Looking for best backhand 47.5 / 48 rubber for SALC

[NextLevel]

Well after a few more hours, and while this set-up is for sure solid... my conclusion is just that I'm boxing above my weight with the super ALC. Too fast for me, I'm not able to control it so I'm not as confident as before, especially on openers. It's not a rubber issue, it's a blade issue, I'm not ready for a fast outer carbon blade. Maybe I'll never be ready for it and that's totally fine!

I have a tourney next Sunday and will keep the SALC for this one, but after that I'll switch back to my Acoustic, probably with G1 on both sides.

A couple of things from someone who used all wood blades for a *very long* time.

1) Carbon, even when arylate dampened, is just a different animal from wood in how it plays when it is outerforce. It is consistently rebounding and usually you need to dampen it with some stickiness to start with when you first transition (or some might prefer innerforce). That said, it is consistently rebounding so you have to let the blade work for you rather than doing work with the blade on some shots and then try to figure out how best to touch the ball. The change from Acoustic to Viscaria SALC is a very large one and it is the kind of change that it is good to make, but it is hard to make it without the right kind of advice and coaching because you can draw bad conclusions very quickly without objective data.

2) Going to a faster blade is a commitment. It requires a complete change in how you play with respect to technique and timing. The biggest difference is that you have to consistently learn to borrow/control power and add spin and sometimes, you have to back off the table to take your most powerful swings or only use them on easy opportunities - the rest is primarily about ball control.

When you go to a new blade, the first thing you need to do is play a wide range of shots, and try to do extreme things like decelerate the ball with confidence or block extremely powerful balls short. You need to find how relaxed your grip needs to be and what your blade contact point needs to be to keep the ball on the table. These things are radically different from whatever you had with your former all wood blade. You won't win matches unless those things become instinctive as instinct is what plays matches.

That said, usually, if you are a topspin player, other than speed and degree of effort, you tend to end up in the same place with any equipment you use over time. But sometimes you don't because you realize that something that you couldn't do with one blade, you can now do with the other or vice versa. But this kind of stuff almost never shows up in a week or two.. It can take 2-3 months.

But if you don't take advantage of the strengths of the faster blade in making borrowing power relatively easier and enabling you get decent speed with purely spin oriented shots, then just go back to all wood. The challenge though is that this isn't a playing level thing as much as an adjustment thing. I played with all wood for a long time, dabbled in slow carbon blades for a while as well. What made me go to fast carbon blades was two things - first I tried a Mazunov for a while and became more comfortable with the stiff feeling. Then I got injured and stopped playing for a year and when I came back, I was getting into trouble against players who were killing me with short strokes while I was laboring to get the ball moving with my all wood blades. So I changed to carbon and hybrid rubbers and have largely been in that place ever since and tried to focus on shorter and spinnier technique and playing a bit more off the table to give myself time to load up the ball.

So if you want to use faster equipment, you have to work on using it properly, not just assume that you can change to it and be ready. This would be the case no matter your playing level. There are pros who find the Viscaria/FZD ALC too fast for how they play. I am not making this up, you can literally hear Joao Geraldo say this during his TTD review of the blade. And then there are other pros who switch from Viscaria/FZD ALC to SALC to take advantage of the increased speed (Kanak, Chen Meng). In the end, do what makes you play best, but never underestimate the importance of adaptation in determining how well you play with equipment.

 

[NextLevel]

Tourney was absolutely horrible, lost 4 matches, all against lower-ranked players (including one that I 3-zeroed twice in the past), won only 1. I'm afraid my level decreasing has to do with much more than material issues, but we'll see if going back to Acoustic / G1 will alleviate some of the problems.

Globally I'm really in a bad period. Feeling super slow, reactive rather than proactive, no confidence in my openers, hesitating on everything... Performing in drills but falling apart in matches, both in training sessions and official ones. Anyone having gone through this kind of difficult, "nothing works" phase in their TT history? I'll welcome any advice for getting out of it. I'm 48 and 700 TTCAN so ofc I don't expect to suddenly become an international champion, but those constant defeats and the unability to get anything going hurt more and more.

