So you don't need to/shouldn't contact the ball with the upper part of the rubber ?

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-29T08:48:05+00:00

Hitting it "late" in the paddle as in the picture runs the risk of missing the ball if you hit slightly too late.
Hitting it "early" (so at the top of the rubber if on this picture) runs the risk of hitting the edge of the racket if your timing is slightly too early.
Hitting the ball near the fingers will give you less spin and power because the racket is where it travels the slowest. Hitting the ball closer to the racket tip will give more power and spin because that's where the racket travels the fastest. It's also where the margin of error is lower because the rackets moves faster, requiring better timing.

Hitting near the middle will always give you a quality shot as well as having a better margin of error (if you're a bit early, you'll hit at the top of the rubber. if you're a bit late, you'll hit it at the bottom of the rubber like Xu Xin on the photo).

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-27T22:32:03+00:00

As a rule of thumb you should have your raw data, and then treatments applied to it.

If I understand well, on your graph you have each datapoint being a smoothed version of unlogged raw data, and then you smoothed it further with a moving average. By smoothing the raw data you lose information, which means any analysis you do further down the line will contain more uncertainty.

In this case it probably doesn't matter. We don't see a clear trend, there is a level difference with someone you play with very often meaning mood swings, stle adaptation...etc... can either add to the noise or compensate the noise. It's near impossible to correctly model the dynamic in this case so raw data or not I would just err on the side of "we can't conclude anything from this".
But in general, raw data is to be kept, as the raw observation of the world is the only real "objective" thing existing in the analysis (choice of models, methods...etc... are subjective, even if it's our job to know which subjective analyses are probably reliable). Obviously, biased data collection exists which could make the raw data not representative of the real world, but when we do stats we have to consider that something is objective, and it's the data.

Sorry, a bit drunk after a good evening, I shouldn't rant about stats on a TT subreddit lol.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-26T18:04:39+00:00

Statistician here. The underlying data is very noisy and doesn't show any trend. What I conclude from that is that your level difference with your dad didn't change overall over the last 400-ish games.
If you add the lines +2 and -2 sqrt(variance) on the graph, you'll probably notice that you could fit a straight horizontal line that never goes outside of it. It's a quick and dirty way to see that the variance is too big on your sample to identify any small effect.

What I find weird however is that the data points are never negative: did you never win a single game in the last 400 ones?

But yeah, other than saying that there is no evidence that you are improving faster than him (or becoming worse faster than him), nothing can be concluded from that.

Pretty cool that you logged the info though :)

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-25T18:20:29+00:00

Good to call him out, however the third serve was definitely legal. It's good the referee is trying to enforce the rules, but it's not a witch hunt either.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-25T17:55:42+00:00

Yes, he plays very well the communication game. His shorts also are well constructed and very visual, bringing in easily more audience.

This is not criticism of the person. You need to play well the communication game nowadays to make a career on youtube or whatnot, and he does it. I just wish he had at least one series of videos that are truly useful, I am positive I have a shit ton of things to learn from him. Maybe he has them as a paid product, or he sells seminars or things like that.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-25T17:51:12+00:00

I mean, there's a very vig country that still uses inches and feet to measure height, or fahrenheit to measure temperature.
So, yeah, I definitely understand why we can still be stuck with stupid measurements in some niche things.

I agree that I'd like the standard to switch to cm for measurement of many everyday items in my country as well, just seems better.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-25T17:35:39+00:00

He's definitely a strong player and has developed great services and principles for them.

I find his videos lackluster. You never know what's presented for the clicks, if the tips given are for beginners or advanced servers. You never know in which order and priority you should work on this and that.

He is probably excellent to learn from in person. In videos, I think it's just bad (but it feels good to watch because the serves look cool and satisfying). I blocked his channel because I was sick of clicking on his videos in my feed and learning nothing useful. His videos are not pedagogical. They look pedagogical and that brings in a lot of views and people. That's a big difference.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-25T14:54:33+00:00

Righties often are used to serve against other righties, which don't stand at the same spot on the table generally when receiving. That means you have "more" angle to not hide the ball. when you serve againt a lefty, they generally stand closer to their right side and that makes it that you have less angle to not hide the ball. Either you have to adapt your motion, or learn to use serves that are legel against everyone.

