In my recent thread about strategy,
0x556c69 offered some really useful advice about his findings from his own game, and from the games he's watched with professional defenders.
We started chatting in PM and he sent me a message which resonates more than anything else I've ever discussed on OOAK - and this is a really insightful forum, so that's saying something
Here's the relevant part of the message in full:
Quote:
You find lots of posts saying "I can't get to defense, my opponents refuse to attack" - even from myself. Perhaps the reason is not the conscious refusal of attack from those, but the fact that us wanna-be-defenders play it wrong? That our tactics prevent them from attacking? Think of yourself. You said, you often open up the rally by looping. I'm doing it too. I'm sure, most of our opponents - especially offensive ones - would very much like to attack as much as us. It is rather that somehow we are keeping them from doing so. There can be lots of reasons for this:
- our serve is not suited to be looped - too spinny, too short
- our receive is so strong/well placed/fast/deceptive that they fear to attack it
- they can't get to it, because we do it first
...
Ok, let's assume that we found a reason, i.e. our serve is too short. What happens if we eliminate it? I guess, most of us would loose! Why? Because we can not deal with the new situation that arises! We are embossed with a pattern (is this a correct expression?) how a point has to be played. Most people think they have to dominate it - hence our attacks. If we have to defend, we are at a disadvantage - at least mentally. And bam, we attack all-in with poor preparation and - your words - "try to play a mad attacking stroke for no real reason". With the last part you are in error. There is a real reason. But the reason is not our poor defence or our inability to set up a winning topspin. It is our inability to stick to the match plan/tactics and the mistrust in statistics. Its uncertainty. You must be convinced that you are better at defense than your opponent at attack. You must believe it. You must know it. Then you will get your defensive game with an offensive opponent.
At least this is what I am convinced of after lots of thinking. I am trying to implement some of the tactics I mentioned, but it is incredibly difficult to stick to it when a match is going on, even a practice match. My focus has shifted from practising technical aspects (I still do drills, but I don't really believe they improve my game. It's mostly to increasy consistency) to trying out tactics. Of course, most of the time I fall back to my old patterns...
An example from leage encounter last week? Here it is: I had to play a friend of mine, we go along very well, but he plays my most hated D'Tecs OX pushblocker's game. I knew I had to face him, I reviewed my tactics against this style, I even sparred with another much weeker pushblocker before to get confidence and my tactics working. The day comes and at warming up it's clear, I'm in the zone, I get everything working. I won the first 2 games easily, lost one (4 lucky points for him), recovered and was up 8:4 in fourth. What happened? I tried to force the issue - for no reason at all. Instead of easily lobbing the ball in, I began hammering it at him. 8:8. Then I'm up 10:8. One of his shots clips the net, I open up with lot of topspin on the next and net his block. I loose this set 10:12. Deciding set. I promise to myself to play it cautiously. His first serve: no spin fast and long to my bh. I step around too late but still smash it - into the net. His next serve: no spin, slow, high, to my fh! Of course I try to hit a winner - it goes long. So much for my promise. See a pattern? But this day I'm really on. I am even able to come back from 1:6 to 6:6 - by playing low risk, slow balls to his pips with just a little bit of forward rotation. 6:6; him to serve. Guess what: twice slow no spin, one to bh, one to fh. I'm back 8:6. My serve: max backspin to his pips followed by fast fh topspin. I'm back 10:6. But this is my day! I get back to deuce. His serve. Have a guess. Right, no spin long to bh. But I'm on, I'm cautious, I push it back with my pips! He overestimates my backspin and the ball sails 1m high with absolutely no spin to my bh side. I am surprised, too late, try to step around, am out of position but still can't resist to smash - too long. This was not bad luck, but bad footwork, bad tactics, bad self control. I don't even remember the match point. Afterwards he comes to me and says: today you've been better than me. You had deserved to win. He is wrong. I had NOT deserved to win. Not because of my bad play or bad strokes. I deserved to loose, because I had been good prepared both mentally and tactically, had a game plan that worked, BUT DID NOT STICK TO IT TO THE END. Because at crucial moments, I let myself goad to exactly the game he likes. He moved me into doing the things he is successfull with.
