Game and skills analysis Ding Yaping (CHN)

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

Here comes Ding Yaping (CHN):

Strengths:

• good variety of serves
• good forehand defense when in right position
• very good backhand defense
• good attack with long pips from backhand side on pushes
• good forehand smash on higher push balls and on higher topspins

Weaknesses:

• forehand defense inconsistent when not exactly right placed.
• no twiddling
• not using forehand topspin a lot

Suggestions:

• practice better and faster positioning when defending with forehand
• use forehand topspin more often to attack after serve

Game and skills analysis Alina NIKITCHANKA (BLR)

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

Here comes Alina NIKITCHANKA (BLR) :

Strengths:

• good backhand block with pimples down the line
• quite choppy forehand defence
• good backhand serves

Weaknesses:

• definetively too week attacking qualities, too much old school chopping only
• goes back from the table too far and too early
• back hand defense not consistent enough
• “hopping” with body without need disadvantageous
• bat grip issue: the way she grips the bat when defending (thumb middle on the forehand rubber side is disadvantageous if you get a fast topspin into the forehand
• not chopping through the ball with forehand but “shoveling” around it. This will not work against better topspins and the ball goes up too high.

Suggestions:

• improve general footwork
• definitely practise more forehand attacking (topspin on pushes and counter topspin from far behind the table)
• use forehand serves
• stay closer to table

Game and skills analysis Gustaf Ericson (SWE)

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

Here comes Gustaf Ericson (SWE):

Strengths :

• very versatile and unpredictable playing style. Generally very impressing!
• good footwork
• good forehand topspin
• very good backhand topspin both on pushes and slow topspins
• quite a variety of serves on both forehand and backhand
• one of the few making use of long pips on forehand when chopping
• good backhand defence
• nice use of the long pimples when taking serves or messing up game on pushes of opponent
• nice twiddling of the bat when it makes sense!

Weaknesses:

• serves generally seem to be long all the time (disadvantageous when facing better players)
• sometimes attacking too much and too “wild” with backhand from forehand side
• trying to smash balls on forehand that are too low and should better be counter topspinned
• forehand defense not seen much (hard to say how good it is when needed)

Suggestions:

• practice short serves
• practice defending with wrist on backhand (wrist is a bit stiff when defending)
• when facing better attackers not try to win points all the time by endless counterspinning on forehand (you will lose against better players). Rather defend once in a while.
• not rely too much on backhand topspin from forehand side (better players will use “old lefthander tactics”: Play deep down his backhand until he moves there and then push long down forehand