The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Wu Yang (China):
Strengths:
Good solid forehand defence
akward sidespin push with backhand offering the opportunity to get in with a big forehand topspin.
occasionally producing a great variety of backspin and float when defending with short pimples.
Weaknesses:
backhand defending with short pimples often is too high, especially on very short and spinny topspins thus giving the opponent the opportunity to smash the winner.
mainly serving with the backhand, no great variety of forehand serves.
is often too far behind the table thus having to move back and forth too long ways (gets exhausting on long tournaments).
is defending with the backhand mostly into the middle of the table thus not forcing the opponent to move a lot and making is so more awkward to spin all the time.
when close to the table and confronted with a rapid topspin backhand defending with short pimples is very difficult mostly bringing back the ball too high.
not using a lot of opportunities to block or smash slow and high tospins into her backhand
not counterspinning occasionally topspins into her forehand
Suggestions:
should practice a variety of forehand serves
should practice counter topspins with the forehand also with heavy side spin à la Hou Yingchao
should practice smashing and blocking with short pimples on backhand on high pushes and high blocks into her backhand
should practive to defend with the backhand also into extreme angels, parallel into the backhand and forehand of the opponent rather than into the middle part of the table.
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Irene Ivancan (Germany):
Strengths:
very versatile style and strokes, very complete player thus very unpredictable for her opponents
good forehand topspin, also able to counter topspin with the forehand, which is not very common yet amongst female defenders
great variety of serves, also with the forehand which is also not very common yet amongst female defenders
because of short pimples used on the backhand she can produce very different spin on pushing and chopping
short pimples also allow her to block or smash with the backhand
choppy forehand push
Weaknesses:
often wants to get in with the forehand big and fast top spin on a push ball from the opponent which is not always necessary, sometimes a slow spinny topspin can be more effective.
overuses occasionally the backhand sidespin push parallel into the forehand (of a right hander or backhand of lefthander as in video above) thus being bad positioned for a solid forehand topspin or having to make more collateral movements than necessary
often pushing with the backhand from the forehand side without real need to do so.
has problems returning the ball low and choppy on fast and spinny serves into her forehand thus preventing the opponent from getting in with winner topspins.
has problems returning topspins into her body especially from left hander that use sidespin so that the topspin is turning akwardly into the body.
Suggestions:
should pratice better return on serves into her forehand
should use the short pimples more often to smash or attack high pushes from the opponent
should try to push more often with forehand from her forehand side or topspin from there straight away rather than using the backhand to push
Could use a counter topspin with forehand from far behind the table with a lot of side spin as a variation to constantly topspinning against consistant blockers.
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”! Wang Xi is not playing for any country at the moment and therefore is not ranked in the ITTF. But I would consider him to be the best defender (at least the same standard as Joo se Hyuk) in the world.
Here comes Wang Xi (Germany, formerly China):
The two currently best defenders playing each other:
Strengths:
Good footwork and physical fitness
Great forehand topspin against pushes and also against topspins.
Great “choppy” defending on backhand
Good defending on topspins into his body
Good forehand topspin against chop and counter topspin
Good blocking with long pimples against slow topspins or blocks of opponent
Good backhand serves
Good deceptive forehand serves
Weaknesses:
defense with forehand occasionally comes back to high or too long
no use of backhand topspin with pimples-in or smash-blocking with pimples-in.
not enough variety in serves in general
forehand push has not enough backspin to force the opponent to “lift” his topspin up rather than “hammering” it.
always uses pimples-out on the backhand to push back balls coming into his backhand
Suggestions:
occasional use of pimples-out on the forehand when confronted with heavy, but slow topspin into his forehand would help.
heavy chop push with backhand using pimples-in against drop shots into his backhand should be developed.
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Ruwen Filus (Germany):
Another great match against Ovtcharov. Being able to occasionally chop back slow spinny topspins down his forehand with the long pimples would have made the difference in my opinion.
Superb match:
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Strengths:
Good footwork and physical fitness
Good forehand topspin against chop and counter topspin
Good blocking with long pimples against slow topspins or blocks of opponent
Good use of pimples-in when taking serves
Good backhand topspin on pushes
Good backhand serves
Weaknesses:
defense with backhand often comes back too high or too long (this improved recently, that why I edited the video from the Polish Open 2012)
not enough backspin in backhand defense due to wrong pimples (my personal view)
is often too far behind the table thus giving the opponent too much time to get into position for next topspin or smash
on topspin into his forehand he is rarely defending, but also not counterattacking or counterspinning in a dangerous manner but just slow blocking the ball back thus risking getting “hammered” by next topspin or smash
weakness when confronted with a topspin into his body, particularely from left handers.
forehand push on tricky serves fails too often
forehand push has not enough backspin to force the opponent to “lift” his topspin up rather than “hammering” it.
