German Open 2019

[Vlad Celler]

SYS can learn sportsmanship from her compatriot, Wang Yidi. Watch the serve at the 8:13 mark:

https://tv.ittf.com/video/sun-yingsha-wang-yidi/1759696

The umpire didn't realize it, but WYD indicates the ball hit her face during her serve so she gives the point to SYS. Adam Bobrow starts the clapping for the fair play.

Honestly, I also applauded her ... She showed the judge two or even three times .....

 

[M51]

Random note to Butterfly: Please use a high-contrast paint for your tables. Thanks.

The shade of blue and the finish that Butterfly uses on their tables is excellent, and it had nothing to do with us having trouble making out the ball.

 

[yogi_bear]

Oh well, FZD still has it despite what people have been saying.

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

The shade of blue and the finish that Butterfly uses on their tables is excellent, and it had nothing to do with us having trouble making out the ball.

I have a Butterfly table myself. They're great from a player's perspective. But even after the tournament organizers adjusted the camera, although clearly much better, I feel if the table had a better contrasting shade of blue, it would be even better for live streaming. My vague recollection is that some DHS tables have a very nice contrasting blue.

 

[zeio]

Sometimes I wonder why the umpire doesn't just check with the receiver if s/he is having trouble seeing the point of contact, since all these minuscule rules about vertical toss, minimum toss height and removing of free arm are technically meant to safeguard the latter. Of course, this sounds naive and is predicated upon both servers and receivers being 'true' sportsmen.

Ump: It appears you have trouble with her serve.
SYS: Fault her. I can't see the damn ball.

 

[M51]

I have a Butterfly table myself. They're great from a player's perspective. But even after the tournament organizers adjusted the camera, although clearly much better, I feel if the table had a better contrasting shade of blue, it would be even better for live streaming. My vague recollection is that some DHS tables have a very nice contrasting blue.

The grey ones from DHS look nice as well, but it still has a lot more to do with the lighting and camera angles relative to the light source.

Last year's German Open was played on Donic tables which have a lighter matte blue surface, and it looked absolutely perfect:

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

The grey ones from DHS look nice as well, but it still has a lot more to do with the lighting and camera angles relative to the light source.

Last year's German Open was played on Donic tables which have a lighter matte blue surface, and it looked absolutely perfect:

Yes, that table surface contrast looks awesome !!

 

[drunix80]

The problem with calling serves is that it isn't consistent at all. In the FZD vs. LJK match, they kept calling LJK for not tossing the ball vertically enough. FZD's serves were just as off vertical as the ones called on LJK but were not called.

It makes you whether there is an ITTF agenda to pick on a particular player in order to favor someone else. I'm not saying there is some deep conspiracy going on, but if you are going to call serves, call them consistently on ALL players starting with game 1 of match 1 in the qualifiers all the way thru the finals.

Either all players will adjust very quickly or all points will be lost on called serves. And that will be the state of table tennis - no rallies, just points won or lost on called serves until a sea change happens. The current inconsistent enforcement of serving rules is ridiculous. Calls are made at crucial times in a match that impact a player's flow due to their random calling.

Or, maybe just maybe ITTF needs to rethink its serving rules that are hard to judge and enforce consistently from the umpire's seating position.

FZD's serves seems to me like most legit ones. LJK on ths other hand not that much. Especially the pendulum serve. And I am not sure how true it is but once an acquaintance told ITTF umpires take a hard stance on a player's serve if a country's TT body complains about it during a tournament and ITTF finds the complaint legit.

 

[StehTischtennis]

These sharp shadows on the floor and on the table still absolutely baffle me.

I mean, compare that to last year's German open:


Minimal shadows and virtually no glare. The ball is in excellent contrast from the table top.

Someone messed up royally this year. Pretty inexcusable for an event at this level.

Adam Bobrow commented on this during a break.
The problem was that the lightning was used to light up 4 tables and improved significantly once they only needed to light up 2 tables.

 

[zeio]

 

[Simas]

Oh well, FZD still has it despite what people have been saying.

guilty as charged

 

[M51]

Adam Bobrow commented on this during a break.
The problem was that the lightning was used to light up 4 tables and improved significantly once they only needed to light up 2 tables.

I don't buy it. Simultaneous coverage from multiple tables has been common for years, and we've rarely experienced annoyances of this magnitude. Certainly not in the last couple of years.

 

[Jonathan_]

Just thought I'd share something I saw at the German Open qualies last week:

During the second qualifications day, the last men's singles match of the day was Yan An against Gustavo Tsuboi. The match was played on a table that was on the far side of the hall from where the seats were located. Yan An led 3-1, but Tsuboi was making a comeback. In fact, he won the 6th game rather easily.

I don't remember who Yan An's coach was for this match, but like any coach he was talking to Yan An in the break before the 7th game. during this break, Qin Zhijian stood up from the seats where he was sitting among all the spectators and started walking across the hall towards the far table with his phone pressed against his ear, and seemed to talk over the phone. He reached the corner of Yan An's table, and visibly said something in his direction. After that he took a right turn and kept walking with the phone by his ear until he reached the wall. Then he put the phone in his pocket and walked back the way he came to the seats.

Impossible to know for sure what happened there and it's a pretty minor thing anyway nowadays that coaching is allowed between points, but still looked kinda weird.