Toward the end of last week I had been working hard on my defensive game. Every practice match was a dual focus - pushing, and twiddling (to push/return serve with inverted and to FH chop with LPs). I've had mixed success, beating some players I sometimes lose to and losing to players I sometimes beat. Possibly worth noting that I've slightly changed pimples too - 1mm red Curl P1-R now.
On Monday I had a league match against the third or fourth best team in our league. They're a bunch of O50 vets with somewhat unorthodox styles, two BH SP hitters/loopers and one low-spin, fast, athletic double inverted hitter/blocker. I've beaten all of these players before; good recent record against the double-inverted player in particular and only lost to one of the SP players once.
I went on first against their highest-rated player, the double-inverted guy. He doesn't put any spin on the ball but he's quick around the tables and generally blocks well. Fortunately he struggles hugely with my serves and pimples, so I managed to beat him fairly comfortably 3-0. I then went on against their second highest-rated player, a left-handed SP BH player who loops well on his FH. This is the guy I've always struggled with the most. He absolutely tore me apart, a comfortable 3-0 (although to be fair to myself, I think I psychologically threw the game after being 6-4 up in the first end and then serving off twice...). Same story with their lowest-rated player too (righty SP BH player who blocks well). I came away from the match totally despondent, furious with the way I'd played and how the matches had turned out. Beating the first player was cool, but I didn't win *well* - I didn't loop or chop him off, I just beat him with serves and tricks.
Now, if you look again at 0x556c69's PM, especially the first two paragraphs, I made *all* of the mistakes he's referring to:
- Served too short
- Served "too well" (heavy spin, difficult placement etc)
- Attacked far too often and far too early
- Didn't trust my in defensive game
- Ignored my own advice before the game, "be patient and serve long"
- Forgot to use the things I'd been working on, e.g. twiddling
All of these factors did one of two things: 1) stopped my opponent from playing an attacking stroke or 2) encouraged me towards unforced errors. The net result was that I played genuinely pretty horrendously and left both matches having felt like I'd given my opponent the win.
So, last night, I went to practice with two clear focuses:
- DON'T ATTACK
- Twiddle often, e.g. inverted for pushing and LP for chopping
Although I hadn't intended to originally, I also stopped using my heaviest-spin serves. I went for long and consistent, trying to get into a rally, rather than winning cheap points.
I only got to play against two opponents, both loopers (and both fairly prominent/solid pushers) - one of whom was the aforementioned Cadet (he ended up being ranked 6th, not 5th - shame). I still played just shy of 25 ends though so plenty of practice.
It was brilliant! I really started to get to grips with it. I was much more patient, much more confident in my defensive abilities and the biggest improvement in particular was my forehand chop. Pushing with inverted to my opponent's forehand, and lifting my wrist a little bit to get some sidespin, meant I knew that the ball was coming to my forehand - but not like a smash. I was reading the game really nicely, twiddling to the pimples and playing some effective - and most importantly confident and consistent - pimples chops. This is a massive weakness of my game turned into a strength in just one session (obviously I'll need to keep doing this in practice to get used to it).
I won about 16/17 ends, so my game hasn't suddenly hugely improved... but it felt much more in control. The points I lost tended to be from return of serve and pushing, so they're obviously still elements that I need to improve on and continue working on, but for the time being I'm happy.
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"Learning to play: as a modern defender":
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SPs: Friendship 802 (1.5), TSP Spectol (1.3, 1.8, 2.1), TSP Spectol Speed (1.3), TSP Super Spinpips Chop Sponge 2 (0.5, 1.3)
LPs: Butterfly Feint Long II (1), Butterfly Feint Long III (0.5, 1.3), Tibhar Grass D.TecS (OX), TSP Curl P1-R (0.5, 1, 1.3), TSP Curl P4 (1.3)