United States Smash 2025, Las Vegas, 7/3-13

[zeio]

MS R32
Tanaka 3-2 Moregard (5) (10, 10, -4, -6, 12)
G5 25 TO for Tanaka, 55 TO for Moregard, 56, 76, 78, 88 no side edge for Moregard, 98 down-the-line serve for Tanaka, 910, 1010, 1011, 1111, 1211 slight net for Tanaka, 1212, 1412
Moregard gets eliminated again in R32 of GS after SGP GS 2022 and 2025. His worst GS result is R64 at Saudi Smash 2024.

Tanaka: I'm your senior when it comes to catching WCQ.

The Tanaka from ATTC 2023 is here. A very calm and intelligent player. Probably even higher than Shinozuka when it comes to reading the game. Must've studied Togami's loss in detail. His overall stats in 2024 were not shabby.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/wtt-contender-skopje-2025-jun-9-15.37408/post-528017

MS R16
Tanaka 3-0 Matsushima (9, 7, 3)
Tanaka has a way with lefties. Still no love for him.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/wtt-star-contender-chennai-2025.36921/post-516206

Other than Tanaka who is the closest to truly independent, the others are all sponsored by their respective affiliation.

田中老师vs莫雷加德 (Tanaka-sensei vs Moregard)
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/9859350974
渣男渣女严打 田中老师这么猛的吗？以前没发现。比宇田像小透明一样
IP属地:四川来自Android客户端1楼2025-07-10 05:58回复
(Is Tanaka-sensei so fierce? I didn't realize it before. He was more transparent than Uda)

张本mo和 破遮理论第一人vs奥运破遮之神
IP属地:重庆来自Android客户端2楼2025-07-10 06:00回复
(GOAT in anti-hidden-serve theory vs Olympic god of anti-hidden-serve)

贴吧用户_Q9WQaMW 田中前几站被欧男干成人机这场竟然这么猛
IP属地:美国来自iPhone客户端3楼2025-07-10 06:00回复
(Tanaka was raped by European men to the point of NPC a few stops before yet he is so fierce here)

諪狁 这就是jtta最好用的脑子吗，田中送走小莫
IP属地:贵州来自Android客户端17楼2025-07-10 06:24回复
(Is this the best brain JTTA has to offer? Tanaka sends off Little Mo)

（yuuruoufy 一旦对方违规发球，就自动触发田中老师的被动技能了
IP属地:江西来自iPhone客户端30楼2025-07-10 06:35回复
(Once the opponent serves illegally, the passive skill of Tanaka-sensei gets automatically activated)

林诗栋（贴着油油版） 田中老师专治回抛
IP属地:辽宁来自Android客户端31楼2025-07-10 06:36回复
(Tanaka-sensei hard-counters wide toss)

秋山澪 破遮第一人还得是田中老师
IP属地:广东来自iPhone客户端33楼2025-07-10 06:37回复
(GOAT of anti-hidden-serve has gotta be Tanaka-sensei)

潇洒疯一回 莫雷那发球有问题，澳门世界杯要是不用发球弄高茨，估计就栽高茨手上了
IP属地:山东来自Android客户端35楼2025-07-10 06:40收起回复
(More's serve is problematic. If he hadn't used the serve to get Gauzy at the World Cup in Macau, he would have probably fallen at the hands of Gauzy)

篠塚大登（最水世冠版 教授下一轮打大布，有机会吗
IP属地:湖北来自iPhone客户端38楼2025-07-10 06:48收起回复
(Big B next for Professor, any chance?)
扬帆-远航: 我看没机会，大布状态好的狠，连续两轮都是零封对手
2025-7-10 07:00回复
(I don't think so. Big B is in fantastic form, shutting out his opponents in the previous 2 rounds)
雨果（最强外协版）: 大布上一轮流鼻血中暑了，而且大布也回抛，估计会被田中制裁
2025-7-10 07:00回复
(Big B was bleeding in the nose and has heat stroke, and Big B also has wide toss, I guess he will get sanctioned by Tanaka)
雨果（最强外协版）: 回复 篠塚大登（最水世冠版 :触发田中抗魔被动，不愧是日男里最强抗魔机制人
(Activated Tanaka's anti-magic passive skill. No wonder he is the strongest anti-magic mechanism-player on JNT)

 

[piligrim]

Oh well. I was expecting a response like this. If Togami came from a similar tournament, we would never know about it. And ultimately, you take responsibility for your results at the table.

