Top 10 annoying situations every table tennis player has encountered!

[Shuki]

Hahaha. I'm going to tell a story. I am going to stick with the delusional and ridiculous because it is funny.

I used to play at this bar where they have tables and a lot of recreational players who have never seen a real club/tournament level player. At this place there are a lot of characters who really just don't have a clue that they are bad.

My friends and I would go and basically put on a show. Simple drills. Not stuff that would show a real player our level. Sometimes it was cross court counterhitting fast, or loop to block. Or one person would back up and lob and the other person would control smash.

Every so often someone would come up and be, like, I'm better than you guys. I bet I can beat you. Or something like that. We would always try to be nice. We had guys try to bet $500.00 (I don't know why that particular number came up so often; But it did). We would be nice because the real players would never be the ones doing this. I never let one of those clowns pay me anything but I did let them buy me a beer.

So this one particular time, this guy wasn't one of the betting people. But he was arrogant and angry. Now I saw right away that there was no use playing with my right hand so I played the first game with my left hand. (This place most people play games to 21 and so you know they don't actually play for real.)

So, against my left hand he did not get over 10. I am not really that good with my left hand. But when we were done he was angry and told me he was going to beat me and went to play on the other table to get ready to beat me. (Hehe). 30 min later he wanted to play again. Same basic results. Same response after but he started getting nastier and there was anger and insults and statements about how bad he was going to beat me. So, 30 min later he came back and said he wanted to play again and that he was going to beat me this time. So I told him, "didn't you notice that I was playing with my left hand. Here, I will show you what will happen if I play more than half." I played with my right hand and at 20-1 I gave him one extra mercy point and he started mouthing off about how he was going to beat me. So I politely said to him, "look, for you to beat me, you would actually have to learn how to play first and that could take years!"


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you left me hanging! with all his anger i know he didnt just walk away after that!

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

you left me hanging! with all his anger i know he didnt just walk away after that!

He actually sat down like he was going to wait to play winners. Sat there for about 5 min. And then just left. I think what I did to him slowly sunk in. I mean he got beat 21-2 and I made it as obvious as I could that the points he got were gifts.

There are times when it is okay to teach someone that lesson.


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[Suga D]

Thanks Tom, great thread. Made me laugh out loud quite a few times and made me reflect about the last couple of years. So here is my experience:

#1 happened to me in one of my first league matches after a 17 year long break.
I was playing against a young teenager and just didn't find my line. And yes, it was one of the few times my girlfriend came to watch. It just didn't feel nice....

#2 was in the second match (the first match is gonna be following below) of my first tournament after that long break of mine. I was facing a 65 year old guy with short pips on fh and long pips on bh, who stood 3mm from the table and still was chasing me all around the table. My spin game was just what he's been waiting for. I just didn't know what to do, but must admit that i wasn't playing with a lot of brain usage... That didn't feel nice as well...

#3 i must say, i was the one who was annoying. I was playing a guy 200 points above my rating. The poor guy lost the confidence in his looping ability after a few misses and i luckily won that match. After the match we had a short chat and i asked him why he didn't pull the balls and that he probably would have won if he would have continued looping. I just don't know why i've done that. Probably i just didn't know what to speak about and just wanted to be nice, but the poor guy must have hated me. (Well, i would've)

#4 was when i had an appointment with a friend of mine for doing a couple of drills but unfortunately my friend got stuck in a traffic jam and was already 20minutes late. So then this clubmate that can't place 3 balls on the same spot, asked me for a knocking about till my practice partner would show up. So i gave it a hit. So when my friend finally showed up i was so focussed on playing that my friend also played with someone else. After a while when each of us was done, we were just about to start our drills but unfortunately the practice time was over... So we then continued our drills 2 days later.

#5 happened last year in a league match. I was facing a 70+ y.o. guy who was playing in the 2nd Bundesliga in the eighties. I took the first two games quite clear and was leading in the third by 10:8, 11:10, 12:11 and 13:12
Lost that game by 13:15 and the last two games as well. I hope i'll get my rematch this season..
But that also didn't feel nice.

#6 actually doesn't happen by friends, cause they know me quite well, but rather by working mates... But that doesn't wind me up anymore. It used to when i was a kid, but nowadays i just smile...

#7 happened a couple of years ago on FB by no one else than Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon. She told me she has eye-witnessed that when she was a little girl. But i still find it hard to believe....

