11-0 Good or Bad?

it seems that its their way in showing their sportsmanship. if you guys can recall or watch the game between wang liqin and yan an in the chinese super league 2011, yan an gave wang liqin a point at 10-0. though its still a matter how we look at things. it will became disrespectful if a player brags it but in the match between xu xin and bastian steger.. its not. though steger doesn't happy about it, he automatically returns it back. for me they both display a true sportsmanship.

In my opinion, it depends against who you're playing against.
If it's a newcomer, like said before, then, you let him do some points and let him play and try to win your sets like 11-7, 11-6 and 11-7 or something like that. They should think: "My opponent was strong but I managed to do some points and it was fun. I have to continue" or something like that.
But, if it's a tournament or game against better ranked or same-ranked players, then, I take each point I can grab! It sounds rough but that's what people do against me in MY OWN club, so I do it to. Even at 10-0, I don't hesitate and take the point.
But if the opponents are weak, I don't do that.

Cheers.

Getting back to what I said earlier, I was not too bothered losing 11-0 even though it was the first time ever and never deserverd any better but if I had the chance to win by love, I think I would just continue playing as I had been but might just put the ball up so it would give my opponent chance to hit it and perhaps get the 1 point. As Belisar said, whatever the score is, you still lose it whether its by love or by another number.

If you find it insulting to let a point be given to you it's your ego talking. That courtesy point says hey if it were me down I'd appreciate the point as well. It's not about that specific set. It's about the match in general. When people see in the standings a set 0-11 to a player that says to them that the player is clearly lower in skill than the winner, but that's not always the case. I played a tournament this past weekend where I was up 10-0 and I gave a point away because he was really psyching himself out. I wanted him to be more confident so I gave a point to him with a service error and he won the next point. Then he won his service and made an error to get it to 11-3 or 11-4 I don't quite remember the ending score That kind of mentality even though the score shows otherwise is how to focus in a game and in my opinion you should appreciate a point given to you because it teaches you exactly how you should act on every point. I've actually seen players down 9-0 and 10-0 who have come back to win it all after that courtesy point. And both players learn from that. The loser who was up would learn where he lost focus to give the momentum to the other player, and the winner who was down learns how to focus and really raise their playing level to newer heights.

I would definitely try for the 11-0. It is a competitive sport and we want to win and if you are in that position then I say go for the whitewash. Hopefully that will have a negative effect on your opponent so that you can win the next end(s) and the match. And remember if you are playing in a team it could also help your teammates out when they play that player.

To put it into another sport. You are playing football and your team is winning 5-0. Do you ease up and let the other team score a goal or two, or do you keep going to try and win by even more?

If you think your opponent can really win the game you should not give the mercy point. 11-0 would create a bubble in his mind. If is a easy game, like XX- Steger, why not be nice?

Well..
I have to point out two matches I have seen.. Its Wang Hao vs. Ma Lin .. dont remember where, but one of them was 10:0 up!
He made service error and the other one flicked the next serve away to give that point back and it ended 11:1 .. Thats how chinese do it.
They knew it right after the point at 10:0 was made. I liked that, they are friends probably, teammates, so they dont want to win 11:0..
That is why I was trully surprised when Timo Boll played Dimitrij Ovtcharov, I think it was world champs, when Timo was 10:0, I really expected him to give point..
But he didnt, he destroyed Dima 11:0 and he didnt even look at him.. Dima was really down from that and at that point I really didnt like Timo. Not a bit.
Despite I wanted him to win! It was really awfull and disrespectful in my eyes to do that.. On World Championships..
Being Dima, I would kick him in ass after match.. I was shocked to be honest.. It was like: There you have Dima! Thats for winning the previous game! Dont ever do that! ..

So .. after reading all this I think if I find myself leading 10:0, I think I will leave decision on my oponent..
I will play a little lower quality game and if he smashes the ball to nowhere by anger, it will be his decision..
If he plays positive, I will leave the point to him.
But only one point.

