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I think the brain dead play comment is unfair because it ignores the fact that the first game score was 11-3 and it probably ignores that I beat same opponent using largely the same tactics badly so what in part requires explanation is what changed. The part where I think it is fair is that I had a coach watching and dissecting most of my opponents for the first time in a long a while but unfortunately he was watching another match with another player while I was playing. Having won the first match and first game so easily, I didn't have an effective handle on what had changed. I could definitely have played much differently, but I don't know whether that would have taught me anything unless I get a better handle on what he changed. If he simply adapted by taking the ball later, that is fair. Or he just figured out how to chop topspins that he could not chop 3 mins earlier, and given how this happens with serves, that is possible too. In fact, if you ask the chopper what he changed, he will tell you he largely started making more noise to get into my head and apologized for it much later in the day unsolicited.
NextLevel - I have tremendous respect for being willing to put your game up unedited for criticism by one and all.
The brain dead comment could be a bit harsh, but:
1) first game was 11-3 to you, then the wheels fell off. You didn't change anything in the next 3 games. If you need 3 games to figure out what has changed, you are either very bad at tactical play, very unfamiliar with playing choppers (quite possible, there's not many around), or not thinking. I can certainly understand that you might not know what to do to handle his change of tactic, but after the second game you should have realized that he was floating the ball with his forehand chop (the ball sailing off the end of the table all the time was a clue) and then you had 2 games to try anything that came to mind to fix the problem. Playing differently would have taught you whether you had correctly figured out his change or not, provided you executed your own change of tactic properly.
2) He didn't figure out how to chop topspins he couldn't chop 3 minutes earlier, he STOPPED trying to chop topspins with spin and decided to float the ball back with little or no backspin, which makes it much easier to control the ball. Again, not everybody knows that unless they have talked to a chopper or played them often, so you might possibly not realize that, which is fair enough.
3) If I was the chopper and wanted to keep beating you in future, I might quite possibly not tell you what I had actually done to change the dynamic of the match. Keep in mind that he basically changed 1 thing. Just one. The rest was on you - ball placement, trying to hit too many difficult balls, opening up with half speed/spin attacks. The other stuff he just did a little bit better.
Bottom line - if tactics that gave you an 11-3 win suddenly come up with a next game loss, and you didn't suddenly have a breakdown of some sort, your opponent has likely changed something about his game. Top priority is to figure out what it is and come up with some sort of plan to counter the change. You didn't do that, hence the possibly unfair brain dead comment. Perhaps brain asleep would have been more accurate. Believe me, I've done it too.
Greg