Losing rant

[coolchap]

Hello Friends,

I played TT trials today lost to multiple opponent, some of them were actually good so those did not hurt much. But to the opponent whom everyone was defeating and later I thought I will too but I lost 3-2 and I was unable to pick his top spin. There were some other players playing casually and talking and shouting that made me irk even more.

I am so frustrated right now thinking that why could not I especially after knowing it will top spin again and again but my backhand counter topspin was not working or I was being defensive not sure. Even I picked up few with forehand but not consistently and when I was serve him back mostly giving no spin or chop and he was able to return. Yesterday I served 600 times to practice and today in match I forgot to do topspin and see how he responds to it. Is not this ridiculous? I usually think my serves are good even other acknowledge it other days. I am really pissed at myself.

Frustrated at myself and blaming myself and no one. Even if someone is shouting ( even when they were not playing the tournament) it shouldn't impact me and I need to be in the zone.


Just wanted to let it out here as this is only TT community I have where I can be this open and vulnerable.


Thanks
Coolchap

 

[lightspin]

One of my professional player friends once said that if you aren't extremely mad after every practice and each loss, then you have given up the fight to try to improve.

Also: some serves work great against one player and are useless against others. This even happens at the pro level. If people are making noise, then maybe you should start cheering yourself on after points. Good luck!

 

[coolchap]

One of my professional player friends once said that if you aren't extremely mad after every practice and each loss, then you have given up the fight to try to improve.

So should I assume this is good that I am mad at myself and that I care about my table tennis?

 

[lightspin]

Well according to him, yes. Try not to show it or do anything silly, but it is ok to be really annoyed after playing poorly.

 

[\_Kairos_/]

Of course it's understandable if one gets mad if he/she has played poorly, be it in practice or in a match. Happens to the best of 'em...
That being said, I generally agree with @lightspin. The point is to not become miserable in the long run and perhaps lose interest in the game in general. The point here is:
- to use that "negative" energy in order to improve your focus and to motivate yourself
- to use that energy from a disappointing loss to play better next time and to conciously reflect on the things that went well and perhaps not so well.

 

[coolchap]

Thanks for it. This match wasn't a failure but a data that I need to learn how to learn with top spins serve especially from my backhand. I need to learn countering topspin short and long serves from backhand.

 

[TTWiz]

Hello Friends,

I played TT trials today lost to multiple opponent, some of them were actually good so those did not hurt much. But to the opponent whom everyone was defeating and later I thought I will too but I lost 3-2 and I was unable to pick his top spin. There were some other players playing casually and talking and shouting that made me irk even more.

I am so frustrated right now thinking that why could not I especially after knowing it will top spin again and again but my backhand counter topspin was not working or I was being defensive not sure. Even I picked up few with forehand but not consistently and when I was serve him back mostly giving no spin or chop and he was able to return. Yesterday I served 600 times to practice and today in match I forgot to do topspin and see how he responds to it. Is not this ridiculous? I usually think my serves are good even other acknowledge it other days. I am really pissed at myself.

Frustrated at myself and blaming myself and no one. Even if someone is shouting ( even when they were not playing the tournament) it shouldn't impact me and I need to be in the zone.


Just wanted to let it out here as this is only TT community I have where I can be this open and vulnerable.


Thanks
Coolchap

Hey Coolchap,

First of all, thanks for sharing so openly — it takes courage to be vulnerable, especially in a competitive environment like table tennis. I can really relate to what you’re feeling. We’ve all had those matches where everything feels off and the frustration just builds up. It’s especially hard when you lose to someone you expected to beat — that can hit much harder than losing to a top player.

You’re not alone in this. Many great athletes — across all sports — have said that they hate losing more than they love winning. That mindset isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It often fuels the drive to improve and push harder. But as you already sensed, it becomes tricky when that inner frustration starts interfering with your focus during the match.

The key is to try to contain that emotional energy during the game and instead let it out afterwards — just like you’ve done here. If you can channel that “anger” into constructive reflection once the match is over, it can be a powerful tool. Maybe it’s reviewing how you handled that topspin, experimenting with new serve variations, or just accepting that some days, things don’t click — and that’s okay too.


It sounds like you’re already asking the right questions. You’ve put in the hard work (600 serves the day before!), and the awareness you’re showing now is going to pay off in the long run. Try to be a bit kinder to yourself — not by ignoring mistakes, but by recognizing that frustration can be fuel when handled right.

Keep grinding — this sport is as much mental as it is technical, and you’re clearly reflecting in a way that leads to growth.

