Another tournament - another defeat

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Hey.. Played another inter-corporate tournament this weekend. Lost to my friend (who's a seeded player and finished runner-up eventually). Have two weeks to go before the next. What should I work on? Improving speed and agility? Improving serve and receive? Loop placement? Footwork drills? How should I structure my practice? The next one is a tougher tournament. I want to go in with a plan so that I will learn some thing at the end of it and work on that.

I plan to work on serve and receive mainly and some practice matches. What would you do if have 2 weeks to go?
 
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These are good comments. Those comments can be worked on in a short time. Serve and receive is also, always worth practicing.

But it is interesting. Each player needs to work on different things. I was with a friend yesterday who is a pro and a coach. I said to him that a friend (training partner) of mine and I need to work on footwork a lot. He said, you and Dave have to work on different things. And then I got him to show me what I need to work on.

The point is that, the eyes of a good coach who can see what you need to work on are invaluable in the search for Long Term improvement of your game. On line advice from people who know what they are talking about but cannot see you play can really help too, but not in the same way.

I have learned a ton to help my game improve here at Table Tennis Daily. But that is nothing in comparison to how a good coach could or professional level friend could help you based on what they see that you are actually doing or not doing.
 
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While wondering what should you work on, try to recall how you lost a point, and which one is the one cost you lost most point?

serving variety? inconsistence loop? bad defense? bad spin reading? bad return? Just blindly pick one to work on it is not a good way, it just like you think you just need spend 200 dollar to work on your car engine, but actually is the car transmission got issue, which end up you need to pay some more again.

I was recalling I attended a Malaysia Association Midwest game over here during last summer, I lost 3rd game while leading 2-0. It just put me back in mind that my serve has been same (only 2 type) for the last 2 games. Then I decided to change into 5 serves variety and open with 6-0 and won it.
 
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Thanks guys.. I will try out your suggestions. To understand my own game, stay healthy, keep a calm mind, plug some glaring holes in my game. I will try and play more games to work on these. I do play with a coach on weekends. He said my footwork and technique is alright and suggested I play more matches to understand how to read the opponent and exploit his weaknesses. I have improved my service receive a little from the previous tournament. However I am not good at attacking serves to my wide FH. I am always a little late in getting to the ball and instead of hitting cross court, I hit down the line and that leaves 80% of the table open for the block. Perhaps I will ask my partner to help me with this.
 
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...well that's ok...2 weeks is not enough to really get what you want but if you try to recall what or where in the game you've mistaken then focus on that point...learn from defeat...that is what i'm doing especially when facing the same tough opponent...of course, always there's a new technique that your opponent might have in the second face off,then watch out for that...
 
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Sounds good. Then match play and serve and receive practice is probably some of the stuff you need to work on. Truthfully, this is worth practicing for most people. You can always improve your level by improving your serve and receive skills.
 
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I uploaded videos of my prev tournament in this thread: http://www.tabletennisdaily.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?2958-local-tournament-my-results

I haven't got my hands on the latest one. I will upload in a few days. I was completely outclassed this time. :(

As the other guys said, don't get disappointed from the defeat and stay calm. If you have the confidence to play your own game, I suppose
you will do much better.

I saw in your last video that you need to improve your serve. At that mach your opponent
had too much time left to return your serve in an offensive way.
 
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I would pay some attention to your serve tactics. From those videos you posted it looks like you really try to load up on spin, which sometimes screws you over by you slamming balls into the net or long. Before you are serving you need to have a plan; where on the table will I serve, short, long, to his middle, and you also have to know what type of spin you are going to use. Based on these combinations you need to react accordingly. if you plan on serving short underspin to his forehand, get ready to open with a loop off of a push, or react to a drop shot. If you do a long serve to your opponents middle then you need to expect a long return by taking a little step back from the table. You need to be ready for the return and try not to think that your serve's spin will win you the point outright. A coach once told me to "Expect the ball long, react to the short ones." You are obviously an offensive player so a long ball is your chance to make an opening attack. To practice this I would do some 3rd ball attack drills where you simply serve short underspin and your partner will push the ball back to you long and you work on looping the ball consistently. It's good to rotate where your partner pushes the ball and also where you attack. I usually start with 2 FH loops cross-court then 2 FH down the line and the same with BH.
 
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Thanks alexander_man.. DustinZ.. I was practicing looping third ball of an underspin today.. Partner could push anywhere. I had to hit 1st loop to his BH. And then we played out the point. I have a problem when the block comes back to my middle. By the time I decide to play FH and get in to position, the ball goes past my elbow. Frustrating! But other than that I did reasonably well.

My serve tactics is another issue. I try to be ready for the return anywhere on the table whereas this is exactly what I am trying to control with my serve. Maybe I have too much respect for my opponent's skills.

Here's the match video::

This guy went on to the finals. He played an awesome game against a chopper in the semis.
 
