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On the topic of serve return: People underestimate how bad their return is when they know what is on the ball. I sometimes make a terrible hash of sidespin when I know it is sidespin, especially to the short forehand. And I have pushed heavy backspin into the net even when I know it is heavy...

Its clear that TB has what it takes to beat pips players, he just doesn't want the hassles.

Lots of things to work on but it will be interesting. I got to use the rental car to apply heat to my lower back after playing I might do that on a regular basis if I feel good over the next few days. Any tips are welcome. I struggled to return serve obviously but that will require me to go...

Got late to CCTTA. They were kind enough to waive the fee. I got to practice a bit and then played some matches with a guy I met on YouTube who posts a lot of TT videos. When he posts our matches I will share links. Got killed pretty much, he is around 2200 so it was hard to survive...

Damien Provost says that you need relaxed shoulders to return serves. Not the same as the tight grips that govern rallies.

Reading spin is something that gets better as you play more and learn to serve better, you even get better in matches but the problem is that you need the right strokes as well. And sometimes even a decent return still gets attacked powerfully so you are back to square one . But take comfort...

I think Federer's problems in the GOAT argument are significant - Djokovic and Nadal have serious head to head advantages and also more slams and also more broad to head victories at critical moments. I don't understand the robotic comment as much as I understand that Fed can have a pretty...

Yes, my point is that people who use statistics (and as someone whose jobs are primarily actuarial and analytic, I can discuss this intelligently) are limited in their ability to handle changes in environment. Does a statistician know that Seles got stabbed? Can a statistician adjust for the...

The depth argument is reasonable but the issue that had made it easier for Novak, Roger and Rafa and to a lesser degree Murray to coexist is the equipment changes that have brought in Luxillon strings, the standardization of bounces across many different surfaces, especially the changes to...

My other theory is that starting younger also allows hr brain to specialize some resources earlier for seeing and reading spin. But as you point out, there is some survivor bias to starting young. I just find it hard to believe I would struggle so much with reading spin had I started younger...

While I agree with this approach, I think when you have a stroke, a good coach should also give you a spin vs power and adjustment philosophy to help you with reading your misses. And that if you practice enough, a point comes when you just trust the new stroke/approach more than the old...

You make a great point about some topspin style serves inviting the rally immediately which is not quite like the third ball looping backspin style. But we aren't really arguing here that even if the guy let you attack his serve, he let you attack a good serve. Which might not make sense but...

You are being kind to Lazer. But he can defend himself. He was trying to denigrate the importance of good serving IMHO, arguing that it is not as much fun to win with good serves as it is to win with rallying. Some players also take the attitude that good servers are winning with tricks and...

Went to MyTabletennis club in Missasauga, Ontario, Canada this evening. Got there around 750pm so limited time to play since the club officially closed at 9pm. The club owner was probably surprised that I got there so late but still charged me for the 2 hours lol. I saw two players playing...

I would blame your blades, but I might be giving you too little credit. You need a fast carbon looping blade something between a Viscaria and a Mizutani SZLC I think. But the spin is mostly in the topsheet to be honest, I probably brush too much lol. But I can't see why someone would like...

Not a fan of PS, it isnt as linear as I would like. The original Golden Tango is just more WYSIWYG.

All jokes aside, improved serving is the quickest way to get to play with players above your level. But it takes just as much time and coaching as anything else, the difference is that the impact on points is immediate and the better players will do things that force you to do more. But the...

Something must be wrong with my technique with MK and K3, the rubber just feels like it doesn't take my power. Golden Tango does almost the same thing but with much more spin for my technique.

There are levels to getting used to serves so serve improvement is usually serve and third ball improvement. Sometimes getting the serve back on the table is enough, but with reasonable practice, the third ball will place pressure on the returner to tighten the return. Very few players as you...

There are people who would argue that Sampras is the greatest ever with some justification and he was clearly the greatest player of his era and probably of any era. Players can't entirely control the rule changes that affect their era. I am old enough to see how equipment changes and travel...