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IMO this is not some big mystery; it's pretty clear if you study the table tennis matches from 10-15 years ago versus today. The top CNT men used to have a much bigger edge over the competition in sheer physicality. Many of their top opponents were guys like Samsonov, Maze, Mizutani, Oh Sang...

I’d take FZD against anyone else in the world right now in a head-to-head match, so I agree he’s the “best” in that sense. He’s well-rested and in great form based on his super league performance. Where I disagree is with anyone saying that makes him the “real number one.” He wasn’t even ranked...

Just watched the match — it was played at an incredibly high level throughout. Having Truls win this event in Sweden with the crowd going nuts is fantastic for the sport and showcases the potential for the WTT Smash format. I really hope these tournaments can stick around and build enough...

Weakest world #1 can be a fun exercise when we apply it at a point in time without the benefit of hindsight of what happened afterwards (which we of course don’t have for Lin Shidong at the moment). Some candidates: Ma Long in 2010: lost to Timo in the WTTTC finals (still over 2 years away from...

Really impressive and clutch play from LSD. It must feel strange on his side to be losing out in the speedy backhand exchanges. But he figured out just in time he needed to slow the game and not give Gauzy as much pace to work with.

The truth is all of the ideas for equipment you've mentioned in this thread are totally fine. Viscaria + D09c is not some crazy fast and uncontrollable combination, but Korbel + Rozena or G1 are also very decent. And it sounds like you're pretty serious about training and are already getting...

Your tennis knowledge is just as lacking as your knowledge of table tennis and basketball. As @NextLevel pointed out, Nadal had a winning head to head against Federer at the start of 2008. And apparently unknown to you, Federer actually then won 7 out of their last 8 matches they played against...

On top of that, picking Steph Curry of all people as an example is hilariously ill-informed. It's hard to think of a modern-day athlete who had a greater transformative impact on how their sport was played, from on-court tactics to the strategic elements of team roster construction and resource...

I guess your understanding of basketball is just as simplistic as your understanding of table tennis. The idea that players are just fixed entities that rock up and play without any tactical or strategic adjustments/evolutions over time is simply flat wrong.

No. This is where you need to actually understand the underlying data and data generating process, which are the contents of the actual matches being played. There is a high volume of information contained in the actual match play, which can actually be analyzed if you understand table tennis...

The idea that this is some enlightened position backed by statistics is laughable. All you've managed to say is that the margins between victory and defeat are narrow, which is obviously true in any high-level competitive sport. You have no way to distinguish between random noise and changes to...

Crazy to me that it's within their margin of error -- the top ply on one side is literally twice as thick as on the other! I'm not sure what it says about DHS's manufacturing process that this is even possible. For every Butterfly blade I've owned, it's been clear from examining the grain...

I was careful in my language because I didn't want to get into the "throw angle" conversation, given how subjectively it seems to be experienced by different players. My point was about the curvature relative to a given trajectory (distinct from the "arc") and I was specifically talking about...

Spin makes the ball's trajectory curve due the Magnus effect. More spin (for the same initial velocity) means a sharper curvature, and a sharper curvature (for the same initial velocity) means more spin -- that is unavoidable physics. So what's the point? If you can't make your shot follow a...

Lin Shidong vs. Harimoto matches are always very tactically interesting. They have similar play styles in that they naturally prefer to counter, and their games are built around forcing/baiting the opponent into weak openings. I'll be interested to see how their rivalry develops in the coming...

High altitude affects the arc. Thinner air means weaker magnus effect.

It’s much more difficult to consistently execute a short serve this way, and even if you can I think it should mainly be used as a surprise change-up rather than a base serve. The reason is that for the serve to bounce close to your baseline and then short on the opponent’s side, the ball has...

“Generating power” is just technique. The idea that there’s some aspect of “power” that’s independent of technique is indeed a myth. Unless the argument is that a slow, dead rubber will literally make you build more muscle mass…that is possibly true for some people, but focused strength training...

Both Felix and Harimoto have lost to An Jaehyun in R16 of a world championship. Clearly they've both peaked too early and will never achieve anything substantial in their careers.

I think you should just stick the D09c, and keep practicing with it. There's a good chance you need a new sheet, since after 6 months of 4-5 practices per week 2-3 hours each (if I understand correctly) it would be quite worn and have lost a lot of the grip and power. Based on what you say you...