Aruna is way smarter than we think...

[Gozo Zyreruna]

• Aruna Quadri. We all know him for his powerful FH shot. We laughed at his apparently non-existent BH. No chiquita, no strawberry, no tutti-fruity of any kind. Just gud'ole push, block and the occasional punch. However, the enigmatic Aruna occasionally give top seeded player a run for their money.
• I have always been a fan of Aruna, that is no secret; he has the je ne sais quoi.
• No more, his je ne sais quoi has now been analysized and explained in detail by this brilliant YT video. Enjoy.

 

[blahness]

I'm not sure why is it 200 IQ stuff (sounds more like Youtube clickbait to me) - to me this is quite standard tactics from more 1-wing players as they want to get their strong FH in. For e.g. deep push to middle instead of short push to avoid the wide angles, force a weaker loop and then do a huge FH counterloop to get the initiative - you can see this plenty in Ma Long games. Or things like using placement to make certain placements too dangerous or error-prone from the opponent, so that you can pretty much just prepare for shots in advance - also can be seen in many Ma Long games.

Imo Aruna would love not to have to play like that. He was handicapped on the BH even from early development and has already made some huge changes (it is way better now than when he first arrived on the scene). Unfortunately it's way too late for him to develop the modern BH (with chiquita, etc...) so he has to make do with punching and blocking for the most part which is also very error prone (but this is again optimal for him because he can't do the modern BH short stroke loop - so might as well punch the ball, pray that it lands and at least pose some problems for the opponent)

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

I'm not sure why is it 200 IQ stuff (sounds more like Youtube clickbait to me) - to me this is quite standard tactics from more 1-wing players as they want to get their strong FH in. For e.g. deep push to middle instead of short push to avoid the wide angles, force a weaker loop and then do a huge FH counterloop to get the initiative - you can see this plenty in Ma Long games. Or things like using placement to make certain placements too dangerous or error-prone from the opponent, so that you can pretty much just prepare for shots in advance - also can be seen in many Ma Long games.

Imo Aruna would love not to have to play like that. He was handicapped on the BH even from early development and has already made some huge changes (it is way better now than when he first arrived on the scene). Unfortunately it's way too late for him to develop the modern BH (with chiquita, etc...) so he has to make do with punching and blocking for the most part which is also very error prone (but this is again optimal for him because he can't do the modern BH short stroke loop - so might as well punch the ball, pray that it lands and at least pose some problems for the opponent)

to you it seems like biz as usual tactic, but for a poor sod like me who is tactically noob and without any tactical coach input, these videos are like priceless gem. This video shows that one need not have fancy-smancy tutty-fruity skills-sets to win at high level. Just good ole'solid basic technique.

 

[Dominikk85]

to you it seems like biz as usual tactic, but for a poor sod like me who is tactically noob and without any tactical coach input, these videos are like priceless gem. This video shows that one need not have fancy-smancy tutty-fruity skills-sets to win at high level. Just good ole'solid basic technique.

Having a wide arsenal of technique probably is best but using a tactics that covers your weaknesses and forces the opponent to play to your strengths can make you better and maybe make you beat opponents who are more well rounded but can't quite match your biggest strength.

But of course a good well rounded player without a huge strength but everything solid might also be able to take out a strength of a player with a dominant stroke. Kinda is like a chess game who can make the game more his way.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Aruna is popular...

 

[greenbeanmachine]

• Aruna Quadri. We all know him for his powerful FH shot. We laughed at his apparently non-existent BH. No chiquita, no strawberry, no tutti-fruity of any kind. Just gud'ole push, block and the occasional punch. However, the enigmatic Aruna occasionally give top seeded player a run for their money.
• I have always been a fan of Aruna, that is no secret; he has the je ne sais quoi.
• No more, his je ne sais quoi has now been analysized and explained in detail by this brilliant YT video. Enjoy.

Wow, thanks for this brilliant analysis! I also really like Aruna's playing style and I usually root for him in matches. I watched this match live with Hugo Calderano and I was amazed how well he managed to come back.

to me this is quite standard tactics from more 1-wing players as they want to get their strong FH in. For e.g. deep push to middle instead of short push to avoid the wide angles, force a weaker loop and then do a huge FH counterloop to get the initiative - you can see this plenty in Ma Long games.

That's part of Aruna's tactics, for sure. But there's more than what you point out -- a lot of it is specific adaptation to Hugo Calderano -- learning where he does and doesn't make backhand flips, learning combinations that Calderano tends to play, etc. Aruna certainly learns much more quickly than other professionals, and it shows in his ability to beat some of the world's top players, despite not having super fancy technique.

 

[NetProphet]

I'm not sure why is it 200 IQ stuff (sounds more like Youtube clickbait to me) - to me this is quite standard tactics from more 1-wing players as they want to get their strong FH in. For e.g. deep push to middle instead of short push to avoid the wide angles, force a weaker loop and then do a huge FH counterloop to get the initiative - you can see this plenty in Ma Long games. Or things like using placement to make certain placements too dangerous or error-prone from the opponent, so that you can pretty much just prepare for shots in advance - also can be seen in many Ma Long games.

Imo Aruna would love not to have to play like that. He was handicapped on the BH even from early development and has already made some huge changes (it is way better now than when he first arrived on the scene). Unfortunately it's way too late for him to develop the modern BH (with chiquita, etc...) so he has to make do with punching and blocking for the most part which is also very error prone (but this is again optimal for him because he can't do the modern BH short stroke loop - so might as well punch the ball, pray that it lands and at least pose some problems for the opponent)

You write like you're a 2000 player and maybe you are but for most of us it's great to see analysis of tactics playing out at the top level.
You're obviously right about the title tho, 200 IQ, definitely exaggerated for clicks.
Interesting what you said about Arunas BH though, can you give more info on that?
How was he handicapped early on and why could he not learn Chiquita etc?
Cheers