Great Job Cornel ! A step in the right direction , but when you go up against better players shouldn't you be thinking a little differently ? That is , I can play freely now and see what is the maximum potential of my game ... normally , we are supposed to play much better in quality when we go up against players who are a couple of levels above us ...
I agree. When I coach a player who is weaker vs a stronger player, I don't even bother with tactics or footwork per se. All I stress is proper attacking table tennis and a relaxed mindset. Proper table tennis is to look for the first opening, play the ball outside the power zones and test both the long and the short games. You will rarely be able to do it at the level of a higher opponent but sometimes miracles happen. I have experienced enough of those miracles to know.
The first thing that people need to get over is labelling people by rating, seeding or ranking. I am in the Butterfly teams tournament and I went 6-2 I think on day 1, winning my first 3 matches, losing my next 2, and winning my last 3. My last opponent was supposed to be a 2200 career player who is high 2100s now who I got my best win ever against last year. This year, he just defaulted rather than play me.
But to make my point, I played at least three matches, maybe more, where I lost the first game to a lower rated player. Lost convincingly too. But the thing that has changed my life is that ever since I lost to a 1500 kid when I was 1900, I got better at accepting when when my opponent was playing well and that it was my responsibility to make him play worse. The kid made some great loop kills, and I kept stressing as if the result was more important than the quality of his play. I revamped my serves a bit after that loss.
Today, I was playing a 1590 chopper. I had seem him chopping vs a power looper and was surprised by his low rating. Literally, the kid goes up 7-1 on me or something like that. When you go down like that, your job is to figure out why the opponent is playing well and what you can do to win points. Don't throw away the game. Test strategies that you have not tested because you can still come back and even if you do not, you may find something that makes the next game much easier. I think I pulled back to an 11-8 loss but I realized that I had to keep him closer to the table and be more consistent, even if it meant floating the ball or popping the ball up occasionally. After all, there had to be a logic to his rating. But let us assume he beat me - some of the shots he made were so good to me that I am okay if a 1000 player beats me playing that way. All I just say is forget the rating, he played well and didn't miss. But the mistake is to get so caught up in rating that you don't want to credit your opponent for good play. I basically beat him at 5, 5 and 7 or something like that.
Then there was a lefty that I had beaten 3-1 before and again he won the first game today. He has really good serves with great action and movement. Again, lower rated than me. I lost the first game. One of my teammates told me that when in doubt, go to the middle. But even the last time I played him, I just decided to rally more and it changed. You see, he is a middle aged guy, almost 60, so making him play more shots brings down his level as long as you don't give him the power to work with. Playing to the middle requires him to move to make a good shot as well as playing wide when he is off balance. He played fantastic when set especially with his pips. The next games were easy, though I didn't close out the last one smoothly as I wanted to test something for my vanity.
So the first thing you have to do to relax is to accept good players always have a reasonable chance of beating you. After that, you just play the game point by point the way you intend to play it and make adjustments. If you don't win, just convince yourself that your opponent played a correct game to deserve to win because you mostly executed by making the first opening, doing quality serves and returns, and doing reasonable shots but that your opponent just made better ones. Even if you played to their strengths, it is okay. It just means something you have to learn or develop a new dimension to counter. I was blocked down by a girl that I think I should have beaten given that I had the lead against here a few times but lost the match 3-1. But she blocked heavy openers well. If I had moved better I could have done better but I didn't and it is okay. Just reminds me that my movement to and my placement is more important than I give myself credit for.
So in the end, don't let winning and losing drive you crazy on the basis of ranking. Just ask yourself whether you executed your plays in terms of making first opening, quality serves and okay returns in balls you read. If you did that, the result will work out in the long term. But even if you want to win today, you gave yourself the best chance. No matter how good you are, there is always someone better than you on any given day and you have to accept that.
