Okay guys here it is. My match with my training partner Ben who beats me 95% of the time and I'd like to change that. So please tell me your general overall impressions or analysis or tell me specific stuff. like "on this point, don't do this. He wins those style of points. etc" Can be broad or specific.
Thank you to any of you who have the time to contribute.
Little background info. Ben is 9 years younger than me. I'm 39 and have a tricky right knee that is healthy (don't let the support fool you) but is prone to tendentious. That's why i wear it and it can flare up if I push it too hard... Key point everybody. Stretch & work out.
So here's the video 1st and my initial comments below. I might add to it as I see fit later.
Match Stastics:
Long Pip Game
LP Helped (either foreced an error or point won because of setup): 4
LP Hurt (either error on my part or point lost because of bad hit): 5
LP Neutral (made no significant difference): 4
There is the psychological factor. Someone has to think about what they serve me spin wise. They have to focus what I'm hitting with when I'm serving.
Weakness though exploited in another match of mine that night is a dead short serve to my BH side. Easy with RPB inverted flip. Hard without it.
If staying with this style, have to learn an aggressive TPB punch on short dead serves.
10:08 - picking on no RPB. Was off the table and he went to my TPB on that last hit smartly. Really needed to counter loop here.
Push Game
Pushes hit in with inverted: 21
Pushes hit out with inverted: 5
% chance my push is going in: 80.7% (probably should be in the 90s. But I don't think that was the main issue this match. That being said, man that H3 bites. I think there was a little bit of that going on in that I'm not use to that)
Xu Xin FH Style sidespin Flicks on service receive : 2 / 0 (points directly off that)
Service Errors
My Service Errors: (game1) 1 (game2) 1 (game 3) 1 (game 4) 1 (game 5) 0
Ben's Service Errors: (game1) 0 (game2) 0 (game 3) 1 (game 4) 0 (game 5) 0
I've got to clean this up. When a match is close, you can't afford to give away free points. That being said, I try tough serves. I get a fair number of points on those serves. I have to push it a little bit. But still.... 4 points to his 1 is too many.
Match Impressions:
#1 issue: Footwork & stance. It's my guess that most of my misses are not being in correct position and reaching. Need to play lower, bend the knees more (which is tricky with a tendentious knee but that's why we work out to try to get there) and maybe try to integrate small jump between hits. Just too flat footed while playing. Barely move. This is simply a hard one to correct. Never had formal coaching and there is none of that kind near me. Will really have to work hard in staying conscious between points & shots to keep my feet moving or do those little jumps to stay nimble.
Feel like Ben, while being an attacking player by nature, vs me largely pushes and chops baiting me into attacking first. I don't think his chops or pushes are particularly good. They go long a lot of times and are high. So I just need to get to the point where I can consistently punish him for playing that way. The good news is that I figure that if he keeps doing that, he will stay the same and eventually (knock on wood) I'll get to the point to where I hit those in and attack at a greater %.
My poor man's He Zhi Wen wide curving serve to the FH works on him slightly better than I thought (had been avoiding it for the longest time because he smokes it a lot of times) but he still handles it better than most people. He knows to largely loop that ball and he takes service receive from the middle of the table so he can cover that shot. He's perfectly willing to take down the line serves with his BH. That being said, while his loops are often heavier & spinier than what I face with other people, if I cannot TPB those down the line for winners more often, perhaps I need to turn the corner more to get readdy to FH counter those back. In fact over all I'd say when he FH loops to my TPB, the block goes long. I need to improve on this. He bails me out sometimes in that he misses that shot long at a decent %. Plus it changes it up from him always pushing or chopping a lot of my serves. Forces him to actually try to do something to win the point.
And if he chops or pushes that serve, that works out for me.
This style is fun to play but I'm not completely sold on it. Truth be told I play FH so much, I don't think it matters as much what I put on the BH. I largely play like a single winged penholder anyways. While I prefer the TPB for blocking, my RPB is much more powerful for sure. IDK. Honestly I think I'm about the same player with duel inverted or Inverted/LPs
Thanks for your help fellas.
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