What is going on with Felix??

[greenbeanmachine]

What is happening with Felix Lebrun lately? Ever since Montpellier where he beat LSD 4-0 he's been getting knocked out of tournaments really early. He looks very uncomfortable while playing and doesn't seem to be playing with the spirit he had during the olympics. He didn't even make it past the group stage at the world cup. Did he just stop caring? Did everyone suddenly figure out his weakness? What's going on? It's so strange for someone to do so well, get to WR4, and then start losing to people ranked >50.

 

[Lazer]

Don’t worry, everbody has ups and downs… He’ll be back…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[jonyer80]

What is happening with Felix Lebrun lately? Ever since Montpellier where he beat LSD 4-0 he's been getting knocked out of tournaments really early. He looks very uncomfortable while playing and doesn't seem to be playing with the spirit he had during the olympics. He didn't even make it past the group stage at the world cup. Did he just stop caring? Did everyone suddenly figure out his weakness? What's going on? It's so strange for someone to do so well, get to WR4, and then start losing to people ranked >50.

Been "Alcarazed" is something common when you have been praised by the media from his very young age for being the wonder/prodigy Euro PH. Not only does this happen in TT but also in the majority of sports.

 

[BlotOnPaper]

What is happening with Felix Lebrun lately? Ever since Montpellier where he beat LSD 4-0 he's been getting knocked out of tournaments really early. He looks very uncomfortable while playing and doesn't seem to be playing with the spirit he had during the olympics. He didn't even make it past the group stage at the world cup. Did he just stop caring? Did everyone suddenly figure out his weakness? What's going on? It's so strange for someone to do so well, get to WR4, and then start losing to people ranked >50.

It's like it was with Harimoto. Felix started growing as a top athlete. You can not play with mentality of young Harimoto or Felix forever.

Now he is playing with more variety, learning to decide, when to play safe and when go all in. It's really hard to obtain that skill. Fearlesness can get you far, but is not sustainable in the long run. We just need to give him some time.

In case of Harimoto it was long and painfull process. He was speed machine and now he playes soft and with less when 50% of his past agressivness, in my opinion at least. I do not like this change much because this way he can not win something truly major. But he is much more stable than before, so it have a lot of benefits. I just don't think it's the best way to handle maturity in professional sports.

 

[joshmak10]

Basically, he’s going through what Harimoto and Ito were (and in the case of Ito, maybe still is) going through

 

[suds79]

Full game here:

I know he has dropped some of recent. I'm only watching this match now. I don't think highlights is a good indicator of what happened.

I'll continue to leave my impressions as I watch.
- Game 1 Felix is leading but I can tell already Feng Yi-Hsin's FH is bigger than Felix's and he has no interest in going BH to BH. Smart idea. So he's stepping around a lot.
- Game 2 Felix has to battle back after being down by 2 or so most of the game. Takes it. Rough one to drop it at this point being up 2-0
- Game 3 Still looks like a mismatch in the forehands and this kid is stepping around everything. Takes game 3.
- Game 4 IDK if Felix was just struggling vs a serve he might not know? In this game is the first time I can recall him actually BH flipping a serve vs just pushing towards the backhand corner that this kid steps around and loops for a winner anyways. Has happened many times throughout the match. The difference in FH really shows this game. Feng takes this one.

2-2 and IDK the tournament format all that well but the match ends here at 2-2. So Felix didn't even lose. It just stops there. Strange.

 

[NetProphet]

What is happening with Felix Lebrun lately? Ever since Montpellier where he beat LSD 4-0 he's been getting knocked out of tournaments really early. He looks very uncomfortable while playing and doesn't seem to be playing with the spirit he had during the olympics. He didn't even make it past the group stage at the world cup. Did he just stop caring? Did everyone suddenly figure out his weakness? What's going on? It's so strange for someone to do so well, get to WR4, and then start losing to people ranked >50.

He's not playing Short pips on his FH 😉

 

[greenbeanmachine]

He's not playing Short pips on his FH 😉

Clearly. His forehand was really lacking in these recent world cup matches. I don't understand why he doesn't just switch. He could be smashing like Liu Guoliang!

