Welcome to the second edition of the Topspin Thoughts newsletter. I got a great reaction to the first edition last week; thank you so much to everyone who subscribed! We’re already up to 75 subscribers and I’m going to try and grow this as much as I can over the next few months. So if you like what you read, please share it with a fellow tt fan.
A tale of two continents
There are a couple of German players that have caught my eye over the past year or so. No, I’m not talking about Timo and Dima, I’m talking about Qiu Dang and Patrick Franziska. Dang has been steadily climbing the rankings and went from #228 in April 2018 to a career high of #52 in April 2020 (the last rankings release pre-COVID). He’s a really solid penholder with a lovely serve and a dangerous RPB (a German Wang Hao in the making???).
Franziska has also been in good form over the past year. He notched up a fantastic win against Fan Zhendong at the Australian Open last year and has consistently been ranked in the top 20.
But here’s the thing. Franziska is 27 years old. Qiu Dang is a bit younger at 23 years old. They’re still hopefully young enough to improve, but they’re quite a few years ahead of Lin Yun-Ju (19), Wang Chuqin (20) and Harimoto (17). This is a trend I’ve noticed. European players tend to be a lot older when they reach their peak ability compared to their Asian counterparts.
Jun Mizutani reached his peak world ranking (#5) at age 24. But Dimtrij Ovtcharov became world #1 at the princely age of 29. Timo has aged like a fine wine and seems to be nearly as strong as ever at age 39.
The top Chinese players rarely make it to their mid-30’s; Wang Hao retired at age 30, Ma Lin at 33 and Wang Liqin at 35. All three were clearly shadows of their former selves and were being outgunned by the up-and-coming generation. Yet the great Swedes, Jorgen Person and Jan-Ove Waldner, were still playing competitively at an age when most people are thinking about their pensions.
What accounts for this phenomenon? I’m not sure but I have two hypotheses:
The depth of talent is just far superior in the Asian countries. Therefore the old guard is likely to be pushed aside at a younger age to make way for the newbies.
The Asian system is more brutal. Longer hours of training from a younger age means players get burned out and lose motivation younger.
I THINK these are plausible reasons. But I’m not convinced. If you have any alternative explanations let me know in the comments.
Zhang Jike vs. Ma Long in the final of the 2011 Austrian Open. Zhang had just won the World Championships and was less than a year away from winning the 2012 Olympics and securing a career grand-slam. Ma was in full flow and clearly eager to prove a point against his great rival. One of the highest quality matches of the 2010’s.
Is lobbing ever a good idea?Jean-Michel Saive is a true tt legend. He competed at 7 successive Olympics, won gold at the European Championships in 1994 and is a former world #1. He was also well known for his spectacular defensive skills. This is just one of a few clips you can find on YouTube where Saive manages to turn a seemingly hopeless situation into victory. You can see why he was a fan favourite.His brilliant defensive abilities sure are fun to watch… but I do wonder are they the best way to win matches? In the highlight clips we always see the lobber win the point after several brilliant sky lobs. But the reality is that in the vast majority of points, the player lobbing loses after 1 or 2 shots. The top Chinese players hardly ever lob. I can’t remember the last time I saw Ma Long, Fan Zhendong or Zhang Jike back from the table sending up sky lobs. Sure they’ll be forced back from the table every now and then and have to play a soft defensive shot. But they tend to try and counter loop pretty quickly and get back into the rally. I reckon the CNT have looked at the numbers and decided lobbing just isn’t worth it in the long run. You might win the odd spectacular point, but it’s my guess that they think it’s better to counter loop immediately even if they end up losing any one point.Xu Xin is the exception that proves this rule. He ends up lobbing more than any other top player I know. And I would guess he has a scary high % of winning points when he does so relative to other players.What do you think? Is lobbing ever really worth it?Follow topspin_thoughts for more tt discussions.#ittf #TableTennis #tabletennisclub #tabletennisdaily #pingpong #tabletennisplayer #tischtennis #bordtennis #tenisdemesa #tennisdetable #masatenisi #fanzhendong #malong #xuxin #zhangjike#ittfworld #ittfworldtour August 25, 2020
What happened to the fastest server in the world?Some of you have probably already seen this video. It features Japanese tt player Asuka Sakai practicing his scary fast serve. It looks like it would be incredibly difficult to return. When I first saw it I thoroughly expected to see many matches where Sakai would cause absolute havoc for top players.Sakai was 15 years old when this video was taken. He was ranked #319 in the world and seemingly had a very bright future ahead of him. But it never quite happened. Sakai reached a peak world ranking of #106 in March of 2015. But since then he’s drifted down the rankings and as of April 2020 he’s #641 in the world. He won the U21’s singles title at the 2017 India Open and beat Samsonov in the main draw. But that's about it as far as big tournament wins go (at least as far as I can see). There are a few videos of him playing on YouTube and, somewhat surprisingly, his “world’s fastest serve” doesn’t really feature.I don’t really understand why. Perhaps it turns out it’s easier for pros to return than I thought. What do you think?Credit to tabletennisedge for the videoFollow topspin_thoughts for more tt discussions.#ittf #TableTennis #tabletennisclub #tabletennisdaily #pingpong #tabletennisplayer #tischtennis #bordtennis #tenisdemesa #tennisdetable #masatenisi #fanzhendong #malong #xuxin #zhangjike#ittfworld #ittfworldtour August 23, 2020
The birth of a star: Tomokazu Harimoto.This match was the first time I saw Harimoto play. It’s the semi-final of the 2015 Safir Open and he’s up against Jens Lundsqvist, who was one of the top Swedish players at the time. Harimoto is only 11 years old at the time and I’m guessing this is part of why Lundsqvist gets so visibly frustrated throughout the match. It’s not fun losing. But it’s definitely even less fun when you’re a seasoned pro and your opponent is an 11-year old.Harimoto went on to lose the final against Xu Hui, but there was no doubt that he was a star in the making. I mean, there are plenty of young Chinese players who are capable of challenging players in the top #50 of the world rankings. But an 11 year old?! This was simply unheard of.And he’s delivered on that promise. He’s gone on to beat plenty of top Chinese players and is now ranked #4 in the world. I think Harimoto’s biggest achievement was winning the 2018 Japan Open where he beat Ma Long and Zhang Jike.But the big question is can Harimoto become the first non-Chinese player to win an Olympics or World Championships single title since Ryu Seung Min won in Athens in 2004? He’s undoubtedly talented enough, but he hasn’t yet delivered on the REALLY big stage - he unexpectedly lost in the 4th round of the 2019 World Championships to An Jaehyun.What do you think? Does Harimoto have the mental strength to become a true tt legend?Follow topspin_thoughts for more tt discussions.#ittf #TableTennis #tabletennisclub #tabletennisdaily #pingpong #tabletennisplayer #tischtennis #bordtennis #tenisdemesa #tennisdetable #masatenisi #fanzhendong #malong #xuxin #zhangjike#ittfworld #ittfworldtour August 27, 2020
That’s it everyone, have a great weekend!