As promised in my last article I participated in the tournament of Lluïsos de Gràcia last Sunday. Once again I recorded some of the matches and once again I will look for lessons on my road to the quarter-finals and beyond. The tournament included sausages on the BBQ better known locally as botifarras and it confirmed the idea that a table tennis tournament and a BBQ party are the perfect combination. It reminded me of the endless supply of ribs at the “fameuzen dubbel” of TTK Schilde in Belgium. A nocturnal doubles tournament accompanied by barbecued ribs and, as is so often the case in Belgian clubs, a steady supply of drinks and soda’s from the club’s bar. Just thought I’d give them a shout out for putting the bar so high in terms of filling our bellies while playing table tennis.
Now, for those that want to see us lob and block smashes and spins as if they are requests for parental leave or reductions in hours and we are classic patriarchal companies (as mentioned before some discussions are never out of place) :let’s get this show on the road.
First up: my group match against Isaac. I was looking forward to this match because I know Isaac is a solid player, but I was also confident that I could handle him. And I got the feeling Isaac would try his best to beat me.
Lesson 1: Do or do not. There is no try.
Yoda was right about this. While you are playing you are winning or losing. You’re not trying.
When you are playing someone, you are better than him/her. It doesn’t matter what your opponent’s level is. If you think your opponent is better you’re already losing. It may seem a bit arrogant but it is what tips the balance more often than not. In this match you can see it in the two sets where Isaac has a comfortable lead which he can not convert because I am sure I’m going to win and he starts to doubt if he can stop me. On paper your opponent might be better and outside of the match you can think what you want, but when you are behind the table you are the one to beat.
There are some traps hidden behind this arrogance though so watch out for the following:
Lesson 2: Show appreciation for great points by your opponent by paying them back twice over.
Having a good opponent just means you have an opportunity to play at your highest level. Going after his/her crazy killers that seem impossible to stop, creating your own openings in her/his iron defense.
Lesson 3: The fact that you are the better player, doesn’t automatically make your opponent a bad player.
I’ve seen this happen a lot and it has happened to me too.
If you don’t reach a certain ball or you miss a stroke, it might be an unforced error, but chances are it’s actually the result of a brilliant play from your opponent. Maybe he/she varied the effect on his stroke. Maybe he/she did something purposefully stupid that broke your rhythm, … You are the better player, but, just like Ma Long, you can lose points, you can miss attacks and you can fall victim to your opponent’s tactics. Try not to focus too much on lucky balls and missed opportunities, but try to recognize what your opponent is doing to expose your weaknesses and fight back anyway you can.
Just to help you put things in perspective: in the 2017 World Championships final between Ma Long and Fan Zhendong both lost more points starting the attack than when receiving the first attack.
These are the best players in the world and they manage to be the best because they can handle losing points when they seem to be in a dominant attacking position. They are so aware of this reality that they try to capitalize on it using whatever means necessary. Because of this Ma Long’s most efficiently used stroke was actually his forehand push.
I’m not really sorry, Isaac, for never doubting I would win. But I’ll expect you to do the same to me next time! A decent lead will mean something totally different when you do.
On to my match in the round of 32 against Edu Cabestany. He plays with an anti-top rubber on his backhand, a type of rubber that basically cancels out any incoming rotation on the ball. I started out tentatively because I have been destroyed by a particularly efficient antitop player a couple of times over the past years by the name of Felix Julia. Before Felix I was always happy to play antitop players because I had no trouble reading the effect and since most antitop players slow down the game quite a bit it always gave me the time to bring out my big guns. Not so with Felix. He does things with his rubber that I still don’t really understand. Back to Edu.
I tested the waters in the first set and by the middle of the second set I felt I was sure of what kind of water it was. Once I figured out the effect of his rubber on my strokes I started going all out on my shots and happily took control of the game.
I was lucky though I didn’t lose any sets while figuring out Edu’s game. If it would have taken me longer, just losing one set could have put the pressure on my side and given him the confidence to go for his best strokes.
Lesson 4: Pay attention so you can figure out the particularities of your opponent's game, but don’t forget to move, go for your strokes and take some risks.
