First of all, thank you so much guys for giving some time and having a look at my video to help me out!
I will try to address each of you.
I only watched the first set. So maybe this is not the case for all sets. I think your strokes look rather good. But i think you need to try to read the spin more. Many balls you miss because it seems like you read the spin wrong. I also think you win when you try to play easy and safe, and lose more when you are trying to play to difficult.
So learn to read spin and try to play safe, and hard on the correct balls.
Good luck!
Thanks Lula, I do come into the game with the mindset to play safe. Yes, I need to focus more on reading the spin correctly. I was playing a long pips player before, and that really messed up my mind. Also, this time is my first time not having my friend as a coach, so things are left on my own.
@JeffM
sorry to say this, but the most striking thing is you're like not moving at all, its almost like you're sitting on a chair, or feet glued... I think i've said this from your last videos... I've seen you drill on other videos, so you have good basic techniques, and understand spin. But in TT you also have to MOVE ! Honestly its the worst video I've seen of you playing a match, and I remember watching a few other ones.
if the girl is playing in your racket or near, its ok, you can attack or block the ball and make nice shots. (although its a high quality shot, you miss), when it is needed that you make those small step or body adjustment, you NEVER make them and you miss. and whenever the ball is a bit far from you, you are very slow to get to the ball.
You're young but you look that you play like a veteran. Maybe you should drink coffee, or Redbull. Or maybe you were too kind because you're facing a girl ?? or you had a sleepless night just before ? or you smoked marijuana before the match ? Do you sweat when playing ? and maybe you should tchooooo to pump yourself, i think it would help. You have to put much more energy when you play. Else you'll always play like this. We can talk later about the correct technique to do FH loop, short receive or whatever, but if you don't make the efforts to move more, i don't think it would make more difference to the end result.
BTW she was often receiving with a low push with some backspin. You can't loop those balls just with the arm. You really have to use your legs, be in position early, (and brush the ball). Its possible to do good blocking or play still decent BH without using the legs, but it's impossible to do a FH drive against backspin without using the legs and without playing more dynamically.
I don't want to be harsh, I know you like TT and you're a regular poster, I believe IF you realize and DECIDE that TT is a sport, and that you need to move, THEN you will be able to move and you will be playing much much much better very quickly because you already have some technique.
Thank you for your honest opinion Takkyu_wa_inochi!
You are right. I was unable to sleep the night before, despite sleeping at my regular time. I often have the trouble of getting too nervous. It isn't that I don't want to win, it is perhaps that I want to win it too much, then I get sleepless the night before, (and tbh, the following night also, where I lost and I kept thinking why). Also, this time, I got 1 hour of warming up prior to the matches, and usually I would only get 10 min to warm up, I wonder if I spent too much energy warming up and used up my energy as this is my last match of the night. Anyway, they may be reasons or excuses.
What is important is how I move on from this. Next time, I will remind myself to keep moving!
You don't seem to have a desire to play with energy and to impose your game - as TWI pointed out, you are too young to play this way, but if you want to, then maybe stick SP or LP on one side of your racket. Maybe it is because you haven't practiced in a while or maybe you have but something else is going on. In any case, you have to be able to play with the intent of consistently posing problems for your opponent.
You should mostly do this by first preparing to attack any ball that comes long by getting into position to play it, especially with your forehand but sometimes with your backhand depending on your overall game. Too often, you are getting a predictable long push but you are not fighting to get into position and loop.
You also haven't trained against poor returns of your serve enough - this happens to lots of players, but it is tied to what Lula said about not reading spin. You have to always know your spin, know what the opponent did, and then figure out where on the ball to hit to play it properly. Sometimes you are pushing sidespin balls as if they are backspin and popping them up, which works when players have bad strokes but doesn't work when a player is well practiced. Then when you get a pop up, you are not attacking the right point on the ball and are sometimes putting it into the net. Some of it is also footwork related as you do not aggressively get into position.
Try to work on pivot and cross. Not because you want to play all forehands, but because you want to naturally step into position when you get a weak ball and kill it. Even me as a backhand player had train my pivot for this reason. Not every ball will come where you want it even if it is coming towards you, so if you work on getting into position to play a strong shot, this will raise your level quite a bit faster. I also don't think it is too hard because you are getting lots of opportunities.
Also your forehand stroke technique is wrong. I can explain in more detail later but it is too vertical. It should be more helicopter and less windmill.
Thanks NextLevel, as I mention above to Takkyu_wa_inochi, there may be reasons why I appear to be lacking in energy or desire to move. I will work on having a good rest the night before but not overthinking.
Please do go into a bit more detail about the forehand. I think I was doing the forehands too vertical as I wasn't in the right position so I wasn't able to use my legs, and therefore was only 'lifting' the ball over the net.
Look at where her points won or lost. GAME1.
She lost 3 points directly from your serve. She lost 6 from her failed attacks, and TWO from your topspin heavy slow ball.
This SCREAMS "Let her swing !!!" louder than Edward Munch could ever say.
You do not look very inclined nor very high percentage in executing the heavy slow topspin shot. That is almost a guaranteed winner if you could do it when you want... and it is an easy shot to setup vs her.
Easy tactic for now is to play ball a little to her middle a little high and let her hand herself... occasionally set up a long underspin to loop heavy and slow.
She directly won any points from her block of any attack you landed that wasn't slow and heavy. If you attack fast, it better be very wide or to her middle.
Thanks Der_Echte, that is a good point about slow spinny attacks wins me more points than fast attacks. Theoretically I understand that, but I always have the tendency to like hitting them faster as it feels better. I think I will work on it.
She did miss alot in the first game. In fact, my game plan was to let her lose it with her temper. But she makes enough afterwards with low spinny loops back at me that I could not just hand her the chances. So I started looping, but I did not have a high percentage, so it did not work out.
That's a good idea to look at where she loses the points, I will try to think about it next time in between the sets and do a bit of analysis for myself, although I find it easier to do that on retrospect while watching the video.