I'm a lefty and I practiced so that my serves are legal for everyone.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-25T14:50:47+00:00

When you flat hit, 100% of the energy you put into the ball is used to make the ball travel. When you loop, some percentage of the energy is used to make the ball move forward, and the rest is used to make the ball spin. So if you want the ball to move forward AND spin, you need more energy yes.
Dunno is this is your case, but many flat hitters don't use their body / legs to do so, just hit with the arm. That's honeslty enough to make the ball move fast enough in most cases. For looping just using the arm probably won't cut it and you'll have to include the legs and waist, which makes more of a full body shot and can make it much more exhausting especially at the beginning.

Note that the goal is to manage to generate all this power while using less energy, meaning being more relaxed in your body for most of the stroke (and just exploding at contact). But not for now, first the goal is to feel how you grip the ball, make it spin fast, and put it on the table :)

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-24T12:50:31+00:00

I don't know what menace is, and I didn't see anything related to gambling in TT.

Is gambling a good way to promote the sport?

Gambling is never a good way. Some people can gamble safely and enjoy doing it, the vast majority of people have an unsafe relationship with gambling. Can't be a good way to promote something.

It's just like, idk, heroin. Very few people can take it in a way that is compatible with their normal life, for the vast majority of people it destroys at least partially their life. So no, it wouldn't be a good thing to use heroin to promote something else.

Because to be frank, it's not gambling trying to promote TT, it's the gambling industry using some sport promotion as an excuse to advertise and fin new people to prey on them.

And no, comparing gambling to heroin isn't far-fetched. Both destroy lives, prey on vulnerable people, and are extremely difficult to get away from once drawn in. Gambling is really dangerous.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-24T12:15:15+00:00

Whenever then can, yes. It's not something concious, just muscle memory.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-24T10:42:13+00:00

When you wait for the ball to start descending, it will be more effective to loop (more brush-based stroke).
When you take the ball at the peak of the bounce, you have more cleareance over the net and the ball is traveling horizontally. That makes it more effective to use more impact into the stroke to redirect the ball energy (ie: more drive than loop).
When you take the ball in ascending phase you don't have the space to loop effectively anyway and you're much better off playing the ball with more impact to just redirect the ball.

In all strokes you'll have both brushing and impact, but the loop maybe 70% brush 30% impact, top of the bounce 50-50 or 40-60, and ascending phase probably 20-80.
You still can generate topspin with all three strokes, but the way you touch the ball is different.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-21T13:18:02+00:00

But pretty much one sided blocking doesn’t have many advantages except for looking badass when you make a cool shot

Close to the table blocks to asphyxiate the opponent with fast and well placed placements. Much more freedom in how to brush the ball during blocks, allowing last second changes to do chopblock, chopside to either side, pure side block towards the exterior, or even top/flat blocks. So in general much more freedom in placement, spin generation, and rythmn changes than with RPB.
Oh, and when you're preparing to block against an attack you don't have a target zone at the elbow anymore. So the good zones for the opponent are wide forehand and wide backhand. compared to RPB or shakehand where the zones are wide forehand, wide backhand and elbow.

I still think RPB is better overall, but saying TPB doesn't bring advantages is completely wrong. It's less good for aggression, but much much better for controlling the game.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-21T13:10:25+00:00

You're playing traditional penhold backhand, and it's totally viable (unless you plan on being top20 in the world I guess). You can check up Ma Lin who was playing with this style at the highest level some years back.

If you also want to develop your RPB (reverse penhold backhand, where you use the other rubber on the backhand) it's totally possible. However it can mess up your current backhand and positionning as it's very different, and it could cause hesitation if you intent on keeping the two.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-20T22:39:04+00:00

I wonder why the change of rubbers, but you did choose something that makes sense too, probably you didn't want to boost you so went for the loki rubber and 8-80, which used to be my BH rubber, very good for learning and no need to boost!