Find a really good coach at working with adults or find an internet coach if you are so inclined.

Improve your ability to generate spin on serves and strokes significantly.

Record and watch all your matches and trainings. With the help of a coach or good player, learn what you should be doing or looking like to get better. Then execute on it.

 

[HyperBlow]

i would say figure out how to level up your serves. i realize now serves are the key to reduce stress on off days and vs weaker opponents, as well as always giving you a fighting chance. serve variations to win points at crucial times and general tactics to initiate sequence and set up your game. big mental difference if you are confident in your serves each time you get them

Great advice, thanks. I have pretty good serves, especially long ones, but I don't have enough variety so my opponents get easily used to them as the match advances

 

[HyperBlow]

Find a really good coach at working with adults or find an internet coach if you are so inclined.

Improve your ability to generate spin on serves and strokes significantly.

Record and watch all your matches and trainings. With the help of a coach or good player, learn what you should be doing or looking like to get better. Then execute on it.

I have a really good coach so that's a good first step! I certainly lack the ability to generate enough spin and safety on my top-spin shots, whatever the set-up I have trouble to generate good arc. Power/speed is not an issue, I can hit the ball hard. My successful top-spin shots are efficient, often long and fast, but not safe enough.

Been pushing back on recording matches and training, always finding excuses but you're right, I really need to do it. I also do only group sessions and would certainly get benefit in doing some private ones, but it's hard to find the time in my schedule.

 

[HyperBlow]

A couple of things from someone who used all wood blades for a *very long* time.

1) Carbon, even when arylate dampened, is just a different animal from wood in how it plays when it is outerforce. It is consistently rebounding and usually you need to dampen it with some stickiness to start with when you first transition (or some might prefer innerforce). That said, it is consistently rebounding so you have to let the blade work for you rather than doing work with the blade on some shots and then try to figure out how best to touch the ball. The change from Acoustic to Viscaria SALC is a very large one and it is the kind of change that it is good to make, but it is hard to make it without the right kind of advice and coaching because you can draw bad conclusions very quickly without objective data.

2) Going to a faster blade is a commitment. It requires a complete change in how you play with respect to technique and timing. The biggest difference is that you have to consistently learn to borrow/control power and add spin and sometimes, you have to back off the table to take your most powerful swings or only use them on easy opportunities - the rest is primarily about ball control.

When you go to a new blade, the first thing you need to do is play a wide range of shots, and try to do extreme things like decelerate the ball with confidence or block extremely powerful balls short. You need to find how relaxed your grip needs to be and what your blade contact point needs to be to keep the ball on the table. These things are radically different from whatever you had with your former all wood blade. You won't win matches unless those things become instinctive as instinct is what plays matches.

That said, usually, if you are a topspin player, other than speed and degree of effort, you tend to end up in the same place with any equipment you use over time. But sometimes you don't because you realize that something that you couldn't do with one blade, you can now do with the other or vice versa. But this kind of stuff almost never shows up in a week or two.. It can take 2-3 months.

But if you don't take advantage of the strengths of the faster blade in making borrowing power relatively easier and enabling you get decent speed with purely spin oriented shots, then just go back to all wood. The challenge though is that this isn't a playing level thing as much as an adjustment thing. I played with all wood for a long time, dabbled in slow carbon blades for a while as well. What made me go to fast carbon blades was two things - first I tried a Mazunov for a while and became more comfortable with the stiff feeling. Then I got injured and stopped playing for a year and when I came back, I was getting into trouble against players who were killing me with short strokes while I was laboring to get the ball moving with my all wood blades. So I changed to carbon and hybrid rubbers and have largely been in that place ever since and tried to focus on shorter and spinnier technique and playing a bit more off the table to give myself time to load up the ball.