I bet Tanaka wasn't on that tournament )))

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

Wow, what a match that was! Congrats, Tanaka... And that TTR challenge on the edge ball? Brilliant.

 

[joshmak10]

My take on it: let TT die in America, not a big deal, as it is not taken seriously there. Between what they did to Hugo and now this sh.t with a an MLTT-like crowd, not a single american able to pass the first round (sorry, yeah Amy Wang did... vs Lilly Zhang... *cough*) with plenty of wild cards, stop it please. Brazil deserves a big tournament way more than the US do.

Jessica Reyes Lai got through the first round

 

[NextLevel]

Togami's case is different as he considers himself the top JNT player but his results do not back that up, which he has admitted.

Uda is also a former All-Japan Champion and was the reserve player for Tokyo 2020. If JTTA didn't change the selection criteria for Paris 2024, Uda as the second JNT player in WR for much of 2022 could have turned out way differently.

Maybe. No one has a time machine. My point though is that everyone knew a smash was this month. Everyone came here and got the draw they were given. Months ago, we were told Uda had surpassed Togami, which has nothing to do with what Togami thinks of himself. We were told that Uda beating Duda was beating an opponent similar to Alexis Lebrun and that Togami losing to Lebrun showed that Uda had surpassed Togami.

Now they came to a Smash. Togami loses to Felix 2-3. Uda loses to Alexis 0-3. And rather than assign incomplete grades. Zeio the infallible has no amendments to make to his ledger.

 

[NextLevel]

I bet Tanaka wasn't on that tournament )))

You know this lol!

 

[dingyibvs]

It depends on what and who is umpiring. And what you will be doing is making the umpire completely unable to make those calls without guessing.

That's what they're doing anyway, even international level umpires, as has been shown by TTR. How else can you judge while sitting to the side of the table?

 

[NextLevel]

That's what they're doing anyway, even international level umpires, as has been shown by TTR. How else can you judge while sitting to the side of the table?

It is easier to judge whether a service is behind someone than to judge visibility. It is in fact the second that made most serves illegal. And following the second can be judged from where rhe umpires sit. Thr first cannot be. Try umpiring sometime.

 

[dingyibvs]

It is easier to judge whether a service is behind someone than to judge visibility. It is in fact the second that made most serves illegal. And following the second can be judged from where rhe umpires sit. Thr first cannot be. Try umpiring sometime.

Easier yes, but still guessing. Also, what does it matter if it's easier when what makes it easier doesn't affect play? It's even easier to judge if a player is wearing blue clothes, should we make that illegal just because it's easier to judge? If going behind the body doesn't affect play, why would it matter just because it's easier for an umpire to judge?

 

[NextLevel]

Easier yes, but still guessing. Also, what does it matter if it's easier when what makes it easier doesn't affect play? It's even easier to judge if a player is wearing blue clothes, should we make that illegal just because it's easier to judge? If going behind the body doesn't affect play, why would it matter just because it's easier for an umpire to judge?

The ball being behind the body of the server is relevant to judging visibility of contact. Blue shoes are not. Even obscuring the flight path of the ball when tossed makes it harder for the receiver to judge the toss. Creating rules that make it harder for people to do bad things even if it isnt entirely always bad things they do breaking those rules is entirely reasonable. If you don't agree that is fine. I can tell when someone is shielding the ball with their head when I am umpiring or when they are close to doing it. What you are saying is that if they do it but their serve is visible, I should have no right to call that. That is what the current rules allow me to do and that is why I am resisting your change. I didn't say you were wrong I said I disagreed with you. On some things there are no right or wrong answers, I just feel that my position is easier to enforce with the current resources available in TT and yours is only possible to check with electronic review.

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

Maybe. No one has a time machine. My point though is that everyone knew a smash was this month. Everyone came here and got the draw they were given. Months ago, we were told Uda had surpassed Togami, which has nothing to do with what Togami thinks of himself. We were told that Uda beating Duda was beating an opponent similar to Alexis Lebrun and that Togami losing to Lebrun showed that Uda had surpassed Togami.

Now they came to a Smash. Togami loses to Felix 2-3. Uda loses to Alexis 0-3. And rather than assign incomplete grades. Zeio the infallible has no amendments to make to his ledger.

Zeio lives in his own Bizarro world. I've come to accept that.