#8 was in the first match of my first tournament after that long break of mine. I was facing a player whose rating points was 700 points above mine. And it was the first time i lost a game by 11:0 while the other games ended 11:5 and 11:4
But that didn't really matter as much as i thought.
When i started playing as a kid one of my friends was playing for the german national junior team and sometimes he gave me 18 handicap points (it was the 21 point era back then) and would sometimes beat me 21:19 or 22:20
Guess i got used to accept when someone better shows me my limits...
But it still didn't feel nice at all.

#9 happened 2 years ago against a 20 y.o. kid at the "Bezirksmeisterschaften" Tournament in the quarter finals. This kid got me quite good a couple of times and each time he scored he choed louder with his coach and his friend applauding even on edge balls. But somehow i still managed to beat him in the deciding game. So then i made a BIG choooooooo followed by an even longer and louder "hussaaaaa"
I think i've seen a tear or two, which actually made me feel sorry on the one side but on the other hand i thought it was a lesson to been taught.

#10 happened last year in a league match. This guy couldn't loop three times in a row but his ego was big enough for the whole hall... What a sore loser this guy was. He was blaming his loss on the lighting, on the flooring, and even on the umpire (which was his own clubmate)
Actually this was more entertaining than annoying to my teammates and me.

Wow.... I didn't realize until now how many annoying situations i've been facing.
So, like Der_Echte would probably say:
been there, done that and got the T-shirt...

 

[Suga D]

This topic is so awesome!

11. You have just bought a brand-new blade and rubbers. In the first multiball training with the new racket you practice half-long shots and by mistake hit the edge of the table and destroy your new rubber. Well played 50€.

Has this happened to anybody else lol? I think twice for me.

Hahaha... You probably won't believe it, but this happened while warming up for a league match and a ripped a brand new sheet of t05 on the table's edge while doing a bh banana flip...
The second one just happened today, when i accidentally dropped my new AH-Blade and now the bh rubber's got a little rip on the corner. I probably won't be allowed using it in higher tournaments but in league matches they hopefully won't care...

 

[Der_Echte]

It's a FREE T-Shirt. One would be foolish to pay extra money for that.

BTW, Suga D, which class of league do you play? You mentioned several matches from Bezirks to 2. Bundes

Even a top Bezirksliga player would be way above the average playing level of a random forum member. Sayin' that just so others get an idea what it is like.

 

[Der_Echte]

This topic is so awesome!

11. You have just bought a brand-new blade and rubbers. In the first multiball training with the new racket you practice half-long shots and by mistake hit the edge of the table and destroy your new rubber. Well played 50€.

Has this happened to anybody else lol? I think twice for me.

Our local club owner was doing drills with a visitor who just happened to mention he was getting tired and not able to function very well. Owner asked if they should stop and player said he wanted to keep playing.

Owner served a half long ball to the FH corner that cleared it by a half millimeter. The player took a very aggressive MAX swing at it and smashed his hand into the corner of the thick pro table top... You can guess what happened... dude broke hiz hand, not hiz rubber.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Our local club owner was doing drills with a visitor who just happened to mention he was getting tired and not able to function very well. Owner asked if they should stop and player said he wanted to keep playing.

Owner served a half long ball to the FH corner that cleared it by a half millimeter. The player took a very aggressive MAX swing at it and smashed his hand into the corner of the thick pro table top... You can guess what happened... dude broke hiz hand, not hiz rubber.

And that, my friends is why they call those half long balls that will bounce at the white line or come off the table by a fraction of an inch "HAND BREAKERS". I have been told by 2600 level friends to work on my hand breaker serves. And Michael Landers showed me a trick for working on looping hand breakers.

He warned, "Don't use your main racket for it!" The drill is this: someone rolls the ball medium slow towards the edge of the table. And you have to loop it as it passes the edge. Enough practice and those hand breaker length balls are well measured and in the bag. Provided you don't break your hand learning them.


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[NextLevel]

For hand-breaking serves, there is nothing wrong with letting the opponent win the point. This is not claycourt tennis and we are not Gael Monfils...

 

[Kaizoku]

I was playing at a club for the first time this week... (twice) on 1, I managed to loose to this 12 year old girl... (to my defence she was of asian origin...) and ammong the best her own age in my country.. but still. xD

conserning 3. I think I would apreciate it. (not happend to me yet though, as I've not played any tournaments) It's valuable feedback o.o Well, considering it's factors you simply couldn't handle, and not just temp mistakes you usually get, that is. Unless you're a bad looser of course.

