The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Liu Kai (Poland):
Strengths:
very good overall fitness and good footwork
quite choppy and consistent backhand defence
good forehand topspin on pushes
good return on serves with his backhand usually with long pimples
good occasional deceptive float when defending on his forehand side
Weaknesses:
forehand countertopspin too inconsistent
forehand defense still often too high
never using long pimples to defend with forehand
not showing a great variety of serves
not using the full potential of the long pips for “messing up” the game such as aggressively pushing the ball on serves or pushes from the opponent
Suggestions:
get greater variety of serves
practice forehand counter topspinning also with lots of sidespin
practive flipping to pushing the ball aggressively with the long pips in order to make it more difficult for the opponent to get in with a first rocket topspin
(okay you can’t be an “as” in every regard, that’s true) but maybe try backhand blocking with pips in occasionally or backhand topspins against pushes to get more unpredictable.
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes LIN Ju (Dominican Republic):
Strengths:
very good and very choppy backhand defence due to using his wrist in an optimal manner too chop down the ball.
versatile playing style with good mixture of attacking and defending variations
good forehand topspin and sometimes astonishing sidespin topspins as in the video above against Apolonia at the Olympic Games 2008
very good simple style looking but very deceptive serves, sometimes with heavy backspin and sometimes with no spin but almost looking the same for the opponent.
Weaknesses:
sometimes a bit unpatient and attacking too early or to hastily thus creating unforced errors
has gone a bit slow while playing in France (maybe not the right diet there for Asians :-))
nearly never defending from his forehand side, which makes him too predictable and also vulnerable to slow and spinny topspins which he often returns too high.
is not agile enough, f.e. not bending his legs enough when defending with backhand or counterattacking with forehand topspins (standing too upright).
Suggestions:
keep up or improve general physical fitness
use backhand serve variations to increase inpredictability
defend occasionally with forehand when it makes sense
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Yang Wang (Slovakia):
I still think he would be much better of with long pips or short pips like Hou Yingchao has ….
Strengths:
incredible fast footwork. Highest speed I have seen so far.
good forehand counter topspin
very good reflexes
Weaknesses:
backhand defence often to high and not spinny enough (using the wrong pimples in my view)
forehand defence to inconsistent and predictively too high on slow and very spinny topspins down his forehand
generally not using the wrist enough to compensate the spin when chopping
forehand defensive stroke is going rather “round” the ball instead of chopping it straight in an upward townward movement.
not using long pimples on forehand when defending on slow spinny topspins
return on serve to inconsistent on both sides and not choppy enough with forehand rubber inside so that he often gets punishes by first rocket topspin from the opponent.
Suggestions:
definitively get other pimples that are able to return backhand chops lower, faster and with much more backspin (there are 4 or 5 on the market to my knowledge)
practice return on serve in order to return it with heavy backspin from forehand side
practice occasionally using long pimples to return slow spinny topspins into his forehand.
practive more and more consistently counterspinning topspins into his forehand. Try heavy sidepsin one à la Lin Ju or Hou Yingchao as a variation.
tabletennisdefenders 