Awesome.

Their talent pool is so large i can only describe it as they play table tennis and the rest of the world except for a handful play ping-pong

Impressive play. I was especially impressed with how he managed to keep the rallies so short against a top level defender. I think that part of the defenders success is due to wearing the opponent out from constantly being forced to loop 10-12 times in each and every rally. here, Zhou managed to keep the rallies really short, win or lose, he managed to conserve enrgy to be able to endure the entire match. A good match.

pnachtwey wrote: Speedplay, do you notice how Zhou Yu must swing up quickly to get the ball over the net when Wang chops?  At 4:00min Zhou Yu tries a half speed loop.  The surface speed of his paddle is does not match the surface speed of the back spin on the ball so the ball pushes off the paddle downwards into the net.  The rest of the time Zhou Yu us looping with spin and speed except for a few drop balls.

Seriously, I was trying to enjoy the match, not to prove your theory wrong. Once you understand the fatal error in your theory, you are welcome back to comment, but until you have realised that, I won't bother to much with you. I'm still going to give you a small piece of advice, instead of looking at how the arm moves, look at the placement of the ball and how Zhou moves his feet to be in good position. These are things you could learn from, like the rest of us.

This guy is the perfect antidote to the things people say about "Chinese versus European loops"--since Mr. Yu is pretty clearly Chinese!

Anton,

I think generally speaking, different equipment requires changes in technique.    Yes, all things being equal, hard, tacky rubbers and soft, grippy rubbers will need different strokes to maximize their use, more so because of the differences in dwell time and the differences in source of spin.  But I do not think that the level of detail required to make that difference is not as specific as you describe and will vary for each individual player.  The bottom line is what gets the ball over the net as securely as possible while causing maximum difficulties for your opponent.  I find that most of the differences are caused by sponge hardness first and then surface grip/tack second.

I have been trying to rebuild my forehand over time and I have found that I am more comfortable using hard, tacky rubbers  right now because they appeal more to my intuitive physics and I play close to the table - the extra catapult from the Euro causes me more problems when redirecting or counterlooping.  I also love to swing at the ball to generate maximum torque (straight arm beginning) so the non-linearity of catapult in general is annoying.  But I could just as well see another player with stronger arm muscles doing what I do with a bent arm technique.  Because I have experimented with grip changes, I can actually hit both straight arm and chicken arm loops with all the combinations of flexion, deviation and supination that you mention with both kinds of rubbers.  Again, the problem is that rubbers with significant catapult make it hard to do that close to the table.

So I applaud you on your analysis of what it took to make your stroke better for one rubber over another.  I don't agree that the level of detail has universal applicability.  I think harder rubbers require you to drive more to engage the sponge and tackier sheets allow you to overpower spin with strokes that use both thin and thick contact.  However, you lose catapult and require consistently fast strokes to maximize them as a looper.

The bottom line is that a looper who needs more spin from his technique need more torque.  How you do that (generate torque on your strokes) is up to you - a stronger person can do it with a bent arm, while a taller person might take more advantage of arm length to do it with an extended arm position.  All are legitimate and neither is rubbers specific as long as one keeps in mind that the goal was to generate extra torque, not to use a kind of rubber.

APW46 wrote: The Shakehander wrote: Their talent pool is so large i can only describe it as they play table tennis and the rest of the world except for a handful play ping-pong  I think that proportionately, a handful of Chinese play TT, and the rest of the Chinese population play ping pong too.