Feedback on my League games

[Zezima]

Nice progress. Your stance is fine but you're still playing too flat footed. More weight on your toes, less on your heels, and you'll move and recover faster. This is important for your game because you're tall so people will naturally target your elbow, and your footwork for handling elbow shots is poor. Partly because of this you're too passive in rallies, and waste too many opportunities to take control of or win the point.

I can move around. It´s not like I am lazy (in some ways I am though) it´s just 90% of the time I don´t know where to move?? Like where I should be for the next ball and by the time I see the ball I am already too late to hit a good stroke except he plays exactly where my hit spot is..
In multiball this is better sure I am dead afterwards but thats normal. But I am not sure how to train this better for the match.

 

[Zezima]

I don't want to jump onto the "hl5 with max dignics 09c is only for pro players"-bandwagon, but if i see this rallye i notice that you never ever did use a loop or shot that you put more than 80% power into. Of course you want to return the ball onto the table, but if your setup does not instill the confidence to pull through with more than 80% of your power even though you are standing nearly 2 meters away from the table, what is it good for ? Do you want to keep the last 20% of power for rallies where you stand 4 meters from the table ?

it seems like you are afraid of what would come out of your setup if you went gung ho and you probably dont want to repair the roof of the gym when you pierce holes into it with your balls

It´s a mental thing that I think just bringing the ball back already wins me lots of points. But in the clip I selected I did use more than 80%. As you said I don´t do it as much as I would like to. First is because my recover is bad, so why go for fast paced game when I will set myself under pressure ? Unless I am already in a safe half distance where I can attack again and again. Usually my points end in the first 2-3 strokes.

My ideal ball exchange would be they push long to the middle or to my fh (not to the sides) I open up they block back to my fh or middle and I continue.

or I serve sidespin get a long push back I loop and end the rally with my 3rd Ball.

or they have serve they do a short whatever serve. I short push it back they push long wherever and I start looping.
But currently they serve long with sidespin and put me under pressure. Because I either do a mistake or its too safe and long so they attack or I attack that serve but since I have used all my brainpower for that shot I have nothing left for my recover and for the next ball. This comes from lack of practise against those serves.

 

[dingyibvs]

What don´t you like about it?
No never. Boosting is the reason I never tried H3 rubbers. My brother asked me to buy the W968 as my birthday gift. Not sure if thats too much for a racket I never tested before. But I think I saw people saying that its jsut a bit slower than my current HL5 and might be what I am looking for...

I can say with 99% certainty back then my D09c Rubber atleast on the FH felt much softer. Yesterday I trained in a different club also with much better players different ball different hall (normal temperature ~20-22°C) and the rubber felt much softer than before still hard though. Maybe the constant regluing affected it a lot because I didn´t get rid of the old glue on the rubber.

Hmm I think the W968 is a bit faster, I think for speed differences it won't make a big difference for your game. I must've misremebered re: boosting then, I've found the D09c QC to be fairly good, they've been pretty consistent for me.

As for the pairing, sometimes on medium powered shots the D09c would activate before the blade, making it a bit erratic. Also, you reglue without removing the old glue? I never do that. You'd have constantly changing feel and weight balance.

 

[Zezima]

A couple things:

1) Yes, I watched the whole match, and I saw those attempts to attack his serves with your BH. My question is, why the BH? And why over the table? They're almost all services you should loop with your FH, with much more power. Over the table BH loop is one of the most advanced receives, one that you're particularly ill-equipped to execute due to its demands on footwork and quick recognition. If you can't even recognize the service's length quickly enough and can't even get into position quickly enough consistently against soft pushes then why attempt receives that requires those things the most? Short pushes also require the same thing, though a little bit less in terms of footwork. At lower levels I wouldn't recommend it because as @NextLevel often points out people just don't serve short that often.