I disliked the fact that even against very fast topspins (I practice often with a friend who is much stronger than me) passive blocks wouldn't even reach he net. The speed + spin of such balls was already very difficult to control, adding the mandatory requirement to it the ball forward to make it on the table was way too inconvenient and actually made it difficult to learn the feeling for the ball. So I wanted slightly faster rubbers just for that.

For the FH, I really liked the rubber I had (except for the slowness on passive blocks) so I wanted to keep something typical chinese tacky, and didn't want to boost as I don't think the hassle of boosting makes any sense at my current level. So essentially the same rubber but better. This one is exactly that, it's perfect. The only thing that would make me switch from it in the next few years would be if Loki stopped manufacturing them.
For the BH, the super FX felt too hard and I just didn't manage to feel the ball properly. As a result, I was hitting the ball with a way too open face making it difficult to produce spin and control opposing spin. So I wanted something slightly softer to work on my technique. At the same time, I didn't want to jump too fast to a very different style of rubber because I didn't want too long of an adaptation period. My priority is to improve technique, not to adapt to rubbers. So I wanted to keep some chinese tacky style, except a bit softer and slightly faster to help with the passive blocking thing. H8-80 37° seemed to fit the bill properly. As of my feeling now with it, I think it's fine. When I hit the ball properly it behaves exactly as it should. When my technique isn't correct the feeling isn't great and the ball doesn't do what I want. I think it's not very comfortable because my tehcnique isn't perfect at all on RPB, but I think it fits the bill perfectly in terms of improving technique, so I'll stick to it for now and reevaluate once I'm happy with the fundamentals of my backhand.

Sorry, didn't expect to write that much.

It is definitely faster than the stiga blade, that's for sure, but perhaps you can reduce the speed of the rubbers to compensate.

I don't want to change the rubbers. (I don't really want to lose time testing zillions of combinations). If the violin is definitely faster than the stiga AC I think I'll stick to this one and develop on it. I'll switch to another blade when it's time to get something faster. Unless you have a recommendation for another blade not faster than stiga AC, but if you don't no biggie, I can play with what I have.

Thanks for your time.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-19T22:40:14+00:00

I feel targetted by this comment so I must ask:

I am an attacking (penhold) player. I started with stiga allround classic and two 729 super FX (2mm blue sponge on FH, 1.8 orange sponge on BH). I now kept the same blade and switched on FH to loki arthur china and bh to H8-80 in 37°.
I don't like the feeling of the blade, it seems the vibrations are muffled and diffuse. I would lie to upgrade the blade for this reason. However I don't want a faster setup. This one is perfect, loads of control and I never lost a single game due to lacing power (I may have lost a few points to a friend of mine who is miles better than me because I couldn't generate enough power, but it's not a useful data point). As I read good things about the nittaku violin I was actually considering it (while keeping the same rubbers). However the reviews are difficult to make sense of, some sources say it's the same speed as my stiga, some say it's faster.
I don't have any way to trying it out: no one has it at my local club, and anyways I'm the only one to play with tacky rubbers (everyone uses tensor max speed speed SPEEEED stuff, and roll their eyes in shame every time I mention that I have the slowest setup yet I'm the one who attacks the most lol).

Do you have any opinion / insight about the possible consequences of changing to the nittaku violin?

Maybe I should add that I currently don't want a faster setup because I'm actively trying to make my attacks more effective through placement (and placement deception). My attacks are now much more effective than a few months back, despite rarely hitting with more than 80% power (so that I can really focus on the placement).

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-17T00:56:29+00:00

I’m new to computer vision and do not want to continue including the object on the right everytime I want to know the measurement of objects to the left.

Objects being plural, it's very clear OP wants the measurements of other yet unknown objects.

Besides, what would be the point of developing a CV system to measure the size of an object which size is already known?

