WTT Champions Xinxiang 2023

[turbozed]

Highly recommend watching Shin Yubin vs Han Ying. Great defender versus attacker match with some amazing rallies.

 

[Choosikick]

Regarding the upcoming meeting between LYJ and Hugo, it will be a meeting of equal players. And if this meeting had been half a year ago, I would definitely bet on Hugo to win, but today's LYJ player has seriously gained strength and, in my opinion, mentally as well, and this is very important. Today I would still prefer LYJ.

 

[Choosikick]

You're alive too? Shuki first, ttmonster now? Beautiful days are ahead! Great to hear from you, how are you?

I made the robotic point mostly in response to JOOLA, partly because a high level coach told me that many lower level players had told him that CCY was the easiest higher level player they had ever played against, that he basically was a WYSIWYG player with no disturbing elements to his game. Kallberg was/is a notorious server but I was using CCY to make a point . Watch the video with him and Saive playing a match that transformed into an exhibition match, you will see that he like just about every top player is capable of things that they never do in a real match.

Great to hear from you!

Next level, hey! I understand perfectly well that every professional player, and even more so, who has got into the 100 world players in the world, has a feeling for the ball on a completely different level than an amateur. This is primarily due to the huge amount of time that a professional player spends with a racket in his hand, while we amateurs discuss these things on the forums. By the way, this is very clearly seen in Dan's video, where he plays with professionals, for which he simply thanks a lot!
But all people, including professionals, are different - anthropomorphically, mentally, different experiences and schools, so we can discuss these differences.

 

[turbozed]

Wow, this Truls vs Alexis game is a roller coaster. Looked like Alexis was going to go up 2-0, being up 7-2 in Game 2. Truls comes roaring back and gets himself a match point with one of the best rallies of the tournament.

First meeting between the two and living up to the hype.

 

[tackyfh]

Wow, this Truls vs Alexis game is a roller coaster. Looked like Alexis was going to go up 2-0, being up 7-2 in Game 2. Truls comes roaring back and gets himself a match point with one of the best rallies of the tournament.

First meeting between the two and living up to the hype.

Truls had an amazing comeback in the 2nd set.
But tbh, I feel like Truls wasn't able to play much tricky shots like he usually does against asian players, Alexis has chosen the right tactic to push long and initiate rallies

 

[NextLevel]

Next level, hey! I understand perfectly well that every professional player, and even more so, who has got into the 100 world players in the world, has a feeling for the ball on a completely different level than an amateur. This is primarily due to the huge amount of time that a professional player spends with a racket in his hand, while we amateurs discuss these things on the forums. By the way, this is very clearly seen in Dan's video, where he plays with professionals, for which he simply thanks a lot!
But all people, including professionals, are different - anthropomorphically, mentally, different experiences and schools, so we can discuss these differences.

Understood., I am probably not being fair to you As much as I hate discussing the meaning of words, I think it is unfair to call any top player's game "robotic" or lacking in feeling. People used to call the top Chinese players "robotic:" as well and I never understood it as robotic, but I think sometimes, people want to say that if you don't play like Waldner, you are not creative. Maybe I like robotic players too much lol.

 

[Choosikick]

Wow, this Truls vs Alexis game is a roller coaster. Looked like Alexis was going to go up 2-0, being up 7-2 in Game 2. Truls comes roaring back and gets himself a match point with one of the best rallies of the tournament.

First meeting between the two and living up to the hype.

Cool match! Alexis was able to impose his game on Truls. I really like the coach of the Lebron brothers - he is always positive, unlike many serious and gloomy coaches. I think that, last but not least, this approach of the coach allows the brothers to feel freer and improvise more in seemingly serious matches.

 

[blahness]

Understood., I am probably not being fair to you As much as I hate discussing the meaning of words, I think it is unfair to call any top player's game "robotic" or lacking in feeling. People used to call the top Chinese players "robotic:" as well and I never understood it as robotic, but I think sometimes, people want to say that if you don't play like Waldner, you are not creative. Maybe I like robotic players too much lol.

Agreed - there are not that many "robotic players" in the top 20. All of them have very unique weapons and style even among the CNT, and I too find it very condescending to call anyone who has reached these heights in the sport as "robotic". It seems to be steeped in some stereotypes.

 

[NextLevel]

Agreed - there are not that many "robotic players" in the top 20. All of them have very unique weapons and style even among the CNT, and I too find it very condescending to call anyone who has reached these heights in the sport as "robotic". It seems to be steeped in some stereotypes.

Kallberg does play a fast close to the table game so maybe the stereotypes are not ethnic at least. But yes, while I am pretty sure that _Joola_ is not one of them and I think I understand what he is trying to say about Kallberg's game, it is really frustrating that someone can watch the top 5 Chinese and think they are robots. You are generous to me, there are no robotic players in the top 100 (or at the top 100 standard, since there are many players at that standard who are not ranked in the top 100). Watching Bobrow play Kanak even opened my eyes to Kanak's depth of game and showed me how many shots he has he would probably not take or have to take in a match.

