Japanese youth development system.

As big a factor but forgotten was the choke of Xu Xin vs CCY at the Olympic qualification tournament. That pretty much ended any chance XX had of making the team as a singles player. In fact, I think ZJK had done enough but it is easy to remember all the good things about Xu Xin and forget his...

To make it clearer, you have to establish early how your opponent handles topspin. If they block then take your time to play with spin. If they counter, work on your placement so you don't loop where they can counter aggressively. A common mistake in TT is to play your opponent as if he is...