2) Regarding your specific clips. Notice how in the 1st video he was the one who opened up first. Even though you managed to counter his openings to enter a rally, you were reactive from the start, so your initial counter while having solid speed/spin, was placed at a very comfortable spot and he was able to back off to a comfortable distance. You two were in even position after your counter, so even if you're just as good in rallies as him you'd still only have a 50-50 chance of winning it. In the 3rd video where you won the rally, you opened up and put him at a disadvantage from the get go. He was reactive the entire rally, only doing just enough to get the ball back, with no chance of seeking placement or counter looping. In the 2nd video, if you're gonna pivot that much to go for a FH, you need to go for a big FH, not the weak one you opened up with. You can certainly loop to his BH in that situation, but it needs to be of enough quality that he can only focus on blocking it back, which is usually the easiest back in the same direction it came from (i.e. back to your BH corner). With a weak attack he can focus on where to place it, and you don't have the footwork to cover out wide after an initial attack. If you do that more often, you do need to mix it up and go to his FH and middle sometimes as well, so he can't just be camping on a loop to his BH.

when you said my counter was placed very comfortable on his side, where should I have countered? paralllel would have been even more error prone since I normally never do counters. Diagonal I have more margin of error because of the table length. and I am far from the level to pick a point to aim on the table. But yeah I agree in the rally its probably 50/50 or 60/40 for him if I just go for half assed shots and 60/40 for me if I would always loop with confident like in the clip with the backhand.
The clip where I pivot was a big FH by me. I guess it was too predictable but nevertheless I gave my all. Do you mean by quality less speed but with more spin? Because here I clearly focused on ending the rally so it was more forwards stroke compared to an opener that I sometimes do (much slower but more spin) I guess this ball didnt have the length either

 

[Zezima]

Anyone who will train serve return on long and half long balls with the forehand extensively will get a major jump in playing level really quickly because there are so many opportunities that show up in matches below USATT 2000 that don't get utilized because people lack the skills. You don't even have to exploit them all the time, defence against looped serves is so poor at the lower levels that you can even just save it for critical points and still make out like a bandit. But once you start it, the pressure to keep the serves tight causes the opponents problems as well.

The problem is that many times; especially on topspin sidespin and nospin serves, people treat serves that will drift long as if they are short.

Yeah I guess you are right. I just had to check his serve length again.

am still unsure if I should really loop this ball. Its super slow just a little sidespin I think? but I know from a previous encounter he can do the same serve shorter and with much more backspin sidespin. Do I just focus on hitting the ball at the back? Step in with my left leg and with my right leg and do a slow opening loop towards middle/FH till I get comfortable and then mix it up to his BH? I am pretty sure he will start serving short then and then I would default back to short push back or long pushes?

 

[dingyibvs]

I can move around. It´s not like I am lazy (in some ways I am though) it´s just 90% of the time I don´t know where to move?? Like where I should be for the next ball and by the time I see the ball I am already too late to hit a good stroke except he plays exactly where my hit spot is..
In multiball this is better sure I am dead afterwards but thats normal. But I am not sure how to train this better for the match.

It's not a matter of laziness, so not a willingness or effort to move, but a matter of training. Is footwork a part of your training? There are ways to train footwork even without a great training partner. Multiball would obviously be the easiest, but say your partner can only block the ball back, what you can do is the following:

1) If your partner can block consistently, then try to loop from your BH corner alternatingly with your FH and BH. You can even do this with the simplest robot. It's an extremely good exercise if you can do it. It forces you to move your feet significantly between every shot, shift your stance and weight balance left and right, shift your grip between BH/FH, adjust to different timing/speed/spin between every shot (because your FH/BH will have diff speed/spin, and BH shots require diff timings). All that while requiring the training partner/robot to simply block to one spot. You also don't need to loop hard for this practice, to make it easier on you and your partner.

2) If your partner's blocking is too erratic, or you don't have access to a robot, then you can simply shuffle your feet between every shot. Make sure you're never standing at the same exact spot for every loop. This will make sure you develop a habit of moving before every shot. Another thing you'd learn is WHEN to move your feet. Keep shuffling/bouncing your feet between shots is not enough, your last shuffle/bounce needs to land right as your opponent strikes the ball, so your feet are actually planted on the ground and your legs are loaded with energy ready to explode toward wherever direction you need to go.

 

[dingyibvs]

when you said my counter was placed very comfortable on his side, where should I have countered? paralllel would have been even more error prone since I normally never do counters. Diagonal I have more margin of error because of the table length. and I am far from the level to pick a point to aim on the table. But yeah I agree in the rally its probably 50/50 or 60/40 for him if I just go for half assed shots and 60/40 for me if I would always loop with confident like in the clip with the backhand.
The clip where I pivot was a big FH by me. I guess it was too predictable but nevertheless I gave my all. Do you mean by quality less speed but with more spin? Because here I clearly focused on ending the rally so it was more forwards stroke compared to an opener that I sometimes do (much slower but more spin) I guess this ball didnt have the length either

Right now you need to focus on opening up first so you don't need to counter in the first place. There's nothing wrong with your counter for your level, the issue is you should try to avoid getting into that situation in the first place.