All the best,
Bave

 

[coolchap]

Thanks @Bavildo83 , thanks for your kind words. It means a lot to me. Losing matches was an irk for sure but when other people (especially one of guy, who was my partner at point of time and just because of small thing, there is beef now was making noises that was bothering me even more, even when he was not playing in the tournament. Making noises from the sidelines which was very close, not a big large place). I don't blame that for my loss because that will mean that I am saying that I did not do anything wrong and everything happened due to someone else, that's the last thing I wanna to say.

But sure that kinda made me irritated hampered my thinking otherwise, even after releasing one of other pointing me out during the game break that I am not trying my array of serves, I myself wonder how I did not try the short spin topspin and long top spin serves at all. I did do the tomawahk topspin and that gave some advantage but not a lot. Technically flaw was that I was unable to pick the top spin serves may be because most of the time whomever I am playing they are giving me lot of backspin serves and have not got used to topspin serve receive from backhand. I am not sure why did not I even try to go for my banana flick. I might have been too stiff and lack of thinking. As that costed me the game as it was close one and lost quite a lot on receives.

So this loss will be a special loss to me because I got irked by several I let other things to get a better out of me, but I want to learn how to play in hostile condition where you have to cheer up yourself and even in the noises or choas I have to get into the zone. That will be hard, as usually even when I played tournament in past, there are lot of noises from ball hitting the table and all that but from people talking out loud and especially me knowing them.

I am thinking of participating in other tournaments going forward that might give me the practice which I need the tournament practice and nothing can beat it. No amount of practice can give me that pressure of an tournament.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Hey I lost 2 weeks ago against a 10yo girl in a tournament my last and 6th match in a round robin tournament
It really sucked because it costs me a hell lot of points and I was still in position to win the tournament before that match and she wasn’t even very good and ranked 200 below me. I beated 3 of the top players but she won only 1 before the match

It felt very good winning the first 3 matches easily against players I’ve problems against in the past. But then I lost 4th match against long pips pushblocker ( I hate this style and played poorly again) and lost my confidence . 5th match should have been an easy win but I won in G5 only after leading 2-0 and choking afterwards
I totally choked against the girl and lost in G5 after a bad start …

So you’re not alone 😂

 

[Tyce]

Losing sucks. Losing to someone you feel like you shouldn't be losing to sucks. Losing focus from the crowd being annoying sucks. Your reaction to be pissed off makes perfect sense.

Don't bother going into the details unless you are cooled down and have factual footage to analyze. Your memory is tainted by frustration.
Point being, maybe there was no option to pick off his topspins, and you just mistakenly kept thinking there was. Maybe you were mentally off because of the other losses. It's hard to get in the winning mentality when you are getting used to the losses.

Don't get lost in the would've could've should've. Just pick 1-2 points you feel insecure about after this day and build them up. Come back stronger.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I think your nickname isn't cool enough
go icechap - that will give you a better anti-rant situation and execute better.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

In the nicest way possible you posted a video of your forehand here a few weeks ago. It was a very broken forehand and demonstrated that you haven't grasped the basic strokes of shots in table tennis. Have you worked on the advice in that thread? If so you should post a follow up video.

But until you improve your basic skills from what was seen in the video by a lot, the hard truth is that there is not really anybody that you "should" beat. You have to have some level of consistent ability to make shots before you can claim there is anyone that you "should" beat, from what we've seen, you don't have that yet. But keep working at it and it will come.

 

[BlopChock]

Try to be a bit kinder to yourself — not by ignoring mistakes, but by recognizing that frustration can be fuel when handled right.

I'll echo this.

 

[coolchap]

In the nicest way possible you posted a video of your forehand here a few weeks ago. It was a very broken forehand and demonstrated that you haven't grasped the basic strokes of shots in table tennis. Have you worked on the advice in that thread? If so you should post a follow up video.

But until you improve your basic skills from what was seen in the video by a lot, the hard truth is that there is not really anybody that you "should" beat. You have to have some level of consistent ability to make shots before you can claim there is anyone that you "should" beat, from what we've seen, you don't have that yet. But keep working at it and it will come.

I totally get it. That I have a flawed technique and I agree to that. Even the people I do play some of them who I lose consistently and are better players in general, they too have flawed technique but even with those flaws they have some shots or tricks up their sleeves which makes them win at this amateur level.

