@Der Echte
thanks very much for the comment. Its very useful to get this criticism
i wasn't aware my serves were that illegal
But i am totally aware serve is by far my #1 weakness. And there is a reason for that. I played more than 30 years TT but the number of hours devoted to taking a box of balls and serving has been less than 1% of my time...and I'm paying it all the time in competition.
I don't have the touch and feeling, timing and whatever else is needed to make good serves. Or perhaps even I have it but I have not developed how to use those qualities for serving.
Only since I started back in June (post-Covid), I am taking a box of ball at every session and try to commit myself to do at least 2 boxes of serves. I can't stick to it all the time, but its slowly getting a habit. I can finally start to have new feelings and experiment new serves, and to remember everything about these serves.
I am forcing myself to use those serves in training matches, usually at the beginning or middle of set+ match. But i didn't have the confidence to use these serves yesterday.
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And i think serves is the reason for many things next. Because i am serving badly, i have limited tactical choices, and i get not so easy to attack 3rd balls, which put me in difficulty next.
And the next thing is i'm a poor tactician as well.
I don't have any consistent long heavy underspin serve, except for a long BH serve straight to FH (i can't do it consistently to BH). I must admit i didn't try it yesterday even once and it was stupid not to do so, because when i do it confidently, i often earn cheap points against this kind of players
As for the slow spinny opening FH loop. Stupid as well. I can do that shot. Actually in practice training I try to do it as much as possible because i know my tendency not to do it in real match. And yesterday again i failed to use it even once.
Watching the video, the only "good" thing about my serves is that at least i managed to keep them lower than usual, (and thats perhaps thanks to training ?)
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I'm not happy about my performance at all. Training so much and losing to a 70yo guy is not fun.
The only thing i am happy about is my mindset and not giving up, i was down 0 sets to 2, and fought back, saved matchpoint in the 5th and even earnt one that i wasted with a poor long serve which he attacked and i didn't block
it is the kind of opponent i feel i should win 3-0 if i change a bit my play like you suggest or even when playing my "flawed" way if i do things just a little better and get better prepared.
Yesterday was the first competition for a while, and we had 2 new players. So we were quite excited and talked a lot between games. Usually i always warm up, running a bit before the match, doing shadow play or i have a rope as well. I didn't do that this time, and I think it shows up a lot. I'm not playing well in the 1st game, I'm literally giving it away because I'm not ready physically and mentally.
Winning the 1st game whether you're the favourite to win or not changes a lot of things. It makes it easier to get into the flow or to instill doubt to the opponent and force him to take more risks and make more mistakes.
So i think i made it a handicap match, i lose a close 2nd game because of a few details, and then the pressure builds. I see my buddies losing on the other table so I take some courage from the 3rd set. In the 5th i get a good start 5-2 but he plays well 5-5, i take the lead another time 7-5 and its a bit downhill from there. I don't think I choked but i did make poor choices. not the good serves, not waiting for the good ball, waiting too much on easy balls, or taking too much risks on not so easy balls (like match point)
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Hopefully i will learn from that defeat.. Never again, and i will continue this serve training every session , and maybe in 6-12 months time i'll be a completely different player because I can serve any spin any where , and follow up, it changes everything