For quality I mean more of everything. You might have given your all but it's not all that you're physically capable of, not even close. You need to loosen up and then explode at the point of contact. That shot is not nearly explosive enough. You can practice generating more power, but until you can you should just BH loop that one and accept that you'll probably need to continue the rally.

 

[Zezima]

I just watched the match again.
He's good, very controlled and not making many mistakes.
I've played a 1750 German ranking so I know the level.
I would say his game should suit you though. He doesn't push much and likes an attacking topspin game.
If you are relaxed, focused, and play your attacking game with confidence you can do well.

Tactics aside, one of the issues you have is recovering and preparing for the next shot. I think someone else said it earlier but you have somehow to build it into your strokes.

A slightly strange thing I noticed is that when receiving serve, you are low, low, waiting, low and then just as they are about to serve you stand up. I don't know if this is intentional or something you're not aware of but staying down should be better for the recieve.

In the rallies, particularly BH, don't reach towards the ball, wait for it to come to you, you have time, or if you're reaching because it's dropping then you're either not low enough or not close enough. Footwork.

On FH side don't try to kill the ball too often either. When you have him back and are looping or smashing, you are in control. Just accept that it may take 3-6 shots to get it done. On the shorter ball fished back then you can find more angle or a drop shot to make him run but other than that just pin him back before switching side. Patience.

And I wouldn't be afraid to take a step back against him and use the 09c counterloop ability rather than tame blocking that puts you on the backfoot. Enjoy it! Just don't try to kill it, hit the table with control like he does. Your %s are going up then!

Tactics in, the short backspin to FH is safe, he doesn't FH flick and you got some direct points from good serves to there. But be ready to Chiquita or loop his push. Unless he pushes short to your FH in which case you push long to his exposed BH or (as he's steps back) go short to his FH again.

Long backspin to his BH looks safe, I didn't see any awesome BH opening loops.
If you can dial in your serves to get the half long really working then I can see you giving him problems.

His backspin serves to your FH is where you can really make an improvement though. You took the wrong option many times there, pushing long ones that should have been looped or misreading the short ones, kind of popping them up instead of stepping in to take it off the bounce to drop it short or really pushing it with proper backspin and a bit of speed!

Beware of his long backspin serves to your BH too, you gave away a few points directly from that. Game 1 and 3 finished with you missing the ball in there.
Actually all 3 games finished with you mistiming and outright missing a ball into your BH 🤷

Those are my observations for your preparation. Hopefully it helps some.
Cheers 👍

I have a hard time reading how much topspin the ball has. Its so unpredictable for me. It´s not loaded with heavy topspin like those open ups from some players against long backspin balls for example. But still has some a bit. Also his technique doesn´t match what the ball has for me atleast. His movement looks much bigger but the ball doesn´t have that much spin? So I kind of lose confidence in attacking that ball. Like its hard to judge the trajectory since I would need to hit the ball at the very top. Maybe I would have a bit better time if I would attack it not at the highest but when its starts falling down again.
his rating is 1700RC. Thats roughly 1900-2000TTR. But I agree his game should suit me more and you can see me I get to attack pretty often actually for someone who is much lower rated.
The recovery part I already addressed it. I would need to know how I can work on this properly other than just playing more matches.

A slightly strange thing I noticed is that when receiving serve, you are low, low, waiting, low and then just as they are about to serve you stand up. I don't know if this is intentional or something you're not aware of but staying down should be better for the recieve.

well it´s really hard to move if you get this low. Try it out yourself. You cant move well being this low. Only when standing still and you hit the ball its effective. I don´t know even pro players who train and have the leg strength for it stand up and they receive much more short serves than I do.
In this game I just made too many mistakes receiving serves just fundamentally bad. One of my notes for this game was flick his short backspin serves that come into my FH with a backhand flick which I trained in the previous weeks with someone (with success). But here it was catastrophical. And right now my backhand flick is not that consitent anyway so I won´t even bother trying and will focus more on looping with my FH this time.

