Pull up a chair, this will be a long post as it contains a tournament report.
Veteran's national league (over-40s), Division 1B Held over the weekend of 19/20 September at the University of Cambridge (UK). The National Vets league is a feeder league to the British league which is the highest domestic competition in the UK. Some divisions have an A & B league; there is no differentiation in standards between A & B, just different streams and promotion/relegation is arranged such that you play different teams each year.
6 teams to a division, 2 promoted and 2 relegated.
2 weekends; 5 matches to a weekend (play every other team)
Teams of 3 players, in ranking order. #1 plays 1 & 2. #2 plays 1 & 3. #3 plays 2 & 3 from the opposition.
We were promoted 2 seasons ago to British League Division 2 (there is a single premier, Div 1 A & B, Div 2 A & B) but relegated (conclusively) last year. The jump in standard is quite significant.
Vets National has Div 1 A & B and Div 2 A & B. Last time I played this level I won 15/20 from #3, avoiding the top ranked players in each team. This year my ranking has improved and in our strongest team (we have a small squad) I would be ranked #2. Our number 1 is just inside the top 100 at O-40, I'm 175th and the other 3 players about 100 places below me.
Day 1 Match 1First match was against a player I had never met, their #1, although I knew of him from another forum. Here's a clue to his playing style..... his username was "chopfloat"! Happy to leave the table and come in and hit the odd one. LP / inverted. Ranking wise his rating had expired (in the UK if you don't do a ratings event for 12 months you start again) but previously he'd been similar to my current ranking. The first end suggested a difficult match for me, as I had some difficulty picking the float up. I had to save a few set points before scraping home 14-12. The close contest in prospect didn't materialise though as I read the next games far better and came through 11-4 11-3. In fairness to my opp he hadn't practiced with plastic and was clearly playing far better by the end of the second day, so maybe I benefited from getting him early!
My second match was vs their #3, who I had played twice 2 seasons ago - one win each back then. I remember having difficulty with his serve in the loss, which is mostly a very spinny backhand effort often off a "lowish" toss. He has a sound allround game, especially blocking and topspin, and I can't quite understand why as an established player he was all the way down at #3 and just inside 300 in the rankings... I would put him better than that. Maybe he had a poor run of form. On this occasion I raced into a 2 set lead only to lose 11-9 11-5 7-11 10-12 5-11. I can't entirely explain how or why; I think he became more positive and certainly looped very well, especially into my backhand. I suspect he may be one of the players/styles that I find a little difficult to handle. Anyway, I look forward to the rematch in January! He certainly had a good weekend and finished joint-top of the divisional averages with 9/10 wins.
The match finished as a 4-2 win for us, as our #1 won both and our #3 won 1 (also losing to their #3).
Day 1 Match 2Teams can obviously come from all over the country in a National League, but our next opponents were relatively local and I knew a few of their players. On paper this was a very strong team; Their #1 ranked around 100, #2 only a little below and their #3 a newish and clearly underrated player - more on that shortly.
First I had to play their #1, who I had played in my early SP days (May) and been comprehensively beaten in straight sets. He has a very strong forehand, good use of a little sidespin with his loop and also very good yet economical movement. Very impressive to watch. I thought his backhand pretty decent too but my teammates advised me to try to pin him in that corner a little if possible. As I'd not won the forehand to forehand battle back in May, I followed this advice. I also remember having issues with his serves, (i.e. issues returning it well, or at all, no question of its legality). In this encounter I had no such issues with his serves and, in the first end, no issue keeping him mostly in his BH corner. I was also getting in selectively with good offense and won the first end 11-3. As we turned he asked if
I had pips on my BH! (clearly they hadn't bothered him at all in our early encounter). I willingly showed the bat (yes I know I didn't need to) as he is a very decent guy and completely sporting on the table. One thing I have learned at this level is that players learn very quickly how to adapt tactics, especially in competitions such as these where you can get advice from teammates between ends. The next two ends proved a lot closer as he became more active, ran around a lot more balls and also threw in a number of slower, spinny loops. I was quite effective at hitting through the slower loops and my footwork was pleasing as I even covered most into the BH. These ends were close but I took them 8 & 9 for a very good win
We were 3-2 up and I played their (very) underrated #3 who is around 30 places below me in the national rankings. He had very good, generally long serves and an absolute monster of a forehand. I have only ever seen a handful of players hit the ball as hard but it was far from hit and hope. He is quite a big, tall guy and moved very well so once the ball was long could cover the table pretty much exclusively with his forehand. For two ends I was being completely overpowered and the scores of 5-11 and 7-11 could even be considered flattering to me. At the turn to the 3rd end I discussed tactics with my team and agreed to be more aggressive as I simply could not contain this guy. This, coupled I suspect to having adjusted to his serves somewhat, won me the next two ends 6 & 7. So it was to be my first - but not last - 5 setter of the tourney. Now I have to be honest - I had lots of luck in the 5th. Probably 4 or 5 nets/edges and I raced to a 10-3 lead. Game over? NO! He played out of his skin to get back to 10-10 with a combination of returning balls that I considered likely winners and some fine winners of his own. I couldn't quite believe what was going on, and nor could my team judging from the looks on their faces! I can't ever recall losing such a lead. I was conscious that the majority of the hall (12 tables) had stopped and were watching the conclusion of our match. He had first serve at deuce which was long and spinny into my BH. I returned it and he was in behind it immediately with a powerful forehand into my FH. I was on my bike and at the back of the court and chopped it off the floor but it looked as if it would sail long..........but it didn't, it clipped yet another edge! Understandably this irritated him somewhat and there was a bit of a foot-to-barrier incident! (for which he immediately apologised). Advantage to me and service to boot. Much that I had served long had been immediately crushed so I decided to serve short into his FH, he touched short and I saw him drop off the table a fraction looking to unload again.... so I dropped the 3rd ball really short which caught him off-guard and he had to lunge in a bit to play his stroke and flicked the ball long. A win, albeit with plenty of good fortune. I apologised for my good fortune and he was very gracious and apologised for "barrier-gate". He will climb the rankings very quickly I suspect. He only lost to me and the UK #24 (O-40) in the whole weekend, and is only ranked where he is as a new vet that hasn't played enough events to gain a realistic ranking. I suspect I will look back on this as one of my better wins. He actually had 5 match points on the UK #24 as well, but couldn't quite convert.