 

[NetProphet]

Clearly. His forehand was really lacking in these recent world cup matches. I don't understand why he doesn't just switch. He could be smashing like Liu Guoliang!

Unfortunately I haven't seen his recent matches so I've no idea on specifics of what he's doing differently or doing poorly but my initial thoughts are that young players go through ups and downs quite frequently and as well as being only 18 his temperament was already questionable.
But his talent isn't.
On the pips I'd imagine short pips they'd limit him too much, you can't flat hit everything. Lifting low balls, limited spin, more precise timing required...
Also getting forced back from the table = screwed.
The potential speed advantage, I can't see it be enough to help him break past his current threshold into world no 1.
I think that at 18 he's looking at LSD and wanting to take him on at his own game believing he can be better than him in a few years. Seems to be his gladiator mindset.
Besides, he'd need a coach who believes in sp, has played them and can convince him that he'll make him a world beater with them. Too many things missing for this change to happen.
But I'm not expert and I'm sure there's plenty Im not considering but I'd expect him to rise again this year.
As they say, form is temporary, class is permanent.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

If Felix was Japanese
The calling for retirement group would be haunting him for the next 10 years

 

[SFF_lib]

When Xu Xin was interviewed about LSD, he said young players like Felix and LSD ascends very fast with an edge. In this case brutal BH for LSD and extreme pace for Felix.

Xu Xin said after the ascending phase young players will face ups and downs until they develop another edge.

Players are used to Felix’s fast pace. His placement is predictable. Lind quickly adapted to Felix’s placement from the second set. When away from table Felix lacks power due to his age. His short game variation is far from the top tier CNT players.

Time will tell if Felix can break through this bottle neck.

 

[Oliverpool]

I know it applies to both players but the seamless ball has a role in this as well. Like LJK says the ball is light (not the weight) but seamless ball does seem to result in less spin and easier to rally type points. This favours shake hand players. Penholders edge is the spin, placement and trickery. With the slower seamless ball, I feel it suits Felix opponents more as trickery (other then service) is not Felix
Strength.

 

[jonyer80]

I know it applies to both players but the seamless ball has a role in this as well. Like LJK says the ball is light (not the weight) but seamless ball does seem to result in less spin and easier to rally type points. This favours shake hand players. Penholders edge is the spin, placement and trickery. With the slower seamless ball, I feel it suits Felix opponents more as trickery (other then service) is not Felix
Strength.

Which ball are they playing with? I thought Cushions and it's variants had been discontinued long time ago?!

 

[andzejgolot]

Dhs rs 40?

 

[Oliverpool]

It says Ownwin seamless ball?

 

[zeio]

What is happening with Felix Lebrun lately? Ever since Montpellier where he beat LSD 4-0 he's been getting knocked out of tournaments really early. He looks very uncomfortable while playing and doesn't seem to be playing with the spirit he had during the olympics. He didn't even make it past the group stage at the world cup. Did he just stop caring? Did everyone suddenly figure out his weakness? What's going on? It's so strange for someone to do so well, get to WR4, and then start losing to people ranked >50.

The curse of winning WTT Champions in Europe, manifesting as poor win rate the next year.

Harimoto after winning WTT Champions ESS 2022 (inaugural edition of Champions, was supposed to be Budapest Smash 2022).
LYJ after winning WTT Champions Frankfurt 2023.
F. Lebrun after winning WTT Champions Montpellier 2024.

(World Cup 2025 group stage not accounted below as matches are not counted as wins or losses)
Harimoto
2022 25/32= 78.1%
2023 24/45= 53.3%
2024 62/87= 71.2%
2025 18/25= 72%

LYJ
2022 21/30= 70%
2023 33/45= 73.3%
2024 44/64= 68.8
2025 13/18= 72.2%

F. Lebrun
2022 39/54= 72.2%
2023 46/60= 76.7%
2024 52/67= 77.6%
2025 4/8= 50%