Personal ping-pong Oscars
Fun little exercise on giving my game Oscars and nominations :-)
Note: Since this season has been rather short because of Covid, I’m considering the last two years.
Awards list:
- Best shot
- Best serve
- Most promising shot
- Most exciting turn-around in match
- Best equipment
- Most exciting pro player to watch
- Best Next Gen
Best shot.
Winner: Forehand loop.
To some people, top-spinning on the forehand comes very naturally, but this has not been the case for me. I had to work hard to make my forehand loop a weapon usable in matches. Now in the last two years, I reached a state where it’s a good shot with a high win rate. It’s a shot I do now with full confidence. Many times when I really need to win a point on my serve, I’m choosing a serve that will give me a long ball that I can loop with the forehand. It’s also become a very risky thing for my opponents to serve long to my forehand, since I will almost always loop it with lots of spin. And pivoting to forehand loop is one of the shot I enjoy doing most. So yes, with hard work, the forehand loop has become my best shot.
Other nominees:
Forehand push (returns).
Some time ago, inspired by pros, I started pushing most short balls with the forehand. This gave me better reach to get very short balls, more variation possibilities by playing with my wrist and interesting long push options as well. These days I’m quite comfortable with this shot and can play it aggressively. This helps me a lot being positive and active on returning short serves.
Serves.
Serves remain a strong foundation of my games, something I can trust and base my game on. I’m now depending less on them to win points directly, but I’m still getting several free points per match with them.
Best serve.
I always liked serving, and it has been one of my strength.
Winner: Reverse pendulum backspin to the forehand.
A reverse pendulum serve deserves the first place for effort already. I’ve spent one year learning it before I could even consider start using it in matches. Now after an extra year of experimenting with them and using them more, they have become a serious weapon. Its best variant is currently the mid-long to the forehand with lost of backspin. It has more backspin than expected, breaks away from the receiver and is too short to loop. Many people get really nervous returning it, having to use an uncomfortable push and really get affected by the spin a lot. There is variant that has more sidespin but looks similar, resulting in even more confusion for the receiver.
Other nominees:
Reverse pendulum with topspin to backhand.
I have several reverse pendulum variations now, one of the coolest being the long one with topspin. It’s quite fast, has lots of spin and comes as a surprise, making it hard to control. As with many long serves, it’s a bit more risky to execute, so maybe not one for saving a match point.
Pendulum serve wide to backhand.
This is a good old classic that breaks away a lot from the backhand and is loaded with sidespin. I probably get the direct winner 50% of the time with it.
Backhand serves in general.
I don’t practice much my backhand serves and I actually don’t like too much serving from backhand, getting more pleasure with forehand ones. But they are very effective, as people struggle to read them. Especially against stronger players that are more used to return pendulum services, I switch often to the backhand serves and they struggle more with them.
Backhand top/side-spin.
People really mis-read this top-spin serve as a backspin one, so they often push it and it really flies away.
Most promising shot.
Winner: Chop-block.
I’ve been trying the chop-block at first just for fun, because it felt cool. It’s damn difficult, but when you pull one out it is indeed very cool. It’s not yet a shot I’ve incorporate in my match arsenal, as this will require developing more muscle memory around it, but I really hope I can use it more as a way to deal with incoming top-spin. Also, doing it at training has encouraged me to be more creative and unexpected in general, in particular on serve returns where I more often do something “weird” that surprises the opponent and keeps him on his toes.
Other nominees:
Backhand topspin.
In the modern game it’s very hard to get at higher levels without a working and consistent backhand topspin. For me, this has been a frustrating journey: It’s a shot I manage to do well at training now, but for which the confidence of doing it in a match is very irregular. Sometimes I have it, sometimes I don’t. Nevertheless, lately I more often have it than not, in particular on returning serves. That’s encouraging.
Most exciting turn-around in match.
Being down 0–2 and coming back to win is always great, but some of them are mind-blowing in retrospect. There is no “Best Match” category as it’s really hard to identify one over such a long period, but this comes close.
Winner: First Rahvapinks win.
