Search results

Some of it is style based but I hear you. It is hard to know how much these world class guys don't miss unless you play them. But it was interesting to see Eugene consistently loop lill the ball at will when he wanted to do so without really trying. And then able to just serve to the guy and...

I would go with Felix, Dang and Jorgic. Calderano has to catch fire though he tends to have a mental edge over Jorgic because he moves better.

Canada.

Oh, you can watch the whole match, he definitely was trying. I have played Eugene before and trying doesn't really matter against certain kinds of players (Eugene has a very variation and mental effing style that you can keep respectable only if you play at a high/fast mental level), if Eugene...

What happens when Eugene tries to win every point vs a roughly USATT 2200 player...

It's amazing how the actual results tell such a different narrative from the eye tests and the internal narratives that drive us towards "excuses". Looking at this, we still have another 4-8 years before a realistic assessment of Harimoto is possible.

The semi between Bernadette and Jia was equally insane.

His blocking has always been crazy (which is why he and Dang like to play each other), but the backhand countertopspin went to another level. At some point, the Freitas match, Freitas probably thought he was playing Timo lol.

It isn't easy to spin topspin consistently short even when you are Timo Boll, so if it is happening over and over again, then look at what is leading to the shot. Blocking the ball by covering it early tends to keep it on the table and that is the beginning of wisdom.

Hard to make predictions, especially about the future....

Given how badly he also beat Freitas, I suspect he had seriously prepped for both of them. His kryptonite is Dang but Dang didnt show up obviously... would have been nice to see what would have happened against Felix but I guess the Alexis problem takes precedence for now.

Is there some accelerant in the venue or on the bats? The ball is getting smacked ridiculously, it sounds like anime special effects for punches and hits. If they can replicate this at most your events, it would help make things more spectacular.

Alexis should just default when playing his brother. Seriously.

His only chance is that one of Franziska, Dima or Dang get injured. It will be incredibly hard for him to get one of the two spots the last two already have. The one thing in his favor is that he is a lefty and a great doubles player, but I don't see it regardless.

Harimoto almost won. He had leads in the sixth (9-5) and the 7th (7-5). Boll went on runs in both games to take it all. Togami is a better athlete but again looking at who Boll beat this week (Jang, Noshad, Lee Sang Su, Lin Yun Ju, Harimoto), there is no guarantee that Togami would have had...

More context. ML made his first WTTC singles medal at the age of 21 (2009) and then two more bronzes (2011,2013) and first title in 2015 (age 27) but of course cleaned up until the age of 31 (2017, 2019). Fan Zhendong won his first WTTC medal in 2015 at the age of 18, got a silver at the age...

IMHE (in my humble experience), age doesn't mean you don't have good days or good weeks, age means they get fewer and fewer. One thing that was evident in this tournament is that his spin is still incredibly heavy when it needs to be and he doesn't miss if you don't make him move.

This was my favorite Boll match. Making a top 10 player look like he just didn't belong on the table.

I have arthritis and lots of lost tendons and ligaments in various joints due to autoimmune arthritis so it isnt that straightforward. But yes, I am trying to push the limits of exercise but as with all things, the results are mixed. But the only way out is through so I keep going.

I agree with the caveat that writing off a 20 year old when even the greatest player of all time won his first world title at the age of 27 is a bit much. That said Ma Long and Fan Zhendong and other members of these great Chinese generation have had a consistency of good results not known in...