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Thanks alexander_man.. DustinZ.. I was practicing looping third ball of an underspin today.. Partner could push anywhere. I had to hit 1st loop to his BH. And then we played out the point. I have a problem when the block comes back to my middle. By the time I decide to play FH and get in to position, the ball goes past my elbow. Frustrating! But other than that I did reasonably well.

My serve tactics is another issue. I try to be ready for the return anywhere on the table whereas this is exactly what I am trying to control with my serve. Maybe I have too much respect for my opponent's skills.

Here's the match video::

This guy went on to the finals. He played an awesome game against a chopper in the semis.

In my opinion that's why we are here - to help each other. That's what we like to do. Anyway, when the block comes to your middle you have to move to FH in the quickest way. Footwork is quite important to become a good player.
 
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Actually you are already skilled now,so you have to do is relax you mood,adjust it and know about yourself,know about your rival.

[h=2][/h]
 
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Okay, having watched this video, there are a few things that you are doing that are very easy to fix that will improve your serve and receive game dramatically.

It is not so much footwork that is your biggest problem, but preparation. When you serve, you are standing there watching your serve, you end up in a neutral position and you are not ready for the ball coming back. The neutral position you stand in is with your feet almost parallel to the table. It is sort of like you are hoping it goes to your backhand and you are not ready for your backhand anyway. And you are turned in a way that, if the ball goes to your forehand, you cannot hit a good one, you are forced to hit the forehand with your body too parallel to the table so, it ends up being all arm with no body behind it.

One thing you want to do is focus on getting into a ready position as quickly after you serve as possible. You want to be ready, before your serve bounces on your opponent's side if the table, so you can see what your opponent is going to do with the ball and react to it. Right now you are trying to react to what your opponent does with the ball while you are not ready for it to go anywhere. You do a good job of reacting based on that fact. But you need to get ready much quicker.

In my opinion, unless you are preparing for a specific backhand shot that you are willing to move anywhere on the table to hit (the way Zhang Jike does, and I don't recommend this unless you are really good at it and have an idea of what is going to come at you), so my recommendation is that, after you serve, you set up for a forehand, from about where you were serving but a little further back. Why? If you are set for the forehand and need to switch to your backhand, it is an easy shift of your racket and your upper body. You don't have to change your feet very much. Also, most players can cover at least three quarters of the table with their forehand if they simply think about it. If you are set for your backhand, and it comes to your forehand, you are in more trouble because it is hard to move for a backhand on the forehand side, and it is a big shift to open your hips and stance for the forehand.

If you are set for your forehand before your opponent receives your serve, you should be able to receive the ball anywhere on the table. You can watch your opponent, this is pretty much what he is doing.

The next thing that you are doing is very related. When you are receiving serve, you are standing with your feet almost parallel to the table, as though you want to be ready for your backhand, but you are not fully ready for your backhand and you seem to thinking, "but what if it comes to my forehand." The end result, again, is that you are not fully ready for either before your opponent serves and then when he serves, you are not 100% ready for the backhand when it comes there, and you are not able to turn open to your forehand when it goes to your forehand. Look at how your opponent receives serve. His feet are fully open, ready for the forehand and when it comes to his backhand he just turns to it. Here again, unless you have really good footwork and could move, to a place deep and short on the forehand side, receive the serve with your backhand and then get back into position for your backhand (like Zhang Jike)--unless you are able to do that really well--you probably want to start with your feet open for the forehand and ready for the forehand, while at the same time, prepared to turn to you backhand as soon as you know the ball is going there.

What I would actually do is look at the way a few pros prepare to receive serve and imitate that. And look at the way those same prose get ready for the return right after they serve and imitate that.

It is definitely easier to move forward for the short balls than it is to move back if you get caught too close to the table and a long ball comes at you. After you serve you might want to create a little distance between you and the table and open for your forehand while being ready to receive on either side.

What I am talking about will take some practice and some hard work to change. It will feel strange at first to set yourself up differently for receiving serves. But how you are receiving serves and how you are getting ready for the return after your serves will not work against a decent player, even if you can get away with it against someone who has trouble with your serves or does not set themselves up well for their own serves. A good tactical player would really just pick you apart with how you are standing to receive serves and how you are getting ready after your own serves.

The good news is your fundamentals, your strokes and footwork are pretty decent. Everyone can improve but you are at a good place to improve from.

The biggest issue I saw in your rallying skills was similar to what I already said. Once you hit the ball you need to get ready for the next shot faster and you have to get ready for something (either forehand or backhand; I still recommend forehand for the same reasons, plus, your forehand is pretty good). :) After your strokes you come to a place where your feet are almost parallel to the table and you are not quite ready for either the forehand or the backhand.

I guess the thing that everyone seems to need to work on is bending the knees, staying low and keeping your weight forward and on your toes. :) But if you start with changing how you get ready after your serve and how you start when you are waiting to receive serve, these two things will help your game play improve fairly noticeably.
 
