Those wrecked Europians :=Z...

Igor, you really amaze me sometimes... don't you ever listen to what you are about to say before you post?

Do you really think top coaches and elite players do not know how to play vs defenders? I wonder what Vladimir Samsonov would say if he read your post? He is a very Euro-style player who has NEVER EVER had any real problems with top defenders including Joo Se Hyuk, Chen Weixing or even Hou Yingchao. Same can be said about Timo Boll who dropped a couple of matches to Joo but still almost always beats defenders.

It's not the technique, it's the consistency of play.

And if we are talking about technique - do you know (of course you do, you know all of that stuff) that Chinese players who have "no problems" vs top defenders (like Wang Hao, Xu Xin, Ma Long) all use hard-sponged tacky rubbers on FH... and that's why their topspin (loop) motion is different from that of players using European style rubbers?

Then if you do know all that, why exactly are you posting everything that jumps into your head before trying to think it through? Please next time, sleep on it... then post. Or don't.

 Igor, are you hitting the vodka today? Normally I can figure out what you are trying to say, even if it is usually --- how to put this--- well, an unusual opinion.  This time I can't even decode it.  Yes.

WH's fh shot quality does make life difficult for defenders.  But very few players can do what WH does against defenders.  Lets not forget that WH is considered to have the most powerful (fastest?) fh drive among the Chinese players.

snerdly wrote: .......  Lets not forget that WH is considered to have the most powerful (fastest?) fh drive among the Chinese players.

APW46 wrote: Give world class defenders some credit please, its as if some people think they only play that way so they can be cannon fodder, to be a pro player on the world circuit means that a player is a success, and to think that some players 'struggle' with them only because of their own inadequacies is massively disrespectful. They don't win world singles events, so what? neither do 99.9 % of pro players, but choosing that style of play, in a world of decreasing diversity, can give them the edge to get there. The players who struggle against them are not as good at reading the spin, the ones who do well read it well, it doesn't matter how you do it, with power or finesse if you win.

snerdly wrote: WH's fh shot quality does make life difficult for defenders.  But very few players can do what WH does against defenders.  Lets not forget that WH is considered to have the most powerful (fastest?) fh drive among the Chinese players.

vvk1 wrote: +1. WH is a beast. I saw him play Chen Weixing at the 2011 English Open, and WH literally destroyed him  - every other shot from WH from a FH drive or loop past the opponent.

One more reason why Wang Hao, Xu Xin and Ma Lin have an amazing record vs elite defenders is that it is a bit easier for a penholder to execute powerful over-the-table loop, especially when they have plenty of time. Not the main reason of course...

Wang Hao vs Joo Se Hyuk - 16 wins, 1 loss
Xu Xin vs Joo Se Hyuk - 5 wins, 0 losses
Ma Lin vs Joo Se Hyuk - 14 wins, 6 losses

Wang Hao vs Chen Weixing - 6 wins, 1 loss
Xu Xin vs Chen Weixing - never played
Ma Lin vs Chen Weixing - 5 wins, 0 losses

Ma Lin vs Koji Matsushita - 4 wins, 0 losses

Wang Hao vs Hou Yingchao - 10 wins, 1 loss
Xu Xin vs Hou Yingchao - 7 wins, 0 losses
Ma Lin vs Hou Yingchao - 7 wins, 1 loss

snerdly wrote: Tinykin wrote: snerdly wrote: .......  Lets not forget that WH is considered to have the most powerful (fastest?) fh drive among the Chinese players. Who said that?? I am surprised to hear that as I always thought that WLQ was the epitome of extreme power. I believe it was Wang Tao.  Relying on memory it is likely that I have left out any given qualifiers.  To be certain, WLQ, WH, M Lin, M Long, ZJK, XX and some of the younger players all are capable of executing monstrous loops, each likely to be better than another in some aspect, close or far, against underpin or topspin, etc. To me WH's fh is at its best when very close to the table and going for speed, using a lot of wood in the loop, a few feet back and it is not as effective. I always thought that WLQ's strength was in his ability to loop drive many balls in a row, not that it was the fastest speed wise.