There’s a fine balance between testing your opponent and playing too passive. What I did during the first set served me well this time, but would have been way too passive against another player or Edu on a better day. In most cases you can adapt to a player’s style easily because it is similar to yours or to a player you know. When you meet someone that requires more of an effort to adapt to, a very common response is sadly to insult the other player’s way of playing. Playing against somebody like that might make you feel like you know nothing, like you are playing another game altogether. If that happens you have already fallen into the trap. You are still playing the same game, it’s just harder to enforce your way of playing on your opponent. And basically your opponent is doing an amazing job of taking you out of your comfort-zone. So be aware of it and pull him/her into your world, even if you have to invent a new one on the spot that is maybe just as hard for you as it is for your opponent. It’s still better than just struggling along trying to play your usual game against a style that doesn’t allow for it.
In the round of 16 I met Miguel Maldonado. I had seen him train before and his relaxed stance and friendly smile always made me feel he didn’t take play too seriously. Meeting him this late in the tournament made me think something more might be going on though. I noticed right away that his strokes are really crisp and the ball reached me with a lot of quality. This is something that is sometimes hard to see from the sidelines. The quality in his stroke gave incoming balls just that little bit more spring towards me, quite a lot more controlled spin as well and the way he cut the ball also showed a level of touch above what I was expecting. His relaxed stance made him able to respond efficiently to the placement of my own strokes. Because of the quality of his shots a felt right away that I needed to enforce my rhythm to the game because I was sure he would be able to stack up points if I relaxed too much.
Lesson 5: Don’t get distracted by appearances.
It’s not because somebody looks like he’s just playing to have a good time that he doesn’t have the skills or the power to beat you. Some players use their relaxed way of playing to pull you into their rhythm and the longer you play conforming to their hypnotizing rhythm, the harder it becomes to break out of it. And, if you didn’t pay attention, you might conclude once more that it is you that is not performing well, while it is actually your opponent that pulled you into a relaxed state that gives you the feeling you have all the opportunities to play your game. The problem is of course that the game is now in his/her control and like a snake-charmer your opponent has you moving exactly as he wants you to. Just like in the example of Ma Long and Fan Zhendong this relaxed player is not afraid of you attacking first or even making some amazing points as long as he controls the rhythm and the placement of the ball.
These players sometimes seem like magicians because they can make you feel really good about your own style, but still win the game.
I’m a big fan of this style and I think I sometimes unconsciously use it myself. But I’m also quite susceptible to it so thanks Miguel for having such high quality strokes that always reminded me there was a beast lurking around the corner ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness.
Bernat Folch… Everybody that was there on the day got to see the calm brilliance of this young player. Not just against me by the way, I came a bit too late to the party to really put too much in his way, but throughout the whole tournament. We train together every week and during training Bernat would regularly have trouble winning against me because of today’s first lesson: he would make me feel like he doesn’t believe he is going to win, giving me the edge to make crazy comebacks or take control of the game entirely. That kind of set the trap for me from lesson 5. I underestimated him this day. Even though I had seen him play amazing tournament matches against players his own age, I just took my own experience as the norm and decided to hold back a bit. I held back a bit mainly because I wasn’t entirely sure my knee would support accelerating to his level, but as you can see I only mention my knee in the game I lost, so I’m not even sure how much I was slowed down by it and props to Bernat for forcing me to at least try to accelerate.
Lesson 6: Don’t worry too much about winning or losing when you are injured.
It’s really annoying to have the feeling you could have done more to win a game, but if you can’t handle the disappointment of losing while being less than a 100%, it’s probably better not to take the risk of making your injury worse. I on the other hand did get a bit frustrated (making me susceptible to lesson 1), but I’m also really happy that I did play. It was really nice to experience a higher level of play from Bernat than I was used to and it made me look forward to any future encounters we might have. He also forced me, like Xavi the week before, to play some impressive points and that’s what I will use to reach my next level.
Lesson 7: There’s no reason why losing a match can’t give you more confidence.
I gained confidence in my ability to speed up and more aggressively control the game with my backhand even though this time it was not enough to win the match.
So, thanks Bernat for playing at the level that you did, I honestly loved it. I was annoyed that I couldn’t go on to play against Ramon, but I was also really happy that you made it through. In no way would I have beaten you any easier if I had been at a 100%, you were clearly prepared to deal with anything that day. Next time we play though I will feel confident I will win again, regardless of your form. And you will get to know the fury of my revenge! Moehahaha.