So if you want to use faster equipment, you have to work on using it properly, not just assume that you can change to it and be ready. This would be the case no matter your playing level. There are pros who find the Viscaria/FZD ALC too fast for how they play. I am not making this up, you can literally hear Joao Geraldo say this during his TTD review of the blade. And then there are other pros who switch from Viscaria/FZD ALC to SALC to take advantage of the increased speed (Kanak, Chen Meng). In the end, do what makes you play best, but never underestimate the importance of adaptation in determining how well you play with equipment.

Thanks for taking the time to post such an extensive and informative answer!

I think what you say about not taking advantage of the strengths of the faster blade is exactly how I feel. I have no problem generating power and I play pretty close to the table. When I try to move away a bit, first I don't feel comfortable with my placement but I also lack the footwork (never been my forte and does not get better with age...) for the bigger side steps that it requires. For sure the SALC has helped me getting more power when further from the table, especially in counter topspins rallies, but the reality is that those situations don't occur that much at my level

For context I used to play when I was younger, then stopped for 20 years. Been back to regular training with coach in group lessons (2x2h per week) and a few competitions for 3 years.

Coming back to TT I first used my old Andro off- 5ply with R45 and R42, then had a try at Donic Waldner Ultra Carbon (so inner carbon), with R48 and R45. I did not like the feel of the Donic, hollow handle gave weird sensations and inner carbon did not increase speed and efficience of my shots as I expected. I then moved to Acoustic with G1 2.0 on both sides and had quite a bit of success and progress with it. My analysis is that I made a mistake in thinking that a fast outer carbon blade like the Viscaria SALC was the right step to take at this stage - I should have rather kept on training and improving with the Acoustic. I have a pretty solid backhand block (and forehand block / drive / counter) for my level and I hoped to make it even deadlier with the SALC, but the truth is that while I still block pretty well with this blade, now my backhand topspin, which was one of my main weapons as well and a pillar in my tactics, has become extremely unreliable.

 

[NextLevel]

I have a really good coach so that's a good first step! I certainly lack the ability to generate enough spin and safety on my top-spin shots, whatever the set-up I have trouble to generate good arc. Power/speed is not an issue, I can hit the ball hard. My successful top-spin shots are efficient, often long and fast, but not safe enough.

Been pushing back on recording matches and training, always finding excuses but you're right, I really need to do it. I also do only group sessions and would certainly get benefit in doing some private ones, but it's hard to find the time in my schedule.

Generating spin is not about hitting the ball hard, generating spin is about working on generating spin. Here is a fairly high level player (definitely USATT 2200+, he wouldn't have played the Lagos Open otherwise unless I am misguided) getting coaching/practice on generating spin.

In fact one of the strengths of my game is spin generation, I generate spin to the exclusion of most other things which has its strengths and weaknesses, but it keeps my level very stable. But it took a talking to from my first coach to get me to stop trying to hit the ball hard and to focus on generating spin in order to improve easily. Because I got frustrated with my match results, I took his advice, changed my game, and the rest is history. Now I am trying to diversify my game a bit more, but I suspect if my knees were fine, my game would be largely adequate and that the real problem is being fit enough to move.

But long story short, work on generating spin, not on hitting the ball hard.

 

[NextLevel]

Thanks for taking the time to post such an extensive and informative answer!

I think what you say about not taking advantage of the strengths of the faster blade is exactly how I feel. I have no problem generating power and I play pretty close to the table. When I try to move away a bit, first I don't feel comfortable with my placement but I also lack the footwork (never been my forte and does not get better with age...) for the bigger side steps that it requires. For sure the SALC has helped me getting more power when further from the table, especially in counter topspins rallies, but the reality is that those situations don't occur that much at my level

For context I used to play when I was younger, then stopped for 20 years. Been back to regular training with coach in group lessons (2x2h per week) and a few competitions for 3 years.