So this match also finished as a 4-2 win.
Day 1 Match 3The matches have scheduled start times, which are 10.30, 1.30 and 4.30. For the last match it is quite common to start early as long as both captains agree, which they did. With hindsight, this was a mistake as I had played the last game of the previous match and had to play the first match of this one. The opponent could not have been a greater contrast to my previous opponent; Inv / LP twiddler with occasional pick-hitting. He was also higher rated than I realised, top-50 nationally in our age category. From off the table he looked very ordinary but once the contest started I appreciated very quickly his skills; perhaps the heaviest chops / pushes I have ever faced and good variation off the pimples. He was very skilled at taking pace off the ball too; you see a ball you think you can attack. I dumped more pushes and serve returns in the net than I can ever recall, and every time I knew it was a backspin ball but not how incredibly heavy it was. But this is a style I generally do extremely well against and I think my biggest problem was mental fatigue/concentration and I went down 11-9 10-12 6-11 10-12. I was actually 10-6 up in the 2nd too. FYI he used Victas as inverted, might have been 401?
My second match was relatively routine against a hitter who had some good shots but was maybe too inconsistent; 11-4 9-11 11-4 11-3.
Our #1 was struggling with a "tennis elbow" and lost both of his matches, and as our #3 picked up just the one this match ended in a 4-2 defeat.
We finished the day on 4 points (win=2, draw=1, loss=0), just behind the leaders who were on 5.
Day 2 Match 4This was the only match that I played at #1, so would face their #1 & #2. #2 was up first and was a player I had played previously, winning comfortably in 3 on that occasion. He had extremely spinny, very long serves. He blocked very well and could topspin well on both sides, favouring BH. He played better this time than last but had a couple of poor starts to ends going 6-0 down twice and I again won in 3 ends 13-11 11-9 11-7. I received all of the long serves defensively either with soft hands at the table or dropping back to chop and with the pimples the returns caused him all manner of problems.
My match against the #1 was interesting. He was an older player (mid-60s?) who has played at a very high level in the past and has now dropped significantly to around #160 nationally. He did not have a good weekend and finished with 3/10, which I am told would have been unheard of in the past. He has had hip and eye surgery in the past few years and hasn't regained full form. I think movement was his biggest issue and I won 6-11 11-5 11-9 11-4, often by playing out wide / switching him. There were flashes of his quality though; in game 1 I struggled immensely with his serves and also at times he caught me on my crossover-point such that I didn't even get bat to ball. Ultimately his lack of mobility told though.
Our promoted #3, now #2, won both of his games as well, so yet another 4-2 victory.
Day 2 Match 5Final match! This team had the highest ranked player in the entire league, at #24 nationally. As our #2 I played him first, and decided on a strategy of really "giving it a go". This made for a very good spectator sport and was probably the correct approach, as he was incredibly mobile and consistent. I would describe his style as very conventional, forehand dominant and with very good serves. My forehand was generally working very well and I managed to get to 2-2 and 4-4 before he pulled away and closed out 11-6. It was a thoroughly enjoyable match for a number of reasons; Firstly the opponent was a great sport and we had a bit of a laugh at the table. Secondly I felt I had really played up to and beyond expectations, and was just beaten (reasonably narrowly) by the better player. Finally, playing such a free style there were some stupendous rallies! Again I noticed how he was capable of catching me on the crossover point in a way few can, a sign of his class I guess. Our #1 adopted a similar open strategy and got even closer than me, losing deuce in the 5th after a single match point.
This match must have attracted a lot of attention, as it attracted the Table Tennis England rep who tweeted about it – see image!
My final singles was fairly straightforward affair vs an inverted BH / LP ox FH player who was quite unconventional.
The match came down to the last singles with us leading 3-2, but a 5 set defeat for our #3 meant a draw.
Overall a pleasing weekend, with a number of positives and things to work on.