Unfortunately, I dont really remember me being 10:0 up, in a real game of course, so I can only say what I would do..
I was of course 0:10 down and I lost both 11:0 ..
The first because my opponent was drunk and he wanted to prove that even drunk he can destroy me.. (bastard was 2 leagues higher player)
And the second I remember, was because I wanted to lose 11:0 to win the next game.. (it worked)..
So none of them gave me point

I really do feel it depends on the circumstances. One time I played this guy at a place where they still play to 21. When I was up 13-2 I started goofing around and played with my left hand. He did not notice. When the game was done, I won 21-7 and he started talking about how he was going to beat me. Now, if it was in fun and he was just joking around it would be different. I did not take him too seriously though. And he want and played on a different table and came back to play me again. In the second game I did the same thing but I goofed around more because I knew there was nothing he could do against me and this time he got 9 points. After that game he started talking more and it was evident that it was not in fun and that it was a little less than nice and respectful. So he went away and played on another table again, and then came back to play me. During the warm up he was trying tactics to see if he could figure out stuff that would work on me, and in warm up I just kept on hitting the ball politely to him how you should in warm up even though he was not. In the game I played for real the whole game, and then at 20-0 I let up a little and let him get 2 points. I probably should not have, because he started talking again. So I told him that he would have to learn how to play and it would take many months before he could even hope to get a game off me. Now in the first two games I was trying to be nice but he deserved a whitewash. So it really does depend on the situation even though, in the third game, I could not help goofing around when I was up 20-0. It was a little too much of a joke for me. But I do think he got it when I said what I said, because it was the only time I said anything, and I did not say it like I was taking part in the trash talk. I just said it like it was a simple fact. He was going to wait for another game and then, I think it dawned on him that I was right and he left to play on another table.

@Michal_Z

Consider this: the game isn't over until it's over. We say and hear that all the time. If you give a point at 10-0, the opponent kinda should give you a point after that. So at 10-0 the end of the game is already determined at 11-1. While (theoretically) the person who is 10-0 down can still win the game. So that is not right to me. If you gave your opponent that point, and he would go on and win the game from u, would that be a nice thing to do from his side? I think it wouldn't.

When giving away a point at 10-0 you kinda force your opponent to do the same and give the game to you, even though you only made 10 points and not 11: since you were nice to him by giving a point, he should be nice to you too by giving you the last point you need.

Now it won't happen much that someone can come back from 10-0 down. But as mentioned here, people start playing lower quality at 8-0 or 9-0. This is in fact similar to giving away points. If the opponent takes advantage of that and wins, you will regret playing lower quality. You just did it to be nice, but the opponent took it to do 'not nice' to you.

Boll and Dima are professionals and I don't think Dima will be angry at Boll for not giving him a point. It is more likely that he is angry with himself for not being able to score a point. And in my opinion that is how the situation should be. You want to overpower your opponent when it is possible.

Of course what I said here applies to matches for a tournament or competition, and not fun matches in practise.

Interesting debate everyone.

I have beat people 11-0 in my time. I have known people to win a set 11-0 in a match however they go on to lose the match! I think it depends on how focussed you are. If you are both similar levels then go for the 11-0 win. If you are a lot better then your opponent by ranking and ability I would suggest to give he/she one or two points.

Has anyone heard of one of Englands best players 'Alan Cooke'? He use to destroy people 11-0 in the group stages at England tournaments. It was because he was so focussed on his performance he would not give any points away.

Internationally I watched Lee Jung Woo beat Hao Shuai 11-0. The video is on youtube somewhere but I can't find it. I have also witnessed Ma Lin defeat Timo Boll 11-0. I think its no problem for players at similar levels to win 11-0.

I have a funny story. 'Alex Perry' is known for beating players 11-0. In the group stage of a tournament I was at, Alex had to play my dad. My dad lost a set 11-0 but he was trying so hard not to let it happen. However he lost, was quite funny.