Coming back to TT I first used my old Andro off- 5ply with R45 and R42, then had a try at Donic Waldner Ultra Carbon (so inner carbon), with R48 and R45. I did not like the feel of the Donic, hollow handle gave weird sensations and inner carbon did not increase speed and efficience of my shots as I expected. I then moved to Acoustic with G1 2.0 on both sides and had quite a bit of success and progress with it. My analysis is that I made a mistake in thinking that a fast outer carbon blade like the Viscaria SALC was the right step to take at this stage - I should have rather kept on training and improving with the Acoustic. I have a pretty solid backhand block (and forehand block / drive / counter) for my level and I hoped to make it even deadlier with the SALC, but the truth is that while I still block pretty well with this blade, now my backhand topspin, which was one of my main weapons as well and a pillar in my tactics, has become extremely unreliable.

Thanks for the kind words. My point is that you are basing your opinion on your current mode of play without performing the kind of adaptation required to take advantage of a faster blade. I personally would start most players who have used an Acoustic on an innerforce or a Viscaria or if they like Limba, on a Freitas or Innerforce since Limba has different feeling from Koto and that might be affecting you as well since the Acoustic isn't that hard. But in the end, equipment doesn't matter much as long as you give yourself time to adapt, most people don't really do what they need to do to adapt, they just hope things will turn out fine. In reality, you need to put in a lot of training hours to use faster equipment optimally, and if you use slower equipment, you will develop a lot of suboptimal things that are not necessarily bad, but will make adaptation to a faster blade even harder.

Also blades have measurable frequency and the frequency tends to be higher and vibration lower in faster blades, making feedback harder for some players. So maybe the Viscaria SALC is a bit too stiff for you based on how you currently play. But all in all, if you want to use the Viscaria, spend a lot of time changing how you play, it isn't really about how good a player you are - there are good players who do not like fast blades, and there are good players who cannot stand slow blades. A lot comes down to personal feeling, it isn't about playing level per se. Just wanted to help you see that because you might get to a point where you use a faster blade and wonder why you didn't switch earlier, lol.

 

[HyperBlow]

Generating spin is not about hitting the ball hard, generating spin is about working on generating spin. Here is a fairly high level player (definitely USATT 2200+, he wouldn't have played the Lagos Open otherwise unless I am misguided) getting coaching/practice on generating spin.

In fact one of the strengths of my game is spin generation, I generate spin to the exclusion of most other things which has its strengths and weaknesses, but it keeps my level very stable. But it took a talking to from my first coach to get me to stop trying to hit the ball hard and to focus on generating spin in order to improve easily. Because I got frustrated with my match results, I took his advice, changed my game, and the rest is history. Now I am trying to diversify my game a bit more, but I suspect if my knees were fine, my game would be largely adequate and that the real problem is being fit enough to move.

But long story short, work on generating spin, not on hitting the ball hard.

For sure I hit the ball too hard and I don't generate enough spin. The challenge I have is that I'm very conscious of it but struggle in actually changing. Age is not an excuse of course, but bad habits are often even harder to get rid of when you get older...

So many times do I end with the right ball to attack / kill on my forehand and I just hit it too hard. And I know it was the issue, and I get frustrated by it, but it has become a kind of reflex. I start the training session telling myself that this is the one when I will be careful about not hitting too hard and focusing on spin generation, only to see myself smashing or power-looping any ball that is slightly above the net...

As you probably understood I'm not the kind of person to look for fake excuses and I know going back to an all-wood blade will by no mean be magical and suddenly solve all my problems. But I hope it will bring back some confidence in my shots and help me being able to switch back focus to improving my technique and tactics. Lately I've been struggling so hard that I have no fun at all playing my beloved sport.

 

[NextLevel]

I have a really good coach so that's a good first step! I certainly lack the ability to generate enough spin and safety on my top-spin shots, whatever the set-up I have trouble to generate good arc. Power/speed is not an issue, I can hit the ball hard. My successful top-spin shots are efficient, often long and fast, but not safe enough.