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Strangeloop, Carl is right on about your action after serve and serve receive. You seem to be someone who wants to use the FH a LOT, so why not get into a more FH friendly stance? That will setup you up to use that FH of yours much better.

Another thing is sometimes opponent gave you an underspin to your BH. You tried to BH loop it, but it mever worked out. Why? You were hitting out of zone using almost all arm. You need to drop your waist (and twist as well) to get those leg muscles into action to start all teh power. Using just arm and shoulder muscles is not stable, results in many misses, and doesn't haev much power.

Your serves... You made way too many of them too high. You seem to be swinging down too mush. Try practicing a more forward motion at impact. Correct with blade angle. Too many of your serves were too long right inot opponent's power zone. He did not have to move very much to hit with power and spin. Don't make it easy for him. When you actually made ONE serve short to his BH side, he missed it badly. Learn how to make short serves with every spin, including no-spin. Nothing wrong with long serves. In fact, at this level, many fast/deep long serves to the crossover or BH corner are good if you can change the spin and keep them deep and fast. Penholders especially have a hard time coping with a changing serve there. Once you can control your depth, you will get easier balls to attack on 3rd ball. As Carl said, you have to use your left foot to pivot, then squat down in stance with right foot behind you. This lets you be able to move to teh ball to loop. You opponent will not always be nice (like you were) and hit the ball to your FH power zone each time. Be ready to move. You will find yourself able to win more points doing this.

Your opponent could do a BH spinny loop, but only when you gave him an easy ball that landed middle depth. The ones you gave him deep troubled him. If you were able to make more light spin or no spin serves barely long, you would get many misses on 2nd ball attack from this opponent. He hit out and long on many of the balls you pushed underspin that was light spin, less than he expected. Your opponent likes to drop his shoulder on first loop vs underspin, which is what he needs to do, but when you give him less spin, he sealed his fate doing that.

When you decide not to attack, do NOT push the ball middle depth. This is the worst place to give an opponent an easy point. Opponents can see the ball best at that depth and will not miss much. Try using some depth, like near endline right at elbow, or try to go wide suddenly. It would be great to learn how to bump the ball right off the bounce and leave it short, but you will not develop this in 2 weeks time and be match ready with that shot. Still, consider practicing that and build that skill for your future.
 
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Vitaniya, Thanks for the encouraging words. It helps.

Carl, you nailed it when you said while receiving I am always thinking "but what if it comes to my forehand." I can turn and attack serves with my FH pretty decently but I have problems getting to down the line serves. So, that is exactly what is on my mind. And it's affecting my stance and preparation. About my recovery after service, that's something I am working on. I have kind of stopped doing sidespin serves for now.. I am serving different degrees of underspin (short & long) and trying to observe the opponent's bat and what he is doing.. Then I try to FH loop the 3rd ball. Now, I am able to land my first loop consistently. Need to work on recovery and reading the block.

Der_Echte, As for serves being too high, I completely agree with you. I didn't realise this during the match. When I saw the video later, I was disappointed with my serves. Working on it one serve at a time. Trying to bend my body more and make contact at just about net level.

Yosua, you're right. I was in a negative mood after the match. That's why the title is like this. Wish I could edit it now. BTW, the next tournament is this weekend and I hope to come out with some positive emotions.

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions to improve.. I have gone back to viewing the video in slow motion to tie together everything and plan drills for next few sessions. You guys are the best!
 
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Vitaniya, Thanks for the encouraging words. It helps.

Carl, you nailed it when you said while receiving I am always thinking "but what if it comes to my forehand." I can turn and attack serves with my FH pretty decently but I have problems getting to down the line serves. So, that is exactly what is on my mind. And it's affecting my stance and preparation. About my recovery after service, that's something I am working on. I have kind of stopped doing sidespin serves for now.. I am serving different degrees of underspin (short & long) and trying to observe the opponent's bat and what he is doing.. Then I try to FH loop the 3rd ball. Now, I am able to land my first loop consistently. Need to work on recovery and reading the block.

Der_Echte, As for serves being too high, I completely agree with you. I didn't realise this during the match. When I saw the video later, I was disappointed with my serves. Working on it one serve at a time. Trying to bend my body more and make contact at just about net level.

Yosua, you're right. I was in a negative mood after the match. That's why the title is like this. Wish I could edit it now. BTW, the next tournament is this weekend and I hope to come out with some positive emotions.

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions to improve.. I have gone back to viewing the video in slow motion to tie together everything and plan drills for next few sessions. You guys are the best!

I was recently told to contact the ball lower, lower than the net for the serve. It actually helped a lot of things and somehow made my serves have more spin. And they are now very low and much harder to attack. It could be because you have to go under the ball and move your racket more forward from that angle, rather than serving the ball down.
 
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