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Hello , I am going to try to make this story as short as possible as I want the opinion of the more seasoned players here, but this is something that I just witnessed during the last few weeks and I am still wrapping my head about it.
I am in my early 40's, I have been playing since I was a kid, did tournaments and won a few back in the day, so while I am not a world class player I can hold my own usually against any good player.
Last month a new guy shows up at my club, late 40's, very quite, he just came to the country recently, since none of my usual partners are at the club yet I asked him if he wants to play a little, he agrees. The second we start playing I could tell the guy was no joke, amazing control, and the ball had this "kick" to it that I've never experienced before, then we played a match, he destroys me 3 - 0, I was struggling with the most spiny serves I have ever played against, not only were his serves spiny, he could place them everywhere with ease, long deep corners, short ones, all of them, on top of that, any serve that I could return were greeted with a topspin so spiny that my blocks were just going out of the table. His topspin weren't blazing fast they were just spiny and well placed.
At this point you are thinking "maybe you are not as good as you thought you were", and that could be true but I never struggled against somebody like this, anyways better players than me a couple of Chinese regulars that have won local tournaments arrived to club and played against the guy, and the same happens, this guys destroys everybody, his serves were too much to deal with and then his topspins were just as hard. Maybe we all suck at the club? what if this dude faces the best of the best of the state? Well, last week was the Open district tournament the number 1 ranked from our State and 4th in the country who recently came back from Europe was playing the tournament, as well as many youngsters that are very well ranked, young guns, fast players. We asked him if he would like to play that tournament, he said yes, so here is what happened....
He breezed to his bracket sending back home all the favorites, this dude with not a flashy style, you won't seen him going all out or crazy on the table reached the finals, and what I witnessed have changed my mind of what this game is about.
Enter the finals, the late 40's unknown man that recently came to the country, a very quite, slower, calmed, in a way he reminded me of Walder and Samsonov with their slower-paced style of play, was facing the 4th best player in the country, the best in the state, a young gun in his prime, know for his aggressive and flashy style like all the kids want to play, who will win this? well...
The unknown older players won the finals, the tournament in fact, quite easy that final 3 - 0 against a pro-players who didn't know what to do with that spin. You see? this more than confirms to me that somehow along the way Table Tennis players switched to a more speedy game, it's all about speed, flicking serves and flashiness and this guy never did a banana flick in the whole tournament, he just placed the ball where he wanted with and godly amount of spin, his topspins looked slow in comparison to anyoneelse's, but they came loaded with a power that all those speedy topspin lacked.
I am going to attempt to change my game so late in my life now, trying to focus on less speed and aggressiveness to a more calculated, controlled game with much more spin, I've seen and witnessed real proof that spin, control and placement >>>>>>>>>> speed.
That is all folks, I just wanted to share this story with you might find it interesting as well.
Cheers.
I am in my early 40's, I have been playing since I was a kid, did tournaments and won a few back in the day, so while I am not a world class player I can hold my own usually against any good player.
Last month a new guy shows up at my club, late 40's, very quite, he just came to the country recently, since none of my usual partners are at the club yet I asked him if he wants to play a little, he agrees. The second we start playing I could tell the guy was no joke, amazing control, and the ball had this "kick" to it that I've never experienced before, then we played a match, he destroys me 3 - 0, I was struggling with the most spiny serves I have ever played against, not only were his serves spiny, he could place them everywhere with ease, long deep corners, short ones, all of them, on top of that, any serve that I could return were greeted with a topspin so spiny that my blocks were just going out of the table. His topspin weren't blazing fast they were just spiny and well placed.
At this point you are thinking "maybe you are not as good as you thought you were", and that could be true but I never struggled against somebody like this, anyways better players than me a couple of Chinese regulars that have won local tournaments arrived to club and played against the guy, and the same happens, this guys destroys everybody, his serves were too much to deal with and then his topspins were just as hard. Maybe we all suck at the club? what if this dude faces the best of the best of the state? Well, last week was the Open district tournament the number 1 ranked from our State and 4th in the country who recently came back from Europe was playing the tournament, as well as many youngsters that are very well ranked, young guns, fast players. We asked him if he would like to play that tournament, he said yes, so here is what happened....
He breezed to his bracket sending back home all the favorites, this dude with not a flashy style, you won't seen him going all out or crazy on the table reached the finals, and what I witnessed have changed my mind of what this game is about.
Enter the finals, the late 40's unknown man that recently came to the country, a very quite, slower, calmed, in a way he reminded me of Walder and Samsonov with their slower-paced style of play, was facing the 4th best player in the country, the best in the state, a young gun in his prime, know for his aggressive and flashy style like all the kids want to play, who will win this? well...
The unknown older players won the finals, the tournament in fact, quite easy that final 3 - 0 against a pro-players who didn't know what to do with that spin. You see? this more than confirms to me that somehow along the way Table Tennis players switched to a more speedy game, it's all about speed, flicking serves and flashiness and this guy never did a banana flick in the whole tournament, he just placed the ball where he wanted with and godly amount of spin, his topspins looked slow in comparison to anyoneelse's, but they came loaded with a power that all those speedy topspin lacked.
I am going to attempt to change my game so late in my life now, trying to focus on less speed and aggressiveness to a more calculated, controlled game with much more spin, I've seen and witnessed real proof that spin, control and placement >>>>>>>>>> speed.
That is all folks, I just wanted to share this story with you might find it interesting as well.
Cheers.