In the rallies, particularly BH, don't reach towards the ball, wait for it to come to you, you have time, or if you're reaching because it's dropping then you're either not low enough or not close enough. Footwork.

100% Agree. Thats also how I felt after the game. Didn´t think the technique per se was bad but that I was just too far away from the ball. And since those are not backspin balls I should be just waiting a tad longer. By reaching I tend to lift the ball more and it goes out. Also something I keep telling myself but in the heat of the moment it feels like you have no time.. Especially on his balls they come slow and sometimes they get faster after they land on my side of the table. Just couldn´t predict the pace and trajectory of the ball many times. Anyways this is also noted.

On FH side don't try to kill the ball too often either. When you have him back and are looping or smashing, you are in control. Just accept that it may take 3-6 shots to get it done. On the shorter ball fished back then you can find more angle or a drop shot to make him run but other than that just pin him back before switching side. Patience.

Usually I win the point straight but since he is a much better player he brings lots of balls back and as you said the rallys tend to be longer then. I am not used to this. I keep thinking ok this is the best ball I have to end it now or else I will lose the point instead of staying calm and collected and just build up on that ball and pin him back. I then try to switch the side really quick and put myself at disadvantage because now instead of playing with my strong and safe FH I have to switch to my BH and because the rally went long I tend to do a safe shot instead of a good attacking shot... But yeah I will try to be more patient this time.

And I wouldn't be afraid to take a step back against him and use the 09c counterloop ability rather than tame blocking that puts you on the backfoot. Enjoy it! Just don't try to kill it, hit the table with control like he does. Your %s are going up then!

Counterloop is something I couldn´t practise properly. I tend to shoot it out mostly. Timing is off. Sure I land some but the ratio is very low. I am even more scared when the ball has lots of topspin.
But lately I catch myself trying to block at my shoulders hight ( a little bit above even). Instead of losing a point like that its better to start utilizing counterloop as you said. Eventually I will get the hang out of it and its just better moving forward. How would u describe the feeling of killing it and counterloop? Both are fast strokes.

My dropshot is terrible usually is quite high but since I face players with terrible footwork aswell it works or I get to attack the next ball and win. But thats so rare its not worth talking about. Usually I win the point if I get to loop from mid distance barely anyone can defend from the very back.

Tactics in, the short backspin to FH is safe, he doesn't FH flick and you got some direct points from good serves to there. But be ready to Chiquita or loop his push. Unless he pushes short to your FH in which case you push long to his exposed BH or (as he's steps back) go short to his FH again.

I would need to watch the clip again but I am pretty sure he has a FH flick. And I seem to do bad when they flick my serves. just puts me more under pressure than a long push. Maybe I have to serve it a bit longer and not too short or I served it too high this game. Something was def off. You mean I got direct points because I served short to his FH?
I have nothing to lose I can try it.

Long backspin to his BH looks safe, I didn't see any awesome BH opening loops.
If you can dial in your serves to get the half long really working then I can see you giving him problems.

yeah sometimes he opens up with a slight topspin. or he pushes back to my bh mostly. But they are very low and have good placement which is quite hard to pivot for me. And even if I would open it up with my backhand which is quite hard sometimes it comes half longish he can just easily block it back whereever he wants I think.

His backspin serves to your FH is where you can really make an improvement though. You took the wrong option many times there, pushing long ones that should have been looped or misreading the short ones, kind of popping them up instead of stepping in to take it off the bounce to drop it short or really pushing it with proper backspin and a bit of speed!

Yep 100%

Beware of his long backspin serves to your BH too, you gave away a few points directly from that. Game 1 and 3 finished with you missing the ball in there.
Actually all 3 games finished with you mistiming and outright missing a ball into your BH

LOL yeah I don´t know why I missed those but it´s funny that it happens at that moment 3x in a row.
Shiet now I will think about it and will get nervous x)

 

[NextLevel]

Yeah I guess you are right. I just had to check his serve length again.

am still unsure if I should really loop this ball. Its super slow just a little sidespin I think? but I know from a previous encounter he can do the same serve shorter and with much more backspin sidespin. Do I just focus on hitting the ball at the back? Step in with my left leg and with my right leg and do a slow opening loop towards middle/FH till I get comfortable and then mix it up to his BH? I am pretty sure he will start serving short then and then I would default back to short push back or long pushes?

