Ask Damien Éloi a question on TTD!

Damien Eloi said:

Hi tthopeful,

I was confronted to many changes in the rules in my (long) career. Services, replacement of 38mm by 40mm balls, sets of 11 points from 21, speed gluing ban and the latest, the change from celluloid to plastic balls. What I can say about this: today the players are much stronger physically and much faster than in the past. If you check some matches from the 80s´, you are impressed how slow it was compared to today. And to try to slow down the game with a bigger ball was a good move, I think. Of course at the beginning of the production of plastic balls, the quality was may be sometimes not perfect and was influencing the game. But nowadays most of the plastic balls have really good playing characteristics and I believe the top players will continue to fascinate us, the spectators!!

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Thank u for your reply and insights Damien!

Hello Damien,
great to read your answers and to be able to "talk" to you.

You yourself was quite an offensive player, but with a unique style. Do you think an all+ or off- type of game, in today's professional table tennis, is still an option? You mentioned, players are much stronger physically now, faster equipment ...

Ioiettino said:

Hi Damien, it's an honour to have you here! So many questions to ask...

You have had and keep having an amazingly long career as a professional player... What is your secret? Do you have any specific approach in order to keep fresh both physically and in terms of motivation? Also, would you like to tell us more about your objectives for the future?

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This is true that i play for quite a long time.. I don´t have any secret but i think there are two reasons for that. First is that i was quite lucky with my body, i had only 1 big injury in my whole career ( knee operation in 1996 ), otherwise i was almost never injured. This is of course a big advantage. I remember Philou Gatien for example who didn´t have this luck and had always so much pain in his back that he had to stop…The second reason is that i love the game!! It makes so much fun , even today with 48 years old, to practice and play a good match ( and try to win it ).When the body follows, it is very exciting to try to find tactics against a strong player. To sum it up, just keep the fun and the results will follow.I play now in second Bundesliga in Bad Hamm, and this is good for me. I don´t have any other project regarding playing table tennis for the moment..

Ioiettino said:

[Following an ongoing conversation on TTD]
Given the current (and past, of course) hegemony of the Chinese national team, what do you think is the best course of action for players from other nations in order to catch up?
Can you see any trend currently, and do you have any forecast for the mid- to long-term?

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Of course the Hegemony of China is clear since years now. And i would say, it is even an Asian hegemony now. Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong-Kong..are presenting more and more very talented young players on each tournnament. Table tennis is a very serious matter there and the tradition and TT schools is very effective. I think Europe and rest of the world shouldn´t try to copy them, but also to follow their own way. TT center should take a very important place , where the best coaches and some of the best players are working together. And please, let the players develop their own strength!! More and more are developing the same playing style at the moment,with the same receive ( BH flip or banana ) on each service. I don´t think this is a solution. To be on the top, every player must be different, must be the best in one part of the game.

Ioiettino said:

How do you see the future of table tennis? If you could alter any rules, in any way whatsoever, what would these be and how?

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I wish that Europe and the rest of the world could raise their level to catch up Asia. This would make TT far more interesting!! But, to be honest, it looks like TT takes the other direction.I already said that players are better and faster than in the past, this tendency will go on.And now the rules that i would change is the service rule. I am so fed up to see players who are having totally wrong services, and who are not punished by the referee, or not enough. I think this rule, not to hide or not behind body or head, is too hard to judge for the referee. And this discussions and fights at the table between players and referees are not a good image for TT. May be just BH service? This wouldn't be good for me but this could may be help table tennis.

Ioiettino said:

Among the current generation of young French players, who do you think are the best prospects for the years to come (say, for the 2020 Olympics and perhaps even 2024)? Anyone flying under the radar, in your opinion?

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2020 is tomorrow. So the players who are leaders in the french team today will probably be there also in 2 years: Gauzy, Lebesson, Flore, ..Flore was a long time injured but he already showed in the past ( Düsseldorf WC 2017 ) that he could be a great competitor.Of course, Stéphane Ouaiche is the choice of my heart because he is a andro player. For the next Olympiad in 2024, the motivation for the players will be huge because the games will take place in Paris.Probably Simon Gauzy will still be there, Flore also and others could also come: Robinot Alexandre, Cassin Alexandre ..Younger players may be also but it is always hard to predict. We never know how the players will develop.

jawien said:

Hello Damien,
great to read your answers and to be able to "talk" to you.

You yourself was quite an offensive player, but with a unique style. Do you think an all+ or off- type of game, in today's professional table tennis, is still an option? You mentioned, players are much stronger physically now, faster equipment ...

Click to expand...

The truth is that we see on high level less and less of this kind of players. This means probably that it is more difficult for this type of players to reach very high level. As i said, players are hitting the ball stronger and are also faster, they can keep the opponent always under pressure. Or may be allround players with a lot of touch could have still quite big success because many players would be lost against this „ strange „ playing style…I saw so many times Patrick Chila beating faster and stronger players by tricking them with placement and variations…

To answer the question Jawien, if you are a allround player, use your weapons. A little faster equipment could help, but only if you don´t lose your touch and feeling.

Thanks a lot! I and a lot of others agree for the serves, I hope something will be done.

Best of luck to you, in the meanwhile!!

Damien Eloi said:

This is true that i play for quite a long time.. I don´t have any secret but i think there are two reasons for that. First is that i was quite lucky with my body, i had only 1 big injury in my whole career ( knee operation in 1996 ), otherwise i was almost never injured. This is of course a big advantage. I remember Philou Gatien for example who didn´t have this luck and had always so much pain in his back that he had to stop…The second reason is that i love the game!! It makes so much fun , even today with 48 years old, to practice and play a good match ( and try to win it ).When the body follows, it is very exciting to try to find tactics against a strong player. To sum it up, just keep the fun and the results will follow.I play now in second Bundesliga in Bad Hamm, and this is good for me. I don´t have any other project regarding playing table tennis for the moment..




Of course the Hegemony of China is clear since years now. And i would say, it is even an Asian hegemony now. Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong-Kong..are presenting more and more very talented young players on each tournnament. Table tennis is a very serious matter there and the tradition and TT schools is very effective. I think Europe and rest of the world shouldn´t try to copy them, but also to follow their own way. TT center should take a very important place , where the best coaches and some of the best players are working together. And please, let the players develop their own strength!! More and more are developing the same playing style at the moment,with the same receive ( BH flip or banana ) on each service. I don´t think this is a solution. To be on the top, every player must be different, must be the best in one part of the game.




I wish that Europe and the rest of the world could raise their level to catch up Asia. This would make TT far more interesting!! But, to be honest, it looks like TT takes the other direction.I already said that players are better and faster than in the past, this tendency will go on.And now the rules that i would change is the service rule. I am so fed up to see players who are having totally wrong services, and who are not punished by the referee, or not enough. I think this rule, not to hide or not behind body or head, is too hard to judge for the referee. And this discussions and fights at the table between players and referees are not a good image for TT. May be just BH service? This wouldn't be good for me but this could may be help table tennis.




2020 is tomorrow. So the players who are leaders in the french team today will probably be there also in 2 years: Gauzy, Lebesson, Flore, ..Flore was a long time injured but he already showed in the past ( Düsseldorf WC 2017 ) that he could be a great competitor.Of course, Stéphane Ouaiche is the choice of my heart because he is a andro player. For the next Olympiad in 2024, the motivation for the players will be huge because the games will take place in Paris.Probably Simon Gauzy will still be there, Flore also and others could also come: Robinot Alexandre, Cassin Alexandre ..Younger players may be also but it is always hard to predict. We never know how the players will develop.

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