TTD have reviewed new ITTF Approved ball

[Tinykin]

Dan, could you pay attention to 'net' balls. I found that the 40mm ball could climb the net at times. That is hit into the below white ridge and the ball would still have enough momentum to spin and get over to the other side. The 38 ball was far less capable of doing this.
I wonder if the combination of a 40.5mm dia plus poly material will make this worse.

 

[agold]

Dan, could you pay attention to 'net' balls. I found that the 40mm ball could climb the net at times. That is hit into the below white ridge and the ball would still have enough momentum to spin and get over to the other side. The 38 ball was far less capable of doing this.
I wonder if the combination of a 40.5mm dia plus poly material will make this worse.

This will be very difficult to test. Do you have ideas for strategies other than experience?

 

[krro]

ETA? And when will the Stiga poly ball be released on the market?

 

[SpinQuark]

I think it would be good to have some direct A/B comparisons between the existing ball and the new one. For example hit 6 backspin serves that spin back to the net in a row from a mix of 3 old and 3 poly balls in your pocket, then post edit to put them in sequence to show up any difference between the balls behaviour.

Also maybe do a couple of multiball exercises with the feeder feeding a mix of cellu and poly balls. This could show up any different behaviour of the new ball and any stroke timing adjustments required.

It would be good to try some tests of the degree of grip/friction, and the degree of bounce, against the table with the old and new ball. Drop two balls from same height ? Spin two balls backspin from the table edge (like many do when setting up for the opponent to choose a hand to see who will serve first)?

 

[Tinykin]

This will be very difficult to test. Do you have ideas for strategies other than experience?

Easy. Simply make an observation when it hits the net. Dan's videos may only be a few minutes long but there are many hours of tests that he does before condensing it all to those few minutes. There will be numerous 'net' balls in those few hours.

 

[aldob]

In my opinion the new balls will have some influence on the game. When I played with the new balls there was less spin, a higher bounce and when you didn't hit the ball in the right way you will produce a very big miss hit.

 

[elrigo99]

I actually liked them, I thought they travelled faster but took less spin, but this doesn't mean that they didn't spin at all, they still spun just a bit less.

 

[TTFrenzy]

In your rubber/blade reviews you mostly focus on the opening/rallying part of the game. Since most reviews of the plastic ball claim that it is more bouncy and less spinny than the celluloid one, please include slow motions with serve/receive differences (same serve/same receive/different ball) and again slow motions showing looping against backspin and then rally topspin vs topspin highlighting the big differences!

I know I ask too much but the viewers will have a more clear image since most reviews for the plastic ball out there, dont include serve / receive looping against backspin and topspin/countertopspin rallies

 

[htfu]

here are some impressions from mytt :

http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=67187&PN=1#811405

 

[agold]

You guys need to make sure you use the ittf approved balls elrigo and aldob.

 

[elrigo99]

I'm pretty sure it was ITTF approved, though I'm not 100% sure...

 

[Dan]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, we will do our best to include these. Review will be online very soon.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Video in Chinese though
CNT B team been testing these balls for over a year.
coaching staff has been identifing technical adjustments and training methods adjustment for the new ball.

My recommedation - copy asap before it is too late

Video Here



CTTA even tested these balls in a Jia D (5th division) tournament in April already.

 

[dici]

hm... from the video
Less impact on power player, if your strength is high enough. If fact currently still benefit the most
Chopper - bad news, less spin
Blocker/Counter - mostly no good at the moment

CNT already starting putting more weight into the weight training instead

 

[PalashBindal]

Nice review Dan.
When you test the airoc rubbers can you tell how the new rubbers designed for the poly balls perform and how are they different from the current rubbers

 

[Rajah*]

Definitely, airoc is design to fit for the polyball.. let us just be patient till it is out for review

Sent from my HTC One M8 using Tapatalk

 

[xyin017]

i look forward to the new balls.

 

[Dan]

Nice review Dan.
When you test the airoc rubbers can you tell how the new rubbers designed for the poly balls perform and how are they different from the current rubbers

Hey buddy,

We will sure do that, me and @Tom are both interested how the Airoc rubbers will perform with the new ball.

 

[Phil]

I tried the new Tihbar ITTF approve 40+ ball on Sunday. It basically feels like a slower easier game. Yes there is definitely less spin, but this is relative to the slower speed and results in a very similar arc and bounce to previous balls, just at a bit of a slower pace. The bounce seems more consistent, so easier to judge, and the ball doesn't skid at all as is the case sometimes with the existing ball. The lower spin makes it easier to return serve, and combined with the slower speed and more consistent bounce, counter hitting is definitely easier. I can see the ball resulting in lots more long attacking rallies.

As for defensive players I'm not sure. It should be easier for a defensive player to return the ball, but at the same time the slower speed and less spin makes it easier for the attacker, so it could be quite balanced and just result in longer rallies.

I quite liked it overall, think it's going to suit my attacking game and help me as I'm pretty poor at returning serve. If it makes the game easier it could help with popularity of the sport and be better to watch.