Anyone who doesn't serve short at a pro level makes all kinds of mistakes, the problem is whether you can see the miatake or whether it is so subtle relative to your level that you miss it. Of course some.serves will be hard for you to attack but that is part of your level. But training to expand the attack able serves is one of the things that helps your level to jump and your read of the game to improve. If they are legitimately long, they are all vulnerable. It requires a lot of forearm and wrist training and the ability to step in with the right foot and recover if forced to rally. Something similar is true about the backhand as well but it is a bit trickier with the decision to loop over the table vs looping and sometimes you really should be using your forehand and not your backhand.

 

[Zezima]

Don't overthink it. You are playing someone who is 300 points higher than you. Making tactical or playstyle changes isn't likely to change the end result. He could probably beat you comfortably no matter what tactical adjustment you make as he will be able to adjust just as easily if not more easily. Focus on matches that are more within your level range.

I disagree. He lost once in this league and it was against a 1386±39 player while he was 1731±70 at that time and lost 60! RC Points while the upsetting player only gained 20RC Points. Anyway the player who beat him was him:

He just slaps with his FH. Points don´t mean much at or around this level. Not saying I have a good chance of beating him but I agree the outcome will be decided on the table. He is also a very emotional person playing for the first time in our hall. He likes when the hall is quiet but it will be noisy etc. So I will def give my best and go in with a winners mindset.

 

[Zezima]

He doesnt know how to FH loop confidently against righty BH serves because he is still going against the spin rather with the spin (ie hook loop it a bit on the right side of the ball). The way he is doing, he will eat the effects of the incoming spin full on. This is why he never had the confidence to loop the serve even when it was blatantly going long. Also because he is afraid, he is doing half hearted opening loops which is even worse because you need explosiveness to cancel out the opponent's spin especially when going against the spin.

The funny thing is that against lefty BH pendulum he attempts to hook loop it (on the right) which is also similarly disastrous.

could you show me the examples? because no matter the spin I tend to hit the ball from the right side I think. But at the heat of the moment I dont really think about hitting the ball at the right or at the backside. For me it´s not the sidespin that gives me the problem (its not going out to the sides) its more of a it goes into the net or out (most of the time out I think).

 

[Zezima]

Hmm I think the W968 is a bit faster, I think for speed differences it won't make a big difference for your game. I must've misremebered re: boosting then, I've found the D09c QC to be fairly good, they've been pretty consistent for me.

As for the pairing, sometimes on medium powered shots the D09c would activate before the blade, making it a bit erratic. Also, you reglue without removing the old glue? I never do that. You'd have constantly changing feel and weight balance.

I think it´s more thats its my technique. I still loop to my eye level. But upwards I think. I can go eye level or lower but the stroke has to go more forwards to eye level compared to the normal topspin stroke. So what happens is closer to the table and if the ball is fast it goes out. In training I am more relaxed I know where the ball is coming and my rate of hitting doubles. There is also a difference for me if I counter a ball after driving it 3-5 times or if it comes from matchplay. Because when driving the ball 1-2 times and then counter it I have a much better feeling and timing than when I have to counter right of the bat.

Well I didn´t know how to get rid of those old glue sheets without fucking up the rubber by accident. They cost a lot + 4 years ago on a different rubber I accidently ripped off 1 pimple/sponge part. The season ends in approx 1 month. The rubber surface on the blade is straight so all good still. Weight I need to check but at around 190g one or 2g more won´t change that much

 

[jk1980]

Just a note on your estimate on how to translate RC points to German TTR.
That opponent is nowhere 1900TTR level. I have seen 1600 TTR players looking way better than him. You need to take into account that he played someone(you) with >200 points less and he still did not look very dominating or outclassing you.
1500 RC also very unlikely is 1700 TTR level. I have a 1400 TTR player in a club who is more well rounded than you and who can dominate everything 200 points below. With such a difference of points I would see results of 3:0 in sets and the loosing player not getting more than 7 points per set, even when the higher player goes gung ho and does many risky shots.

