dwruck wrote:
He has some really quick reflexes to be able to block those fast loops back. And he has a nice attack on his own forehand, which really makes the difference, because it forces his opponents to not put nothing balls to him. He also has a nice attack off the backhand when balls are popped up too.
Very accurate summary dwruck. I was able to practice with Phil 10 days ago - he's a nice guy and a much better player than me. He gets some very good short angles with his blocks and the ball is usually dropping quickly on you or skidding through fast. I spoke to him recently about the game and how he handled Ronnie's pace and topspin this time (Ronnie has beaten Phil as have others in our Premier League - Phil seldom plays outside our league). He explained how important it was for him to use soft hands when blocking against Ronnie.
Also, something which doesn't come across in the video are his serves. They usually carry a lot of spin and are hard to read. If the return pops up he hits, if the return doesn't pop up it usually carries lots of spin coming back from his serve and his LP's just eat it up and return it back with nasty stuff at awkward angles and lengths. Having good spinny serves means he can get his LP's in to the game and quickly and that puts opponents under pressure "to do something" when returning and can force mistakes. All credit to him. He's worked very hard developing his LP game - and as you say, his attacking forehand makes a huge difference in how people can play him and that forehand has inverted rubber on so he's not just a one trick pony which is sometimes all people see when they realise he uses LP's.
For reference it's Xiom Zeta on the forehand and some variety of Hallmark LP's OX on the backhand. I think its also a Hallmark combination ultra blade Phil uses too.
Quote:
...Must be nice to live in a place that's free of the repressive ITTF minimum friction rule.
Trust me MNNB, not everyone in our league feels this way
Some still don't think it's fair that speed glue and tuners and boosters are banned, but frictionless LP's are allowed to be used. But that's another topic discussed many times over elsewhere.