Yes, it is more of a mindset change rather than a technical change. There is no '1 stroke for everything' in table tennis, you gotta respect the variation in every incoming ball in TT. The advanced players don't have a shot that deals with everything, but rather they are watching the ball like a hawk and constantly adjusting their contact points, stroke trajectory and body positioning for all the variations. There is no 'brute force' spin loop that deals with everything.
So, the spin reading and positional awareness is super important in TT, and also makes it possible for people who have very ugly strokes to do well.
Proper serve recovery for FH serves from the pivot position is only possible if you do the ball toss and serve contact with weight transfer and ride the rotation, otherwise imo it is just too slow regardless of what you do. The benchmark is that you have to reach the ready position before your opponent contacts the ball (because you have to split step when they do). If you videoed yourself it is almost impossible to achieve this without the weight transfer mechanism.
The alternative is BH serving which is a shortcut since you already are in the ready position during the serve. Much simpler.
Ugly strokes can be good up to a decent enough level, because they can be pretty difficult to read if you're just used to looking at orthodox technique. I know I struggle a lot more with the old guys who have been playing casually for 30+ years than the juniors, even if their play level is otherwise similar. They know a lot of tricks like zero backswing shots, weird fades, sidespin droshots against rallying shots.
They give a lot of chance balls, but it's pretty easy to just miss on them.
Yeah I know quite a bit about pendulum. Nothing I haven't done or heard. I've coached some mid-high division players how to serve it and everyone is surprised at the quality and keeps making errors on it, so either they're just stupid or there's something to it.
It's just a mindset thing, I'm bloody lazy most of the time. It helps that I'm getting my ass beat by most people right now and I can tryhard as much as I like, so every day I become slightly less lazy.
The easiest adaptation for sure is to just always serve like I do in serve practice, no matter who I'm playing or when. It won't require learning anything new, just a new mindset and comfort level.
Hit a little today, and nothing's really improved, but I made sure to always have the basics more in check, so I'd say my minimum level was higher than last time. My opponents said I'm playing sharper today, but I don't know about that.
EDIT: Some interesting measurements:
DHS Hurricane 3 Provincial Blue Sponge 41A 2.15 BLACK
Topsheet 29.0 - 30.5 A / 52.5 - 53.0 O
Sponge 35.5 - 37.5 A / 55.5 - 56.0 O
has been boosted a few weeks ago with Haifu White so it's about 0.5 O softer right now than new
Loki Arthur China 40A 2.10 BLACK
Topsheet 29.0 - 30.0 A / 48.5 - 50.0 O
Sponge 30.0 A / 48.0 - 49.0 O
I think the huge hardness discrepancy is because of the topsheet being in series with the sponge combined with the higher pressure indenter + Loki just lying about their sponge hardness to appear fashionable
. If you separated them I bet you'd get really different numbers! However this is more realistic for actual use, and it's why ESN reports them as series I bet.
Also note how the relative difference varies. The A hardness for the topsheet is quite similar, while the O is quite dissimilar. That gives you an idea for the curve if you do some math. Note also how the consistency is different at different pressures and depths.
I think I forgot to mention the series stiffness part in the earlier Tenergy discussion. The nice part is that the pimple geometry, relative thicknesses and indenter used will change how in series it is, so there's no rule of thumb that actually works. You just gotta measure it or simulate it.
EDIT: One more. Surprising result!
DHS Hurricane 3 Commercial 40A 2.20 BLACK
Topsheet 32.5 - 33.5 A / 53.0 - 55.0 O
Sponge 37.5 - 38.0 A / 56.0 - 56.5 O