 

[turbozed]

On the broadcast of Filus/Calderano, Adam Bobrow just mentioned a spectacular play by another chopper named Yang Wang from Slovakia.

I went to search for it and am glad I did. Here it is:

 

[Metaxa]

WTT alert!!!
There is still a lot of illegal serving. At least 15% of FH services from BH side, have their touch point above the table instead of behind the table.
F. Lebrun, Lim J.H, Wong, Wang, M. Kihara, etc...
Rule 2.06.04

 

[Choosikick]

Kallberg does play a fast close to the table game so maybe the stereotypes are not ethnic at least. But yes, while I am pretty sure that _Joola_ is not one of them and I think I understand what he is trying to say about Kallberg's game, it is really frustrating that someone can watch the top 5 Chinese and think they are robots. You are generous to me, there are no robotic players in the top 100 (or at the top 100 standard, since there are many players at that standard who are not ranked in the top 100). Watching Bobrow play Kanak even opened my eyes to Kanak's depth of game and showed me how many shots he has he would probably not take or have to take in a match.

In fact, it is very difficult for me to formulate in words the correct expression regarding the style of the player. In no way did I mean to offend Anton by calling his playing style robotic. He is a good guy, you can see that he works a lot, but again, in my opinion, he still lacks flexibility and I don’t know how to call it correctly - tennis magic called ball feeling. Yes, maybe this is criticism, and it is not easy to accept criticism, especially from some couch amateur from a third country in the world, but this is just my personal opinion, which I wanted to discuss, because forums were created for this.

 

[Metaxa]

Who knows what this is?
It came clearly into view at 10-6 in the first game, during the match FZD vs F. Lebrun
I noticed it at FZD. There is a color difference on the rubber of about 3 mm between the edge of its rubber and a line that the rubber follows.

 

[Metaxa]

Kallberg does play a fast close to the table game so maybe the stereotypes are not ethnic at least. But yes, while I am pretty sure that _Joola_ is not one of them and I think I understand what he is trying to say about Kallberg's game, it is really frustrating that someone can watch the top 5 Chinese and think they are robots. You are generous to me, there are no robotic players in the top 100 (or at the top 100 standard, since there are many players at that standard who are not ranked in the top 100). Watching Bobrow play Kanak even opened my eyes to Kanak's depth of game and showed me how many shots he has he would probably not take or have to take in a match.

Kanak's FH comes awfully close to that of a robot!

 

[NextLevel]

That someone as powerful as Hugo is struggling with Filus's defense shows how interesting table tennis can be. It is a bit sad that he cannot do better in my humble opinion.

 

[Wrighty67]

Don't forget Hugo destroyed him the last time.

It didn't even get that far - very surprised to see Hugo out to Filus.

 

[ttmonster]

Kanak's FH comes awfully close to that of a robot!

I am guessing this is a joke . I have been fortunate to play in tables next to Kanak for a good chunk of time , believe me he is anything but robotic. For a large part of his development , his dad would actually get frustrated because he would try to be too creative , lobbing, fishing and counter looping from far , and sometimes throwing in a chop once in a while . The last I saw him when he was visiting after playing Bundesliga for two years, and his power and speed in practice was awe inspiring . So as NL pointed , a lot of the pros .. just cut out parts of their game to stay disciplined in pro matches, its just hard to know the complete range of players from just seeing highlights. So unless the coach agrees that the player's best bet to win at pro level is to use everything in their arsenal , as it is in the case of a Truls Moregard or an Adriana Diaz or a Mima Ito, we as spectators have a limited view into their skill set. Also, playing , watching in person and watching on TV progressively irons out the subtleties in the game .. we need to account for those as well.

 

[Metaxa]

I am guessing this is a joke . I have been fortunate to play in tables next to Kanak for a good chunk of time , believe me he is anything but robotic. For a large part of his development , his dad would actually get frustrated because he would try to be too creative , lobbing, fishing and counter looping from far , and sometimes throwing in a chop once in a while . The last I saw him when he was visiting after playing Bundesliga for two years, and his power and speed in practice was awe inspiring . So as NL pointed , a lot of the pros .. just cut out parts of their game to stay disciplined in pro matches, its just hard to know the complete range of players from just seeing highlights. So unless the coach agrees that the player's best bet to win at pro level is to use everything in their arsenal , as it is in the case of a Truls Moregard or an Adriana Diaz or a Mima Ito, we as spectators have a limited view into their skill set. Also, playing , watching in person and watching on TV progressively irons out the subtleties in the game .. we need to account for those as well.

I first saw Kanak play live in Liege, Belgium in 2017. Oh, but nothing but positive things about Kanak. Great player!
Only we have already discussed his "special arm" in another topic.
Hence the reference to robot(arm)

 

[Gtsnake]

I just wonder how many other countries besides China would draw that many people in the audience for a round of 32 session?

 

[Metaxa]

I just wonder how many other countries besides China would draw that many people in the audience for a round of 32 session?

They are in China with many ...