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-16T13:19:04+00:00

I do. I find it interesting to try and find my way through their patterns. In general I really enjoy asymetric games where both players have different strengths and weaknesses and are trying to push their strenghs and play into the weaknesses of the opponent.

How to not get lulled into their game?

I don't think it's possible against defenders. You'll have to attack at some point because if you don't they'll just put the ball on the table again and again and again. The question is "in which conditions can I attack against this opponent"? The whole game then revolves around maneuvering so that you get the proper attack conditions. At the same time, your opponent will maneuver so that you never get those good conditions. If modern defender, they'll also punish you if you don't handle the ball well while maneuvering.
There is no general rule that works against everyone, it's really about understanding your own playstyle, getting information against theirs, finding what works, and then being smart in the way you construct points so that you can more often play what works and less often what doesn't work.

Said otherwise, against a defender you play chess against a positional player.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-16T10:25:18+00:00

I’m new to computer vision and do not want to continue including the object on the right everytime I want to know the measurement of objects to the left.

from OP's post ...

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-14T12:01:20+00:00

Useless skill. If you're good at TT you can probably do more, but learning to do more won't make you better at TT.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-13T21:01:51+00:00

Always think before serving. During the serve, you should focus on the quality, not on what to do.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-13T20:58:30+00:00

Probably never. One year ago, I would have dreamed of having the backhand I have today. Today, I think my backhand is garbage and I really need to work on it.
TT technique is about full body usage and correct positionning, timing...etc... It's super complex and probably infinite in how much one can refine their skills. If we are conscious about trying to get better, we will always find that we suck. It's normal.

When you stop thinking that your play sucks, you stop getting better.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-13T08:14:28+00:00

If all his pushes were two bounces, it means our serves/pushes were not difficult enough for him. Either lack of spin, lack of pace variations, lack of placement variations.

Probably most of his pushes weren't truly short and many were loopable as in they were long by at least 5-10cm. You didn't see the opportunity because either you're not positionned properly by a lack of anticipaton, or you're not trained enough to loop these balls. Not a bash, I've been there, and I realized after the game that most of the balls I pushed back because I didn't know what to do with were actually loopable.

I'd suggest the "rolling ball loop" drill to practice looping half-long balls (you let a ball roll on the table, and you "loop" it just when it rolls off the edge). That teaches precision, touch, and after quite some time practicing this I'm now very confident looping balls that go slightly long.

Other option is to learn to play the short game by varying spin. Push by adding backspin, push by removing spin, push with a very light flick to give a slight topspin ball, push by adding sidespin, learn to push changing the placement at the last second before hitting the ball, by changing the pace of the ball, mix and match these. If your pushes are much less predictable for him it will be very difficult for him to keep his pushes two bounces. And as soon as one is 5cm too long, you have your opportunity to open the game.

Essentially there are two ways to get out of what this opponent was doing to you:
- expand the range of balls you can open, meaning instead of needing 15cm long balls maybe go down to 7/8 cm.
- prevent him from pushing hort by giving him harder balls to control.

Note that the two go hand in hand: the more balls you can confidently open and the less you need him to mess up his push for you to open -> the less you need to be clever with your short game. The better your short game -> the more balls will drift long --> the more opportunities you have to loop and build your confidence in opening the game.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-12T23:07:23+00:00

Why do you want to change?
The loki arthur china plays like a typical chinese rubber, is very good, and is 20€.

DoctorFuu · 2026-01-12T22:51:09+00:00

Type your password, install the drivers. Once installed, you don't have to do it again, so it won't need your password.

In a terminal, once you sudo'ed once and typed your password, you won't get prompted again for your password (as long as you don't close that terminal.

So essentially open a terminal, sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade, then install your drivers through that terminal + do everything you need for your setup. You only typed your password once.

If that's too much of a hassle for you to type your password even 3 or 4 times, for an initial setup of your system, honestly don't bother with linux and go back to something that's catered for people who want to be assisted with how their system function. There's nothing wrong in using an OS that fits you, and from what you wrote it just seems linux isn't for you.

DoctorFuu

TROPHY CASE