Been pushing back on recording matches and training, always finding excuses but you're right, I really need to do it. I also do only group sessions and would certainly get benefit in doing some private ones, but it's hard to find the time in my schedule.

Last thing, if you are too busy to get better, practice the appropriate attitude of acceptance. Book a camp at a good club when you are on vacation and have a week or two to practice. After the camp, give yourself 6 months for your level to change (be patient, improvement in TT is hard, even after intense training). If you can't do that, accept your level. It is hard to understand how weak a player you truly are without getting better and getting a lot of coaching. When you do, you will realize how delusional it is to want improvement without putting in the time or the training because you will see so many things you need to do better to get better and see that TT is deceptively simple looking but incredibly hard. I beat myself up for many years taking the wrong attitude to improvement so it is the first thing I try to help fellow learners with - don't have unrealistic expectations for your performance without the required amount of training and the patience to give yourself time for the training to be executed and replace old habits.

 

[NextLevel]

For sure I hit the ball too hard and I don't generate enough spin. The challenge I have is that I'm very conscious of it but struggle in actually changing. Age is not an excuse of course, but bad habits are often even harder to get rid of when you get older...

So many times do I end with the right ball to attack / kill on my forehand and I just hit it too hard. And I know it was the issue, and I get frustrated by it, but it has become a kind of reflex. I start the training session telling myself that this is the one when I will be careful about not hitting too hard and focusing on spin generation, only to see myself smashing or power-looping any ball that is slightly above the net...

As you probably understood I'm not the kind of person to look for fake excuses and I know going back to an all-wood blade will by no mean be magical and suddenly solve all my problems. But I hope it will bring back some confidence in my shots and help me being able to switch back focus to improving my technique and tactics. Lately I've been struggling so hard that I have no fun at all playing my beloved sport.

My point is that the equipment doesn't matter so much, go back to your all wood, like I said, I used them for most of my career, my best rating was achieved with all wood blades. But there are clear benefits to carbon if you stop taking the game as one of power and see it as one of spin generation as carbon lets you focus more on the spin and let the blade take care of the power. Sometimes preserves your shoulder too lol...

You cannot break habits and do things well when you don't practice doing them. So it is not a surprise. But I didn't break my habits either until I got tired of losing and some people never do. But in that case, don't beat yourself up for no reason. You expressed frustration, I am trying to give you a realistic idea of how hard this sport can be so you don't give in to the dark side. Your experience is common and natural. How you fix it is up to you given your constraints, but beating yourself up for being unable to do something you don't practice doing is not the answer.

 

[HyperBlow]

Thanks for the kind words. My point is that you are basing your opinion on your current mode of play without performing the kind of adaptation required to take advantage of a faster blade. I personally would start most players who have used an Acoustic on an innerforce or a Viscaria or if they like Limba, on a Freitas or Innerforce since Limba has different feeling from Koto and that might be affecting you as well since the Acoustic isn't that hard. But in the end, equipment doesn't matter much as long as you give yourself time to adapt, most people don't really do what they need to do to adapt, they just hope things will turn out fine. In reality, you need to put in a lot of training hours to use faster equipment optimally, and if you use slower equipment, you will develop a lot of suboptimal things that are not necessarily bad, but will make adaptation to a faster blade even harder.

Also blades have measurable frequency and the frequency tends to be higher and vibration lower in faster blades, making feedback harder for some players. So maybe the Viscaria SALC is a bit too stiff for you based on how you currently play. But all in all, if you want to use the Viscaria, spend a lot of time changing how you play, it isn't really about how good a player you are - there are good players who do not like fast blades, and there are good players who cannot stand slow blades. A lot comes down to personal feeling, it isn't about playing level per se. Just wanted to help you see that because you might get to a point where you use a faster blade and wonder why you didn't switch earlier, lol.

