Game and skills analysis Jonah Schlie (GER)

The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!

Here comes Jonah Schlie  (GER): I see great potential here!

Strengths:

• nice twiddling of the bat, good use of pimples in to push with backhand
• quite versatile playing style (occasional blocks and topspins with backhand etc.)
• very good footwork
• very good forehand counter topspin
• good consistent defending with pimples on backhand
• good backhand serves

Weaknesses:

• few forehand serves
• no use of pimples on backhand to “mess up” the game when receiving pushes into backhand
• forehand defence and pushes not choppy enough, but not “empty” enough to be a deceptive float
• no use of pimples on forehand on heavy loaded topspins down his forehand
• too often just lifting the ball back from forehand (like Filus) instead of defending or heavy counter topspin

Suggestions:

• work a bit on forehand serves
• try to occasionally use pimples on forehand when chopping on very spinny topspins
• try to place ball more often into awkward corners especially when playing lefthanders (into their backhand)

Game and skills analysis Satoshi Aida

The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!

Here comes Satoshi Aida (Japan): Special: two smooth sides/no pimples!

Strengths:

• good but not tremendous footwork
• very versatile playing style: Good attacking and defending qualities on both sides
• good backhand serves
• heavy backspin on backhand push
• good backhand topspin on pushes
• good backhand block
• good forehand topspin on pushes

Weaknesses:

• disadvantage of rubber in on backhand: Heavy topspins into his backhand will force direct (goes off the table) or indirect (high ball gets hammered) errors.
• sticky rubber in on both side is vulerable to tricky spinny serves
• slight attitude problem: Looks as he lives in the US and does not have to face high standard opponents very often and does not really give full committment to his strokes
• forehand topspin on blocks a bit too slow/harmless
• often plays slow backhand topspin against blocks. Too easy to get hammered by better players.

Suggestions:

• practise save returns of tricky serves
• show more determined, less casual attitude
• practise chopping with no spin at all/floats
• use more versatile forehand serves
• practise faster footwork in defense