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Saw this match posted. I think Kou Lei won 3-1. I'm surprised that the #1 ranked player in the country, a Olympian, would lose games to a 2200 youtube player.
Maybe she bribed him to get the points? Give me a break.
Well Ayano lost to our own Victor, so she is not invincible. This guy is supposedly #1 in America, a Olympic player, a male, has 600 USATT points over his opponent, and he is losing games to a recreational player.BTW, 2200 seems like an underestimate, but usually, these top players don't want to play unless you make them play.
Well Ayano lost to our own Victor, so she is not invincible. This guy is supposedly #1 in America, a Olympic player, a male, has 600 USATT points over his opponent, and he is losing games to a recreational player.
I can't imagine any YMCA basketball players winning games against Pro basketball players.
I have something to show you...
https://www.essentiallysports.com/n...in-a-pick-up-game-by-a-mutual-fund-executive/
Looks like he was taking it easy. He might have been playing softer at the beginning in order to try and find easy ways to score instead of expending energy on playing a brute-force game
I have played tons of handicap matches with stronger players (2500+) with an 7-8 point handicap. I have often won the first game. Then suddenly, it becomes impossibly difficult to score any points and I am just hoping I get luck.
The better the player, the faster they adjust. The really good ones see something once or twice, and basically instantly know how to either bait it out to punish it, or to apply pressure in order to force you to either make a mistake or avoid it as an optionI have played tons of handicap matches with stronger players (2500+) with an 7-8 point handicap. I have often won the first game. Then suddenly, it becomes impossibly difficult to score any points and I am just hoping I get luck.
Sure, I don't know what to call her. But the point is, she is not the top player in her city, or her club, or even her own team.The point at 11:30 shows how Kou Lei was having fun.
Ayano is not a recreational player. She makes her income through new media on the topic of travel and table tennis, she is also doing some table tennis coaching works. She should be classed as a role between pro and amateur, like Adam Bobrow.
Sure, I don't know what to call her. But the point is, she is not the top player in her city, or her club, or even her own team.
Kou Lei is supposedly the top player in a country of 350 million people.
I'm happy for Ayano for the fun and success she has while in the United States. I fully support what she's done with her Youtube channel. But let's not pretend a game which she won with 4 nets and an edge means anything. The difference in level is obvious even in that 1st game. Looks like she had a great time at the LA Open including 1st place in U4200 doubles (awesome!), but let's just leave it at that.
There're a lot of reasons why he lost the first game. Gozo mentioned unfamiliarity with playstyle so she won the first game for one. But ultimately, as Scarfed Garchomp was saying, he was joking around and saving energy. Our humble club of a few 1400-1800s in my city was recently blessed by a professional player from India (USATT 2400-2500) for two years and has given me a lot of insight into how top players behave. He has a lot of habits that us lowly 1500s don't do.
1. he doesn't play at all the day before - preferring to rest
2. he doesn't take any games seriously until they are at least 2000 level - preferring to save his energy
As a consequence, he often drops 1 or 2 games against 1800-2000 players. As his teammate, this always racks my nerves and I get so worried for him. But the games that he wins are always 11-4 or 11-5. So basically, he'll try to win with no effort, and if he doesn't, then he'll put the effort into the 3 games he wins with dominating scores. As soon as he faces a 2200+, he gets serious immediately. Saving energy is a huge priority for him, and I believe this is the case for all the top players. To top players >2300, fitness and energy levels become huge factors in the match, whereas lower level players, the highest priority is table tennis techniques training. That's why lower level players in the 1500-1800s are crowding the clubs the night before trying to get "last minute studying" done (since we're concerned about being able to do the technique consistently at all), but my teammate prefers to rest because he already has the consistency, and is more concerned about whether he can perform in the match. Prioritizing rest must be a sign of a really high-level player, like Kou Lei, who is saving his energy to perform in the finals and doesn't care about earlier matches.
I think we should be careful when we assume the higher-rated player will win just because he's better. The thing is, to become higher-rated, that player still needed to perform in the match to win the points, and doing so requires effort. Just because the loops and powerful serves always land on the table [making it look easy] doesn't mean that it actually was easy; each shot took a tremendous amount of effort physically and mentally. So I think it's not surprising, that without effort, Kou Lei lost a game. Kou Lei remembers that his goal is to win the match, NOT every game. Losing the first game to feel Ayano's weaknesses out allows him to easily win the match (alternative would be to spend more effort winning 3-0 outright).
I think it's useful and safe to assume that the USATT rating points works like this:
1. A player 238 points higher will always win the match if they put in full effort. A difference in 238 points is more about winning matches rather than stronger skills.
2. A player 238*2 points higher will always win the match without effort (and as we see, Kou Lei defeated Ayano with little effort). By the time the difference in points gets to 238*2, we can assume there's a skill gap.
3. A player 238*3 points higher will always win the match 3-0. At this level of difference, there is a confirmed skill gap.
https://youtu.be/YqmKp_yaeos
Kou Lei also lost to this Majin Boo player in the finals. Don't know how good this guy is supposed to be, but Kou Lei is an actual professional player right?
Majin Boo, aka Ma Jinbao, was 2770 at that tournament and is currently 2798. He also beat Zhou Xin at that tournament, one of the top players in the USA. So all of these guys are top 5 in the USA.
Kou Lei just beat Ma Jinbao 4-2 at the US Open yesterday in the semi-finals and beat Zhou Xin 4-0 in the finals.
That's interesting, when I watch Ayano play, I actually feel that the best aspect of her play is how consistently she returns serve. But sure, I get that there is a huge difference between 2300 and 2800.In the off chance that the OP might gain an appreciation for Kou Lei's level, I found it interesting that Ayano just posted her video of her match with Kou Lei, and in the video description she said: "The one thing I can say is his I had no idea how to return his service....lol"
And Ayano's level is around USATT 2300.
The better the player, the faster they adjust. The really good ones see something once or twice, and basically instantly know how to either bait it out to punish it, or to apply pressure in order to force you to either make a mistake or avoid it as an option
that's interesting & true SG
in 2023 i am making it a habit figuring out what the other's weakness are and play to it