Really felt like I was 4 when I trained with the Norwegian cup folks... Though I was not horrible. xD

6 I think happend once.
7 has happend to me a couple times, the first time, I thought it was real at first until I confirmed it fake lol.

Conserning pimples, the two best folks at the club I went to used pimples on one side I just barely got to play one set with one of them though. (that guy using long pimples).

 

[Ale Moscato]

11. Last set, decissive point. The ball is coming to you, slow, easy. The rival gives up. You are about to smash and finish that point, but a ball from the neighbor table comes in, and the referee stops the point. When repeat the point, you lose it when an edge ball...

 

[necax007]

Worst thing ever.... Getting to the club and realize that EVERY SINGLE PERSON THERE is way better than me! And then they serve like i was 4 years old girl picking up the bat for the first time.... one of this days.... BANG!

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Worst thing ever.... Getting to the club and realize that EVERY SINGLE PERSON THERE is way better than me! And then they serve like i was 4 years old girl picking up the bat for the first time.... one of this days.... BANG!

I remember being there. One of the good things about playing with the players who are better than you and play nice to you, they actually can often get you to play higher than your level because they can get so much back on the table. So, sometimes this scenario may be better than that same player just trying to beat you as fast as possible.

I've seen that where, a higher level player played with brutal no-mercy rules and held the lower level player to 3 points in a best of 5 just because he wanted to win as fast as he could to play the person who had next after. I have a feeling it would really suck to lose a match at 11-2, 11-1, 11-0!!!!


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[necax007]

I remember being there. One of the good things about playing with the players who are better than you and play nice to you, they actually can often get you to play higher than your level because they can get so much back on the table. So, sometimes this scenario may be better than that same player just trying to beat you as fast as possible.

I've seen that where, a higher level player played with brutal no-mercy rules and held the lower level player to 3 points in a best of 5 just because he wanted to win as fast as he could to play the person who had next after. I have a feeling it would really suck to lose a match at 11-2, 11-1, 11-0!!!!


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You're right Carl. I'm just frustrated... They really reaaaaaaaaaally help me and even lose their time of practice helping me.
But i just want to get to their level as fast as possible.

 

[Dragan Glas]

Greetings,

I find myself in something of a similar situation, having just returned to the game after a seven year break.

Most of the club players are fine with taking the time to help you practice and get your hand-eye coordination and timing back, although it can be boring for them when you miss the ball and/or table (thumb or finger contact! Or a "LSW" ).

What I don't like is where a player, who's waiting to play your better practice partner, inveigles you away from the table without being up-front and just asking can they play with your partner? Not a nice feeling.

Kindest regards,

James

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

You're right Carl. I'm just frustrated... They really reaaaaaaaaaally help me and even lose their time of practice helping me.
But i just want to get to their level as fast as possible.

You'll get to their level if you keep at it. Table tennis is a game skill and over time, sometimes you learn stuff and your brain just figures something out and your level jumps without you even realizing how you learned and get better.

What I don't like is where a player, who's waiting to play your better practice partner, inveigles you away from the table without being up-front and just asking can they play with your partner? Not a nice feeling.

Yeah, it is interesting that there are enough weird jerks who aren't very nice who play table tennis. I guess you can find those kinds of idiots anywhere. Hopefully you can mostly avoid losers like that though.


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[[email protected]]

Oh God number six! I can't stand it when people say ping pong isn't a real sport. I'm OK when they talk about forest gump, but it's just insulting to compare table tennis to foosball!

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[Sali]

I can think of two other:
1. There is a girl in my club, she plays in 1 ligue. I know her for many years, because we were playing 20 years ago for same club and at the end of my attending I was usually wining. Then I had a long 20 years break and started playing again 4 years ago. Now she does not want to play with me, also she does not want to play anybody else besides top guys from ligue 3. Trust me, it is not the matter of her high level, she is just afraid to loose with guy who does not play any ligue or play ligue 5.
2. You play counters with you opponent during match, the he is far from the table a make a shot which is very close to you edge of the table. You are 0,5m from the ball and see that it did not hit the edge, and you opponent who is 6 meters to the ball says it touched the edge and he is 100% sure.

 

[Exercised]

The first one was me in a nutshell :')

 

[iHatePONGPING]

The only annoying thing I can think of is playing against a very loud opponent.
I don't mind being asked to play or train with players of lower level. Most times I find ways to make the game challenging enough for me.

 

[Ian]

When you play that guy who sweats a lot




When you play that guy who never apologises for nets and edges