 

[NextLevel]

Zeio lives in his own Bizarro world. I've come to accept that.

It's fun to poke infallible people.

 

[dingyibvs]

The ball being behind the body of the server is relevant to judging visibility of contact. Blue shoes are not. Even obscuring the flight path of the ball when tossed makes it harder for the receiver to judge the toss. Creating rules that make it harder for people to do bad things even if it isnt entirely always bad things they do with those rules is entirely reasonable. If you don't agree that is fine.

What exactly is your argument? That obscuring the ball before contact in and of it self does affect play, which is why it should be illegal? Or that obscuring the ball before contact makes it easier to obscure the contact as well, which is why it's OK for it to be illegal? Or both?

For the first point, once tossed the ball is acted upon by only the force of gravity, its trajectory is thus entirely predictable. You only need to observe the ball for a split second to know exactly how it'll travel the rest of the way. So no, obscuring the flight path of the ball without obscuring the contact point makes little to no difference to play.

As for the second point re: making hiding the contact harder, it's more subjective. I don't agree with it as I think it takes too much away from the game without eliminating the guesswork involved, but I do see your point. Frankly for me personally I see WAY less of people using their head or shoulder hiding the pathway of the ball and WAY more of people using their off hand to hide the ball. Making the toss visible the whole way makes zero difference to that since it's only the contact point is hidden, and you still make the umpire guess whether the opponent withdrew his hand in time or not.

 

[NextLevel]

What exactly is your argument? That obscuring the ball before contact in and of it self does affect play, which is why it should be illegal? Or that obscuring the ball before contact makes it easier to obscure the contact as well, which is why it's OK for it to be illegal? Or both?

For the first point, once tossed the ball is acted upon by only the force of gravity, its trajectory is thus entirely predictable. You only need to observe the ball for a split second to know exactly how it'll travel the rest of the way. So no, obscuring the flight path of the ball without obscuring the contact point makes little to no difference to play.

As for the second point re: making hiding the contact harder, it's more subjective. I don't agree with it as I think it takes too much away from the game without eliminating the guesswork involved, but I do see your point. Frankly for me personally I see WAY less of people using their head or shoulder hiding the pathway of the ball and WAY more of people using their off hand to hide the ball. Making the toss visible the whole way makes zero difference to that since it's only the contact point is hidden, and you still make the umpire guess whether the opponent withdrew his hand in time or not.

1. Both.
2. The first point is about the ball toss and since visibility is only at contact, the ball can even be tossed behind you and then exposed only at contact. The ref has to tell the difference from the perspective of the receiver in your point. There is no reason according to your desire for only visibility at contact for the toss to even be visible to the receiver.
3. Of course it is more subjective. Again, I have not said you are wrong, I have said I disagree. The main point that the current rules and restrictions try to enforce is to prevent any part of the body from shielding the ball from the receiver. This is relatively easy to judge from the sidelines by ensuring that there are no body parts in front of the ball at contact. But once you make visibility only at contact the rule, it is harder to use this rule of thumb because obscuring is possible at any time, but ensuring it is only not at contact is something very hard to determine from the chair and the common excuse of umpires. If they just enforced the rules they were trained to enforce, there would be more calls, players would just not like it.

Even with the hand, the hand is a body part in front of the ball, it is easy to call once one is aware. After the toss, the hand is not allowed to be in the contact area between the contact and the net. Easy to enforce from the umpire chair.

My main point here is that I do not support going to a rule that is very hard to enforce well without tech and I prefer the current system to it, even if umpires do not have the will to enforce it because no one will ever enforce serve calls in club matches from the umpire seat if left to strictly at contact, while behind the body is much easier to judge, especially after a complaint from the receiver.

I get your disagreement. Good people disagree all the time.

 

[NextLevel]

Han Ying still got it!

 

[Vlad Celler]

Ito-Han Ying Bremen 2015... 10 years later...

 

[NextLevel]

Ito-Han Ying Bremen 2015... 10 years later...

That match is never interesting. That was Han Ying's only chance to beat Ito and she has never since...

 

[NextLevel]

"The Chosen One" vs " Only Good for Doubles" - who will surpass?

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

Wow. I expected a good match, but it was no contest. SYB easily 3-0 over Miu Hirano.

 

[NextLevel]

"Only Good for Doubles" surpasses "The Chosen One" - let's hope the Chosen One returns to form and justifies her status by beating more Chinese players in singles...