I think we all say the same thing. The better player had a much better serve and attack game than Der_Echte. He didn't miss easy points and more consistent. His serves gave Der_Echte a hard time and his 3rd ball attack was deadly. Der_Echte won couple straight points from serving but his opponent return was also very good thus forced Der_Echte to make more mistake. The point I tried to make is one should practice with a partner who can return serves in different scenarios such as short, long, heavy, deep to body and you must be ready for such by either attacking or return short to initiate the next attack.
I still think my 1900 rating is not true. Ridding of my serves I may be a 1700!
Carl got it, but let me try again.
I think you think there is a major difference between
1) getting a point off your serve outright, vs
2) getting an easy thirdball opportunity, vs
3) getting a controlled return,
4) vs getting an offensive return vs
5) getting your serve killed.
There are different but usually related. If a 2200 player ( this is Korea so not sure what DE's opponent's level is) is making an 1900 player miss, that is expected. If a 1900 player is making a 2200 player miss, his serves are above his level, that's the bottom line. If I can serve my backspin serve to a 2300 player and get him to net it twice, it is a good serve, and it works at a higher level than usual. If he can get me to miss, that is expected. If he is getting no free point off his serve, he is serving BELOW his level. The problem is that if you can tell what he is serving so early that you are not afraid, better players can plan their return way ahead of time. At the very least, he might be locating his serves that make you feel uncomfortable which you failed to realize.
At the NA Teams, watching Hao Shuai serve was an eye opener. I had never seen so many 2500+ players netting serves and popping up balls before in my life. So if a 2700 player is rely on his third ball game to beat a player at your level, he is either having fun practicing or just doesn't have good serves. Such players do exist. LGL is attributed with saying that Boll's serves are below his overall level, and others have said similar things about WLQ. No one says that about Ma Long, for example, as he is thought of as one of the best servers in the game, same about Mizutani.
I used to be a serve and rally player. I thought I had good serves. After Brett taught me how to serve, I became one of the best servers in my club. People started hating to play me just because of my serves. I didn't beat too many better players off my serves (but I beat a few, and anyone who watches my best matches always notes that the opponent struggled with more than his fair share of my serves), but I terrorized lots of worse players and had very few upset losses.
People will tell you that you can only terrorize people with serves up to a certain level. Well, that is a half truth. Your serves won't be the only reason you win, but you can give people issues with your serve up to the world class level. I saw Hao Shuai do it. I saw Mima Ito do it. I saw Miu Hirano do it - watch the Women's world Cup final - it is one of the most disgusting matches you will ever see.