I think people percieve 11-0 as a really bad thing to do. But I think if you win 11-0 or 11-1 its the same. Because lets face it, we have all lost 11-0 in our time haven't we?

Dan said:

Interesting debate everyone.

I have beat people 11-0 in my time. I have known people to win a set 11-0 in a match however they go on to lose the match! I think it depends on how focussed you are. If you are both similar levels then go for the 11-0 win. If you are a lot better then your opponent by ranking and ability I would suggest to give he/she one or two points.

Has anyone heard of one of Englands best players 'Alan Cooke'? He use to destroy people 11-0 in the group stages at England tournaments. It was because he was so focussed on his performance he would not give any points away.

Internationally I watched Lee Jung Woo beat Hao Shuai 11-0. The video is on youtube somewhere but I can't find it. I have also witnessed Ma Lin defeat Timo Boll 11-0. I think its no problem for players at similar levels to win 11-0.

I have a funny story. 'Alex Perry' is known for beating players 11-0. In the group stage of a tournament I was at, Alex had to play my dad. My dad lost a set 11-0 but he was trying so hard not to let it happen. However he lost, was quite funny.

I think people percieve 11-0 as a really bad thing to do. But I think if you win 11-0 or 11-1 its the same. Because lets face it, we have all lost 11-0 in our time haven't we?

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I have and I hated it so much

Yeah, I kind of agree with both Dan and Wiwa. Sometimes when I am ahead really badly I don't mean to goof around but I do. And I have definitely had it come back to me. I don't think there is anything wrong with 11-0 and if you are evenly matched or it is in a tournament situation, you just keep playing and keeping your form and technique up. Even though, that is not really what I do, in many ways, what I do is foolish.

Carl Horowitz said:

Yeah, I kind of agree with both Dan and Wiwa. Sometimes when I am ahead really badly I don't mean to goof around but I do. And I have definitely had it come back to me. I don't think there is anything wrong with 11-0 and if you are evenly matched or it is in a tournament situation, you just keep playing and keeping your form and technique up. Even though, that is not really what I do, in many ways, what I do is foolish.

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I have the same problem too, when im 5 points ahead or so, i stop playing, I dont know why but it's what I do :s...
But yesterday I was losing 3-10 to a friend of mine and I won the set with 12-10 , it's NEVER over

Same ol' answer in the end :
Completely situational

If I like the player and its 10-0 then I give 1,
it didnt happened to me mutch.
Here is the Ma Lin - Timo Boll 11-0:

Wilco said:

If I like the player and its 10-0 then I give 1,
it didnt happened to me mutch.
Here is the Ma Lin - Timo Boll 11-0:

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I think he tried to serve over the table at 10-0 but it just caught the table haha.

Timo wasn't focused..
At 9-0 for Ma Lin, Timo smiled and I think he may have told to himself, damn it's gonna be 11-0^^
At the end, he smiled ^^

Back to topic, as YosuaYosan said, it's completely situational

Ma was trying to send the service long but it clipped the baseline. If you look you can see Timo saying "It's okay" and then Ma Lin looks a bit sorry after that so I'm assuming he said. Sorry I didn't mean to make that serve.

I don't quite remember the video of Dima and Timo, but are you sure Timo served the last point? Maybe Dima served it and Timo accidently won the point.

Mr. RicharD said:

Ma was trying to send the service long but it clipped the baseline. If you look you can see Timo saying "It's okay" and then Ma Lin looks a bit sorry after that so I'm assuming he said. Sorry I didn't mean to make that serve.

I don't quite remember the video of Dima and Timo, but are you sure Timo served the last point? Maybe Dima served it and Timo accidently won the point.

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Here it is,.. It was Dima serving, backspin serve, Timo pushed back and Dima put it into the net..
So if Timo wanted, he could easily put the return into the net, but he didnt..