Suggestions:
He should practice more defending with the forehand (also occasionally with long pimples)
forehand push or chop needs to have more backspin
should concentrate more on consistently defending with heavy chop on the backhand rather than trying to block so much with the pimples. Better players are not vulnerable to this anyway.
using the pimples-in on the backhand when pushing should produce better placed pushes with much more backspin in order to prevent too fast topspins from the opponent.
when trying to block a topspin he should consider using the pimples-in and try to smash block (mostly down the line, when playing right handers).
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Gionis Panagiotis (Greece) who is one of the rare players maintaining an own homepage
Strengths:
Good footwork
Great Forehand topspin against block and counter topspin
Good consistent defending on the backhand
Good use of pimples when taking short serves
Good use of pimples when taking long serves playing them back with a lot of speed into a great variety of angles
Good occasional use of backhand topspin with pimples in
Good backhand serves
Weaknesses:
Forehand topspin against defenders is too weak
Occasionally returns the ball too high with pimples against heavy but short and slow topspins
Nearly not defending at all with the forehand
Always uses the pimples on the backhand when returning serves
Not using the pimples often enough to counter attack on slow blocks or topspins
The variety of forehand serves could improve (I see improvements here since I first wrote this!)
Always uses the pimples on the backhand when returning pushes within a rally (I see improvements here since I first wrote this!)
Suggestions:
Practice spinning the ball up heavily against heavy backspin
Gionis should consider trying out pimples that produce more backspin like TSP Curl P-1 R or similar
Should consider occassionally defending with the forehand either with the pimples on short, spinny and slow forehand topspins or with floats on all kinds of topspins into his forehand
Should pratice also using the pips in when returning serves with heavy backspin
Should pratice to block and smash with the pimples
Try to extend the variety of forehand serves
Should consider occasionally using the pimples in to return a push ball into his backhand in order to prevent the opponent from getting in again with a hard, speedy forehand topspin.
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Let’s start with the currently best defender in the world: Joo Se Hyuk:
This recent game is one of the better ones against Ma Long even though he lost 3:1. He was using more often the pips-in on backhand and attacked with it. Only the use of pips-in when pushing from the backhand side and the use of longpips on slow spinny topspins down his forhand are missing to make up for a just too powerful Ma Long:
The two currently best defenders playing each other:
Great Forehand topspin against chop, block and topspin
Good consistent defending on the backhand
Good defending forehand against fast topspins
Great variety of serves
Good smashing with the backhand pimples against high balls or slow blocking
Weaknesses:
always uses the pimples on the backhand to push against a push ball thus taking the risk of getting heavily punished by big and fast forehand topspins à la Zhang Yike, Ma lin or Wang Hao. The Push with Feint pimples is too predictable. Rallies get too long and physically too exhausting so that especially in a tournament he might be too “crushed” before getting to the semifinal or final stage.
struggles getting the ball back low when confronted with heavy, but slow and short topspins into his forehand
When defending with the forehand there is not enough difference between float and chop thus making it to simple for the attacker to eternally spin on.
The Feint pimples or whatever he is using work fine getting the ball back low, fast and constistent but do not have enough back spin. He might have changed the pimples recently. I don’t have a confirmation of this. If somebody has: Get back to me with it.
Suggestions:
When defending a couple of times with the backhand pimples and the attacker pushes the ball short into his backhand so that he cannot attack with his forehand Joo should consider using the pimples-in rubber side to push back the ball with heavy chop long down the line into the extreme backhand corner of the attacker.
Against slow, short top spins with heavy spin into his forehand, Joo should practice using a mixture of low slow blocking back the ball from underneath the table, using the pimples to play back the ball with the heaviest backspin possible, trying to float the ball back in a deceptive manner.
Practice heavy chop by quickly hitting the bat upright down to give the most heavy chop or doing it deceptively by closing the bat and producing a float that looks like a heavy chop
Joo should consider trying to use a TSP Curl P-1 R or other pimples out that produce much more back spin when used against heavy top spin
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Chen Weixing (Austria):
Nice Defence against Defence:
Strengths:
Good footwork
Great Forehand topspin against chop, block and topspin
Good consistent defending on the backhand
Good use of pimples when taking short serves
Good occasional use of backhand topspin with pimples in
Good forehand serves
Weaknesses:
Rarely defending with the forehand, not even against slow, short and very spinny topspins into his forehand thus creating opportunities for the attacker to “hammer” on his slow forehand block/loop
Weakness in blocking with pimples or pimples in with his backhand.
rarely smashes or blocks with pimples thus forcing himself to constantly moving to his backhand to topspin with the forehand which is too tiring on the long run
Not a great variety of dangerous backhand serves
Suggestions:
Chen should consider occasionally using the pimples on the forehand against slow, short and spinny topspins into his forehand
Chen should consider practising to block with the pimples-out against slow forehand loops into his backhand
Chen should consider practising to block with the pimples-in against slow forehand loops into his backhand
Chen should consider practising backhand serves in a great variety to make himself more versatile and unpredictable to players who know him quite well
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