 

[Zezima]

It's not a matter of laziness, so not a willingness or effort to move, but a matter of training. Is footwork a part of your training? There are ways to train footwork even without a great training partner. Multiball would obviously be the easiest, but say your partner can only block the ball back, what you can do is the following:

1) If your partner can block consistently, then try to loop from your BH corner alternatingly with your FH and BH. You can even do this with the simplest robot. It's an extremely good exercise if you can do it. It forces you to move your feet significantly between every shot, shift your stance and weight balance left and right, shift your grip between BH/FH, adjust to different timing/speed/spin between every shot (because your FH/BH will have diff speed/spin, and BH shots require diff timings). All that while requiring the training partner/robot to simply block to one spot. You also don't need to loop hard for this practice, to make it easier on you and your partner.

2) If your partner's blocking is too erratic, or you don't have access to a robot, then you can simply shuffle your feet between every shot. Make sure you're never standing at the same exact spot for every loop. This will make sure you develop a habit of moving before every shot. Another thing you'd learn is WHEN to move your feet. Keep shuffling/bouncing your feet between shots is not enough, your last shuffle/bounce needs to land right as your opponent strikes the ball, so your feet are actually planted on the ground and your legs are loaded with energy ready to explode toward wherever direction you need to go.

I have been doing the big Falkenberg drill. But I can only last 2-3minutes before I go K.O (need to take a break then) and thats it maybe I should do more of those in one session? Other drills I do serve and return practise. Usually I serve shot they push long I loop and then continue. But lately this doesn´t happen a lot in my matches. I just don´t know what to do with these slow short to halflongish high balls to my fh side. I prob should man up and flip them with a short stroke. Because my pushes on those are terrible I go too much under the ball and because those balls have almost no spin they pop up.

We got a robot. But who wants to set it up.. I rather play with real players. If in rare cases I have to wait for someone I practise my serves.

If your partner's blocking is too erratic, or you don't have access to a robot, then you can simply shuffle your feet between every shot. Make sure you're never standing at the same exact spot for every loop.

I try to do this in the warm up which works. But in the actual game I have a hard time anticipating and mostly react to balls. It´s different. Shuffeling while doing drills works for me. I will try to film myself to show it. In matches it feels like that my position is just so bad that I couldn´t have chosen a worse position for the next ball. It´s just good enough to reach almost any ball "somehow" but far from to hit them good. My opponents are not masterminds either so they unintentionally also give me good balls where I don´t have to move.

 

[dingyibvs]

I think it´s more thats its my technique. I still loop to my eye level. But upwards I think. I can go eye level or lower but the stroke has to go more forwards to eye level compared to the normal topspin stroke. So what happens is closer to the table and if the ball is fast it goes out. In training I am more relaxed I know where the ball is coming and my rate of hitting doubles. There is also a difference for me if I counter a ball after driving it 3-5 times or if it comes from matchplay. Because when driving the ball 1-2 times and then counter it I have a much better feeling and timing than when I have to counter right of the bat.

Well I didn´t know how to get rid of those old glue sheets without fucking up the rubber by accident. They cost a lot + 4 years ago on a different rubber I accidently ripped off 1 pimple/sponge part. The season ends in approx 1 month. The rubber surface on the blade is straight so all good still. Weight I need to check but at around 190g one or 2g more won´t change that much

You'd be surprised how much you can improve even knowing where the ball is going. The issue most people have when they know where the ball is going is that they pre-move to that spot. Pay attention to that, eliminate that either by forcing your self not to move (but be ready to move) until your opponent to move, purposefully move in the opposite direction before coming back to the right place, or train at high enough of a pace that you simply don't have time to pre-move before each shot.

It's not knowing where the shot is going that's the biggest problem, it's moving ahead of the time that's the issue. Correct that and you'll see training translating to matches a lot better.

 

[Zezima]

Anyone who doesn't serve short at a pro level makes all kinds of mistakes, the problem is whether you can see the miatake or whether it is so subtle relative to your level that you miss it. Of course some.serves will be hard for you to attack but that is part of your level. But training to expand the attack able serves is one of the things that helps your level to jump and your read of the game to improve. If they are legitimately long, they are all vulnerable. It requires a lot of forearm and wrist training and the ability to step in with the right foot and recover if forced to rally. Something similar is true about the backhand as well but it is a bit trickier with the decision to loop over the table vs looping and sometimes you really should be using your forehand and not your backhand.