I was rating me on the similar scale, even with these flaws , I can put the ball on the table. My frustration and rant was on me as I have played with that guy earlier and have defeated him and I was more pissed with the fact that even when I figured out what I was doing mid game why I did not change tactics and was frustrated with other people loud talking. I might even have lost but would have been a little content that I was clear with my actions even if that resulted in a loss .


Now coming back to you valid point, yes I have made some changes

1. Got my paddle proper moved from Pre Made paddle to the my proper setup. It does help for sure.
2. Have I gone better, I am not sure. I am hitting the ball sometimes and brushing it sometimes. I try not keep twisting my wrist to weird angles (which I got a feedback) but I with muscle memory I still do that. But now whenever I do that I understand that what mistake I have done and try not to do that for next few shots before I again do due to being in the moment of placing the ball on the table.

I don't have any latest video but surely I will get some soon and post for the reviews. If I have gone a hint better or still doing the same mistakes with no improvement.

 

[coolchap]

Losing sucks. Losing to someone you feel like you shouldn't be losing to sucks. Losing focus from the crowd being annoying sucks. Your reaction to be pissed off makes perfect sense.

Don't bother going into the details unless you are cooled down and have factual footage to analyze. Your memory is tainted by frustration.
Point being, maybe there was no option to pick off his topspins, and you just mistakenly kept thinking there was. Maybe you were mentally off because of the other losses. It's hard to get in the winning mentality when you are getting used to the losses.

Don't get lost in the would've could've should've. Just pick 1-2 points you feel insecure about after this day and build them up. Come back stronger.

I agree. Thinking wont help much as I dont have the recording , I totally forgot about the setup yesterday as could have had some really nice footage of various matches and which could have given me more insight. Thanks for the encouraging words. Will go back again and try again !

 

[jk1980]

a few points from the perspective of somebody playing for 3 years (but only about 6 months competitively).

winning against somebody in a training match or even playing "good" and losing only closely is no indicator of your match performance. In a real match many people will play very differently. Training is to do exactly that train and improve, this means not doing stuff you would usually do in matches, because in matches you care for the result (too much) to try things.

there are two training partners that can win close games against me in training, but would not inside a real match. it is simple as that: in training i really try to loop every long serve (which i would not in a real match). I try my fanciest strategies and setups to get more experiences in how Serve X could be returned and what my proper reply to it would be. This all leads to me not only scoring points for myself but also for the opponent obviously, because i try things that may only have a success chance of 50 %. This is the only way to improve for me, because if i play cautiously inside a training match then i will never get used to doing the "right" strokes and just keep chopping, blocking or pushing and wait for the opponent to make the mistake.

If that (defensive game) is what one wants, thats ok, but most of us want to play a more active game.

it was already mentioned by others that without a recording of your match you will most likely not be able to properly analyze what went wrong. The perception is usually too much tainted by expectations, emotions and selective memory.

The most helpful would be to analyze a match, write down the 2 or three most glaring issues with the fundamentals and next time get coached by your friend while in the match. Tell him too look out for these 2 or 3 mistakes you do and tell him to shout at you when you are doing it wrong.



Sometimes environment also affects your performance. Especially self learned players have the issue with the low stance and stand like a tree. If i play in such an environment i tend to mirror it, because it is somehow contagious and i guess subconsciously one feels stupid "acting like a pro" with a low stance.

Dont be a Naplokov (stance wise)

this video serves as a good reminder that even quite good players can find it very hard to play against "odd" opponents even though by the rating and technique difference they should be blasting them away from the table.

 

[Tyce]

There's just 100 points between them, I wouldn't say that's a given match in any case even besides the material

 

[jk1980]

w

There's just 100 points between them, I wouldn't say that's a given match in any case even besides the material

with that rating difference the lower rated players has a probability of winning of around 35%.

100 points difference is quite a lot even inside one league it would be heavily favouring the one player. In this example we obviously see that even good players can not often "wing it" when playing against specific material.

even preparing for such a match it would be hard to mirror the opponent, because even with the same pips-out blade a different trainng partner would use different strokes and create different spin.

 

[Der_Echte]

w

with that rating difference the lower rated players has a probability of winning of around 35%.

100 points difference is quite a lot even inside one league it would be heavily favouring the one player. In this example we obviously see that even good players can not often "wing it" when playing against specific material.

even preparing for such a match it would be hard to mirror the opponent, because even with the same pips-out blade a different trainng partner would use different strokes and create different spin.

Yes, in THEIR level in THEIR place, 100 points is SO HUGE difference.

 

[coolchap]

In our case , we both are unrated players so not much of idea who is on what level. I have played with him only twice but yeah but won in those situations.