The season 2019–2020 was a big deal for me, winning the Rahvapinks 400+ season first place and breaking 300 rating. A very special win that season was the final of my first Rahvapinks gold medal. I faced a very difficult and experience player, there were spectators and tons of pressure, a terrible start of loosing first sets 1 and 4. But I came back and win. Winning my first significant tournament in such conditions is something I will never forget.
Other nominees:
Last Rahvapinks 400+ quarter final against long pimples.
As season 2019–2020 progressed, a major objective grew to win the first place of the Rahvapinks season. I was leading when in one of the last stages, I faced in quarter final the only player that could still pass in front of me. And I had lost in final against him on previous stage. I struggled with his long pimples and aggressive forehand loop and went down 0–2 in that quarter final. So I switched to backup plan: Chopping, no mistakes anymore, and fighting for my life. I came back to secure this critical win for the season’s win.
Keila’s win against penhold short-pimple.
In autumn 2020, I played a penholder with short pips. In previous encounter I had been crushed, and it was going on the same path. He took the ball early with sharp hard to read angles, I felt without options. Until I found a weakness: When I served long with backspin into his forehand, he made mistakes or gave me weak returns. Suddenly it was easier to win my serves, confidence grew and I turned this match around to beat a much higher rated player than me, to the surprise of both parties.
Keila’s win against infamous foe.
There is a player I had a big argument with in the past. When I played him for the first time after this, it was awkward for both, to say the least. He played great initially and won first two sets. But by not giving up and having the strongest nerves on this one, I got a very satisfying 3–2 win.
Best equipment.
I’m not an equipment junky I think, but I still try various things regularly.
Winner: DHS Hurricane 3 rubber.
When Dignics 09c came out, I got a sheet to try it out. I liked it, the extra tackiness was a plus on the forehand side. However I was disappointed by the durability. Despite taking care of it, it lost quickly it’s tackiness and after 2–3 months it looked old. At such a high price, that was bad. So I decided to give the popular DHS Hurricane 3 Neo a try. It took me a few weeks to get used to it, but it was worth it. Now I really like it. It’s not easy to play with it, as one cannot be lazy with technique and intensity. But when doing it right, the quality of the spin I obtain is very rewarding. It’s a quarter of the Dignics price and for me it actually lasts longer. Very likely I will stay with that rubber for as long as I’m physically capable of handling it.
Other nominees:
Nittaku Acoustic Carbon Inner.
I’ve been using the Nittaku Acoustic Carbon Inner for last two years and really liked. I feel it gives me the same good control as I had with the Nittaku Violin, or even better with the bigger sweat spot that the carbon layer gives. But it has the extra power on attacking shots, especially further from the table, which is something I personally need. I also like the smaller handler of Nittaku blades. Finally the build quality is really nice, no splintering at all when removing rubbers.
Butterfly Lezoline Rifones shoes.
The Butterfly Lezoline shoes are a great value for the price. They are comfortable, have good adherence, hold the foot very well, absorb shocks and are durable. All this comes for well under 100 EUR. They are the best table tennis shoes I have owned. Main downside is I’m not the only one, who noticed this, so wearing them is not very original these days.
Most exciting pro player to watch.
As a table tennis addict, I watch a lot of it online, and follow some players more closely.
Winner: Prithika Pavade.
Prithika Pavade gets the last minute win here with her amazing qualification for the Olympic Games at 16 years old only. The quality of her game and mental strength were amazing to watch. I could watch most of her qualifications match live online and it was really exciting.
Other nominees:
Simon Gauzy.
The number one French player not only has great results (that win against Xu Xin!), but is also so creative. He keeps surprising spectators and opponents with crazy shots, which are not only great to watch but win points. Really fun to watch.
Mima Ito.
As the biggest challenge to Chinese players on the woman side, Mima Ito is a special character. Her unique style, her “samourai” serves, her speed… she is exciting to watch and to follow. I’m really curious to see how high she will be able to go.
Best Next Gen.
Winner: Agnès
Agnès is my 8 year old daughter. She has been going to children training for a few years, progressing slowly only. When Covid stopped all training again end of 2020, we used the opportunity to play in the garage together, almost every day. And she so surprised me! There is so much she knew how to do and just needed some tuning to get working. Can’t wait for Covid to be over and see her try it all at competitions!
