Shocking Upset: My First Win Over a US Open Contender! The Impossible Match

[@youjohnny16]

Hey Ben, Great match! Not a fluke at all. Good serve variety. What I believe are 4 keys to table tennis, 1. Spin, 2. Power, 3, Variation, 4, Deception. and then you use a combination of them against your opponent. For some opponents spin works better, others power. Variation nearly always required or they will get used to you and win in 4th and 5th set. Deception is a necessary part of the game. You had improved movement. Good patience when the ball is not there to hit hard. Better consistency. Love the finishing backhand. I think you need to go through the ball a little more on your follow up backhands (except for that last one ... a little more of that is required!) You would never swing the bat as slow on the forehand as slow as some of your backhands. You lose a little confidence after one backhand and don't hit through the ball enough on the second backhand, so the ball drops off the rubber and goes into the net. My coach tells me, the ball "has to come up off the rubber" every time. No parallel or fall off. So you need to lift the ball to arc it up, but also go through the ball as well to get it past the net. 2 rules in table tennis I say, 1: over the net, 2 past the net. If you don't get those two, you are in big trouble to start with. Simple rules but you would we make the game a little too complex sometimes. Many of your backhands are just never going to go past the net as your aren't finishing your shot through the ball and the bat goes up instead of forward (it goes up naturally even when you try and just go forward). See from 7min mark to 7.20. Most of your backhands go up only and not forwards and through the ball with more of a "hit" needed. It will still spin down, let the sponge do some of the work to create the rotations. I also have to say, I found your site from on a short where you were talking in your car that you were just about to play, I saw your channel name and was intrigued. Then went to your channel and watch you play a match from about 4 months ago. I left some tips there about the recover position (which I will repeat below). However, the are almost not needed anymore as your bat recovery position after each shot has improved dramatically ! Which has enabled you to rally so much better. Congrats. You game has elevated very quickly in lots of areas. Here were my tips regarding your bat recovery position from 4 months ago where I analyse your video ... but as I say, almost not needed anymore, but worth noting. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqrPYnabm6mSgKc

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

First off, I am so grateful that you took the time to record that video and analyze that match between Jonathan and me! Thank you so much! Your analysis and tips are so spot on and helpful! I have subscribed to your channel! It definitely helps so much and it is so needed for such a reminder - there are a lot of reasons I guess I slip in this and only why I'm just NOW starting to do it more frequently. #1 - fatigue. No excuse, but it does happen. #2 - My anatomy. I have a T2-L2 back fusion, so it might be that because I cannot 'bend' my back is just awkward, but hey, that's also not an excuse since I can do it. It might even be an advantage if I can learn to play with it. #3 - I just forget because as you mentioned, it's a bad habit. Of your 4 keys, I think I struggle the most with #1 and 4, but I agree with them!

[@youjohnny16]

@@BenSucksAtPingPong Thanks for the reply. I don't typically make my videos public, just unlisted, just use it as a store for my and other matches, and family videos. Happy to have a look at your matches every now and then and provide some video analysis. Don't be too hard on yourself, this game is full of "mistakes", either mistakes made by us ... footwork, technique, reading spin etc ... or mistakes force on us by the play of the opponent. It is a weird game in that as we can typically reach each shot (unlike in tennis) we feel like we can get every ball back, but that is just not reality. Federer has a good speech where he says he won so many tournaments, but about 54% of points played. If he didn't reset and play point and instead dwelled on the errors and points lost, he would have never been as good. So try your best, play point by point, have fun, enjoy the journey (which is not straight line to inprovement) and realise we don't have the time nor energy to play like the pros.

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

That's a great sentiment, appreciate that reminder.

[@avatarjonathan3568]

Congrats, Ben! This is the best match I’ve seen you play! Excellent feeling on the backhand and I also love your new reverse pendulum serve. Solid win 💪🏻

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

Thanks buddy! This one felt really, REALLY good.

[@techviking23]

Ben, great work man!

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

@@techviking23 thank you! Appreciate it

[@holger951159]

Wow! That was huge improvement on short time. The footwork really elevated it!

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

Thank you so much, and I agree! That footwork helped so much. I hope it wasn't a one-off!

[@loganb1325]

Well done ben!

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

Thanks man! Appreciate it!

[@EloasKey0101]

2:44 Holy crap, when did you learn that? Beautiful serve

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

@@EloasKey0101 I've had that serve for a while, but I'm very timid to use it as I'm not confident in my footwork afterwords yet and sometimes it goes too high over the net. But when it works it works! I have a top spin and back spin version

[@lt.kettch]

Nice win! Fluke or not, it wasn't luck. Many good plays and quality shots from both sides in this match. 👍 Not much for me to "stare" at ha ha. FH consistency and quality is definitely improving. I like the patience, both in waiting for the ball and in willingness to take a safer shot to extend the rally. As consistency improves, start incrementally aiming towards the FH or BH side. When you don't have a killer set up, you tend to aim for the middle, which is ok but makes the opponent's return placement less predictable. 4:04 6:56 - good FH flicks. It's one shot I notice you don't do very much. If you have the bandwidth, try to incorporate this into your game more. 4:32 - nice patience in that finishing shot For Leanne, regarding her service placement (most noticeable in game 5): You have a tendency to serve based on where you're standing. For example, if you stand to your FH side, you generally serve your opponent's FH. When you stand at the middle of the table, you tend to serve to their bh. The serve quality is fine but the predictability of it detracts from its effectiveness. Suggestion: every once in a while, serve to the other side. It's easy to implement and it will slow the opponent's reaction because, instead of automatically moving to one side or the other, there's a little bit of doubt now. Maybe every 4th or 5th serve, you can switch it up. Might even get an ace the first time you do it. Much praise to both players for a great match.

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

Thank you, much appreciated! With FH flicks - you're right, I rarely, RARELY use them but I feel (for some odd reason) I'm more effective with them against hardbat, and less effective against inverted. This is why I rarely use them. Great critique on the serves as well, Most of my service 'unpredicability' playbook lately is in incorporating more and different serves, but that needs to open up in placement. Again, appreciate it!

[@lt.kettch]

@BenSucksAtPingPong my guess is that the reason why you feel more comfortable doing fh flick vs hardbats is probably the spin (or relative lack of spin)?

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

That's probably 85.23% the reason. I've had more success with the flicks (with some very notable exceptions) against hardbat which might be why I try them more often.

[@lt.kettch]

@@BenSucksAtPingPong generally, a low, short serve has less spin. If it's high enough, just brush it over with a fast motion

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

That's all? I've been putting way too much thought into this.

[@jbenz1990]

Ben you’re squatting like you’re about to chuck the damn paddle at Leanne’s face!

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

She'd just block it and it'd land on my side anyway. Her point.

[@jbenz1990]

@ 😂

[@knotwilg3596]

Not a fluke at all. Man, you are improving fast. We say "backhand" you go "backhand". Where does it all come from? I'd expect weeks if not months for the steps you make in just a few days. Let's see if it truly works: "Learn the ghost serve".

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

Haha - I have no idea, but there are definitely things that are a LOT harder for me than others: For example: -Reading spin off a serve -Short game attack -Backhand looping backspin -Looping forehand backspin But what DOES help is videotaping my matches and all of the comments. That helps TREMENDOUSLY. Now the ghost serve.........

[@CountShockula]

Wow you are actually beginning to move your feet in position a little...faster footwork....slower, smoother, shorter strokes.

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

Thank you! This match felt pretty good!

[@drmlzhang]

???? nice club

[@BenSucksAtPingPong]

@@drmlzhang love it here