Just now played an old Mathematics teacher. Old gent, in his late 60's to 70's.
He wasn't well aware what had been going on while he was away, and the first disconnect was when he asked if he had served to five already when I went to serve. I explained that nowadays, we actually serve to 2 and play to 11, and even the ball's size and material had changed. It didn't matter much: we just hit and served however. Just funny that even I forgot for a moment that games used to be to 21. I'll keep it in mind next time I play someone from the "golden age".
He briefed me on some Finnish table tennis history. This place used to produce decent players. Used to.
I'm not sure what he's capable of, but he's no beginner. I served no-spin to him and he returned it flat, but netted backspin. He started adapting to the next backspin serves. He has a chop against loop and he went in to drive some balls, but missed due to his footwork difficulty.
If you give him a week time to get up to speed and take 40 years off his age, I think he could potentially devastate me. I'm not sure what I would've done if his drives hit. His chop is not too threatening, but it's not like he's been practicing it regularly. Just the fact he can chop my loop repeatedly to a degree is enough to tell me that he's no beginner.
I took it easy on him, but I think he took it easy on me as well. I can't really say what he's capable of. I'd have liked to see him in his prime.
His form was very similar to the style of play prevalent in the 50's and 60's. I think he'd do well with sandpaper, because spin was the issue. Placement was good.