As I did last time I kept recording the matches that would conclude my side of the table. Because of this we have a record of Bernat’s next match against Ramon Cliville.
At the start of the match I asked Bernat if he wanted me to coach him (which I had done once before in another tournament), but he told me he couldn’t accept it because Ramon is his trainer. Bernat told me he was sure Ramon would be fine with it, but it wouldn’t feel right. I agreed that he should do what would make him feel the most comfortable in the match and that’s what he did. Because of his respect for Ramon he actually found a point of focus that allowed him push through the whole match without having the need to be coached by anybody but himself and I’m sure his memories of Ramon’s coaching helped him too. He was consistently calm and collected, he moved well and when the pressure was at its peak he managed to take home the win. Beautiful performance by Bernat. Ramon played with an equal amount of respect, was not shy of taking risks and remained calm and collected under pressure as well. I’m sure the game could have been even closer under other conditions, but Ramon will surely agree that it was Bernat’s effort that was the decisive factor in the end. A very nice match to watch.
Lesson 8: Matches played with respect and without holding back anything are amazing to watch!
Thanks Ramon and Bernat for this beauty.
Now it’s time to introduce Nil. He also trained with Ramon this year like Bernat and I and Marti, Bernat’s older brother. You might remember Marti from last week’s article. He’s the player that beat me in the group phase with his powerful forehand attacks. Not an easy player to beat and Nil did just that in the semi-finals. I didn’t record or watch that game, but on paper Marti was the clear favorite.
Bernat continued into the final match full of confidence and managed to take control of the game early on. But let’s talk about Nil. I am really happy he made it to the finals. He has a lot of really strong qualities that are always on the edge of becoming defects in his game. To summarize it easily: Nil is a really creative player. This makes his movements seem lazy and careless at times, but it also gives him a decent control of his nerves. The only problem I see with it, is that he sometimes seems to cross the border and falls into carelessness at which point he loses control of the game. But it is a risk that I think is worth it. He is becoming stronger and stronger, playing out of a fearless place and he will keep improving more basic tactical strokes as he grows as a player. But because he is fearless he can be incredibly unpredictable and I hope he never loses that ability. Just like Miguel he is a player that manages to put opponents off balance because of his relaxed stance. His relaxed stance combined with his sudden accelerations make it hard to find your own rhythm. Once you get into your own groove like Bernat manages to do quite early, Nil still struggles a bit with coming up with solutions despite his creativity, but that’s something that will change soon enough.
Lesson 9: Develop simple creative strokes that disrupt other players’ ability to go all out.
Nil has a very efficient creative game if you fall into his rhythm, but when he learns to use his creativity in a more spontaneous way to consistently break his opponent’s rhythm his apparent fearlessness will pay off even more.
Congratulations Bernat and Nil for an amazing tournament! Can’t wait to see how you guys develop further.
Last but not least the finals of the younger players. HongXiang Lin asked me if I wanted to coach him against Biel Gimeno and that is what I did. I recorded the end of their match once Bernat and Nil had finished theirs.
Hong started out quite well and dominated mainly with his attacking strokes and by being a bit more creative when returning the ball. When Biel started to put in some decent strokes of his own in the second set, Hong started to doubt himself a bit, which made his returns less creative and of a lower quality, which made it easier for Biel to find his confidence in his opening attacking strokes. Towards the end of the match Hong managed to return with more quality and forced more errors from Biel, but lesson 1 was making the difference again. Biel was confident he could finish up the match and Hong had fallen back into trying his best. At 2-1 in sets and 9-6 behind, I asked Hong for a time out and told him he had nothing to lose at this point and there was no reason why he could not go back in, start the match from scratch and play with confidence.
Lesson 10: It’s never too late to press the reset button and start fresh. Even if you figure it out a bit late in the game, the best way to beat your opponent is still the best way to beat your opponent. Don’t just stick to a previous tactical decision for no good reason.
The confidence that Hong was missing during the previous sets came into view during his last few points. Even though Hong still lost, the change in his demeanor at the end of the match shows he has the ability to fight back under pressure. I’m sure he will find a way to stay confident throughout difficult matches soon.
Congratulations Hong for making the finals and Biel for taking control of the game and winning the tournament.