Of course I fully understand your points. And I'm conscious that if I could put the right time and effort in mastering my current set-up, I would be able to get used to it and probably globally improve. The fact is that I put quite a lot of power in my shots and I'm used to generate my own power rather than borrowing the one from my opponents or leveraging the stiffness of outer ALC, so for sure there are quite a few key elements in my strokes that would need to adapt.

One key element as well, at least from my pov, is that I'm not fully convinced by the SALC Flare handle. Maybe I'm overthinking it and trying to find reasons for underperforming when it's mostly about me. But the Acoustic SG handle fits my hand perfectly while the SALC one feels a bit small. The small handle and relative heaviness of the SALC makes it also quite a bit head-heavy, a bit more than I would like. Adding grip is not a valid option, makes the blade totally muted.

More globally, with the time I have to train and play, getting used to this new setup is probably a bit out of reach tbh. I'm passionate about playing TT ofc, and I want to improve. But it's also meant to be a fun moment in my busy schedule, and right now fun is not here anymore.

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

1. sell super viscaria
2. buy acoustic inner carbon
3. ????? (practice a lot)
4. profit

 

[HyperBlow]

To sum up: I'll have a try going back to Acoustic with G1 while also continuing to work on my ability to focus on spin rather than power. It won't be magical, adapting back will be hard, but I'm ready to go this road. And if I have second thoughts, or if I feel I now have the time and mindset to fully dedicate to switching to a fast outer carbon blade... well my SALC will be here waiting for me, and I will consider going for stickier / slower rubbers to pair it with.

Btw @NextLevel thanks you again for all the good advice. Totally agree with you on the importance of acceptance, I'm certainly too impatient with what I expect of my improvement curve vs the time and effort I can dedicate to TT. My challenge right now is not that I'm not improving as fast as I would want, I'm actually getting worse, that's where most of the frustration comes from.

 

[HyperBlow]

1. sell super viscaria
2. buy acoustic inner carbon
3. ????? (practice a lot)
4. profit

haha I would lie if I did not admit that I consider this option as well... we'll see! With my current lack of confidence, I feel more comfortable going back to something I enjoyed, even if it's a bit of a step back.

 

[pong99]

48 years old with ttcan 700 rating

for reference, Mo Zhang is about 3000 ttcan which is around us 2500-2600 range

700 ttcan is likely under 1000 us rating

If someone tells me there is an older adult in the club who is under 1000 and has SALC + very fast rubbers, I will make the prediction that this player will be part of the forever under 1200 club. This is based on seeing many of these players. I have never seen one older adult with a very fast setup get significantly better. They usually hit way more balls out than in, but fall in love with the one ball that landed.

The people who have progressed very rapidly are kids who got regular coaching and went to China to train during summer break.

My main 2 blades are Acoustic and SDC ALC with MK. The ALC is faster and more deadly, but if I was playing a match for money, I would pick the Acoustic. It's plenty fast.

My advice is to play with the Acoustic and put on slower rubbers. For cheap, I would try H3 or G09 if you want to spend more. G09 is super easy to play with.

 

[HyperBlow]

Not sure I feel super comfortable with the "older adult" wording as it sounds a bit like I'm already a geezer, but for sure I'm not a youngster anymore haha... i guess I still need to get used to being part of the older tt players!

In my Thursday training sessions I play with much higher rated players like around 1500-2000 ttcan and while I'm not at their level of course, I get games from them regularly and I'm able to drill with most of them without problem. I would say that in my good days I can play 1200-1300 ttcan, but lately those good days have been pretty rare.

I get your point though, getting used to such a fast set-up (not only SALC but also Andro Nuzn 50 in fh and Xiom Omega Pro 7 in bh) is considerably harder when you age. I don't have the ability to progress of the young kids, and my muscles and joints are getting stiffer.

Going back to Acoustic and G1. I could try other rubbers but I liked this setup, I had fun playing with it and got my best results with it since I started again

 

[HyperBlow]

First practice session back to Acoustic and G1. OMG. For sure it feels slow now, especially in backhand. Slow and squishy ;-) but I already enjoyed it nonetheless, as I could feel how the greater control helps my confidence on openers. Acoustic handle feels better as well.