No I agree. My footwork is not there yet to move in and flick with my BH on my FH. Atleast not against those kind of serves.
The only question is. Is the quality of my return really that good if I loop those balls that I will be ahead in the really. I feel like he is just gonna block whereever he wants and even though I attacked his serve I will be on the backfoot...

 

[NextLevel]

No I agree. My footwork is not there yet to move in and flick with my BH on my FH. Atleast not against those kind of serves.
The only question is. Is the quality of my return really that good if I loop those balls that I will be ahead in the really. I feel like he is just gonna block whereever he wants and even though I attacked his serve I will be on the backfoot...

This is always level dependent you don't get to a high level at anything the way you start doing it. It becomes better with practice.

 

[dingyibvs]

I have been doing the big Falkenberg drill. But I can only last 2-3minutes before I go K.O (need to take a break then) and thats it maybe I should do more of those in one session? Other drills I do serve and return practise. Usually I serve shot they push long I loop and then continue. But lately this doesn´t happen a lot in my matches. I just don´t know what to do with these slow short to halflongish high balls to my fh side. I prob should man up and flip them with a short stroke. Because my pushes on those are terrible I go too much under the ball and because those balls have almost no spin they pop up.

We got a robot. But who wants to set it up.. I rather play with real players. If in rare cases I have to wait for someone I practise my serves.



I try to do this in the warm up which works. But in the actual game I have a hard time anticipating and mostly react to balls. It´s different. Shuffeling while doing drills works for me. I will try to film myself to show it. In matches it feels like that my position is just so bad that I couldn´t have chosen a worse position for the next ball. It´s just good enough to reach almost any ball "somehow" but far from to hit them good. My opponents are not masterminds either so they unintentionally also give me good balls where I don´t have to move.

Falkenberg needs to be fast enough that you never wait for the ball to be truly useful. Otherwise you'll be dealing with the same pre-move issue. Robots can be helpful for certain things, I sometimes set it up even when my training partner comes over. The rapid FH/BH shot to a single spot is one fine example of where it can be excellent.

 

[Zezima]

Just a note on your estimate on how to translate RC points to German TTR.
That opponent is nowhere 1900TTR level. I have seen 1600 TTR players looking way better than him. You need to take into account that he played someone(you) with >200 points less and he still did not look very dominating or outclassing you.
1500 RC also very unlikely is 1700 TTR level. I have a 1400 TTR player in a club who is more well rounded than you and who can dominate everything 200 points below. With such a difference of points I would see results of 3:0 in sets and the loosing player not getting more than 7 points per set, even when the higher player goes gung ho and does many risky shots.

Trust me he is. As you said you just saw him playing against me. Checked his history aswell. He beats a 1750RC!! 3-0
and his limit seems to be 1770RC. He would be in the upper half in the upper League. where he played last season but he switched his club and this club doesn´t have a higher team.
But then again TTR is not the same everywhere in germany. There are places where 1600TTR would beat other places 1900TTR maybe thats drastic but I just wanted to give an example. ~1850TTR is prob more accurate.

And I disagree he was dominating be really hard. I was nowhere near of taking a set.

 

[Zezima]

You'd be surprised how much you can improve even knowing where the ball is going. The issue most people have when they know where the ball is going is that they pre-move to that spot. Pay attention to that, eliminate that either by forcing your self not to move (but be ready to move) until your opponent to move, purposefully move in the opposite direction before coming back to the right place, or train at high enough of a pace that you simply don't have time to pre-move before each shot.

It's not knowing where the shot is going that's the biggest problem, it's moving ahead of the time that's the issue. Correct that and you'll see training translating to matches a lot better.

I don´t understand what you mean.
Is this when practising Drills you mean? If so yes I agree I am a victim of that. But my goal is not training anticipation (falkenberg drill) it´s footwork. Just get the legs moving after each shot and memorize how to stay and how to hit those balls. I think I would need a real unregular exercise to get my anticipation better. But that doesn´t work so good if the other side is only supposed to block with his BH for example. Part of anticipation is also to see is he gonna loop where is he gonna loop or is he gonna push and where or is he gonna flick? These old players I face they do it at the very last moment and a lot with their wrist. None of them have good power all comes from arm and wrist. And because they don´t have a "clean" technique the ball can go anywhere lol. But I feel like against anyone I played so far I always played better the 2nd time or just generally the more I faced them. This is my 2nd year in this League so I think after some time I will get to know them better and anticipate better.