Got a league match in 3 weeks, playing against very strong players. We'll see how it goes!

 

[HyperBlow]

Now 3 practice sessions under the belt with the Acoustic / G1 setup. First 2 were really encouraging, last one a bit more shaky, especially in the short game. Did a one-setter against a 1700 TTCAN, tried to keep my pushes short as pushing long against him is a recipe for disaster, and I ended putting lots of pushes in the net when receiving. I feel the G1s are evolving a bit with playtime, which was to be expected. Having switched setup quite a bit (too much tbh) in recent months, I also feel it's always a bit the same story of performing really well with the new setup in first hours then having more difficulties in following sessions.

But no doubt about my backhand openers being much more stable with the Acoustic / G1 than Super ALC / Omega VII Pro. I'm able to have much more variation, better placement and when I want, more spin.

 

[HyperBlow]

League match is done and gone... 3 singles played, against a 1400 TTCAN, an unranked player who plays around 1800 and the last one 2000+.

Did not manage to take a W, but I'm really happy about my performance all around. Took 1 set from the 1400, lost the 3rd 16-14 and ended losing in 4. It was a really close one against an opponent I know pretty well as he trains at my club. He used to play at a much, much higher level when he was younger, and that showed in his serves - he just killed me with them at the end, especially with a half-long kicker that I kept hitting with the edge when trying to flick. I need to work again and again on those receives. On top of all the easy points I give to my opponents, this weakness prevents me to have a good flow in matches, it generates stress and hesitation in my game.

Lost 3-0 against the unranked / circa 1800, here again I had a lot of trouble with his serves, he had amazing variety in spin, placement and motion. I think I did lose like 11-9 / 11-8 / 11-9 so it was not a purge, with 6-6 in all 3 sets.

Best performance was against the 2000. Lost the first 2, grabbed the 3rd 11-8 and lost the 4th 11-9... So once again too short for the W, too many dumb mistakes at crucial moments.

All in all this league match was a great confidence boost, even if I failed to grab a victory. When I manage to get good receives on the table I can really compete with higher level players. My backhand is much more consistent since I went back to the Acoustic / G1 setup

 

[NextLevel]

League match is done and gone... 3 singles played, against a 1400 TTCAN, an unranked player who plays around 1800 and the last one 2000+.

Did not manage to take a W, but I'm really happy about my performance all around. Took 1 set from the 1400, lost the 3rd 16-14 and ended losing in 4. It was a really close one against an opponent I know pretty well as he trains at my club. He used to play at a much, much higher level when he was younger, and that showed in his serves - he just killed me with them at the end, especially with a half-long kicker that I kept hitting with the edge when trying to flick. I need to work again and again on those receives. On top of all the easy points I give to my opponents, this weakness prevents me to have a good flow in matches, it generates stress and hesitation in my game.

Lost 3-0 against the unranked / circa 1800, here again I had a lot of trouble with his serves, he had amazing variety in spin, placement and motion. I think I did lose like 11-9 / 11-8 / 11-9 so it was not a purge, with 6-6 in all 3 sets.

Best performance was against the 2000. Lost the first 2, grabbed the 3rd 11-8 and lost the 4th 11-9... So once again too short for the W, too many dumb mistakes at crucial moments.

All in all this league match was a great confidence boost, even if I failed to grab a victory. When I manage to get good receives on the table I can really compete with higher level players. My backhand is much more consistent since I went back to the Acoustic / G1 setup

Trying to flick half long topspin serves is a mistake, you need to practice judging serve length and be certain those serves are really short and tight (they could be short and still easy to loop). It's more likely they were long and you could loop them with practice. If they are really short, by all means, patiently flick then, that should work, but the more errors you make on that kind of return, the more likely it was really a long serve that you kept trying to play as if it was a short serve.