OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Had a bit of an experience at an early season match this week. It was at one of our home venues, a small single table hall and it was still quite warm outside. The windows were locked so no ventilation, and the venue really "sweated up".....by the end of the evening the windows and walls were running in condensation. The floor used to get slippery but was replaced a year or two ago with a quality wood floor and grip remained good.

Of the 10 matches (3 players x 3 singles plus 1 doubles) I played 2nd, 4th and 8th. The opposition were decent players who I would expect to beat (it is a long time since I lost to any). My first 2 games I played really well, very positively and won them very comfortably in 3. However, when I came to play my final singles I was shocked at the change in conditions and couldn't seem to get sufficient grip to play my game; pushes were popping up, loops going long and blocks just dropping off the bat. The situation (or maybe my frustration) was exacerbated by the fact my opponent somewhat serves 'off the hand' and with the conditions I struggled to deal with it.

In the end I muddled through and snuck the win, not playing in a style I particularly enjoy but rather being overly safe. As I was 2-0 and 9-8 down it was a close run thing but I got the 3 points and won the next games 6 and 3.

I tried to keep my bat as dry as possible between points, but it just didn't seem to help.

My observation watching my teammates in games 9 and 10 was that they had less issues than me; possibly that they hit through the ball more than I do/ hit flatter?

I did also notice that one of them didn't pay much attention to his bat, but did dry the ball very frequently, which I didn't. Does that help?

I don't believe it to be any form of equipment issue, we all have euro style rubbers and mine are pretty new, approx 1 month.

It was all very frustrating. I found backing off the power and looping flatter (with more sponge engagement) worked better. I also had to attack more down the middle as the reduced power attacks to the wings were being blocked back in a nasty way. Pushing had to be flatter, more emphasis on safety and not going under the ball too much.

Any experiences, observations, hints or tips to add?

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Timo Boll ALC ST
FH Tibhar Evolution MX-P Max
BH Tibhar Evolution FX-S 1.8
185g

Certain rubber is prone to this. 729 is, for instance. And 999T is relatively unaffected.

Iskandar

Houston is pretty humid and is especially bad in winter months when it gets cool enough that we don't need the air conditioner (that is what passes for winter here). At that time, we don't have a good way to dry out the air in a 500 square meter facility. Change your shirt often. Wipe the ball often. Keep a towel to wipe moisture off the blade. Wipe the table top with the towel often. Not much more you can do. I don't know if different kinds of rubber are more susceptible since I generally only use Tenergy. A lot of people think humidity affects some rubbers more than others.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

All good comments, I think where I 'went wrong' is drying just my bat, not the ball.

And I'm sure that tacky rubbers have an advantage in these conditions, but they are rare here so not worth messing about with equipment.

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Timo Boll ALC ST
FH Tibhar Evolution MX-P Max
BH Tibhar Evolution FX-S 1.8
185g

This is one of the situation I am greatly affected. In my current set up ( joola rhyzm and acuda turbo ), the turbo is prone to getting wet. When this happen, my shot sometimes drop unexpectedly. One remedy I used is to use the ryhzm as forehand rubber and just chop on the backhand. It sets me off and too conscious on my shot selection.

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Enjoy the game. It is a never ending learning experience once you play and keep the ball on that 45 sq ft of space or should I say half of that space.

In playing conditions of high humidity or WIND currents, the player who can play fast and consistent with solid contact hits will have a huge advantage.

I really gripe about humid and wind current conditions a lot since I rely on a very spinny opener before going to solid contact.

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

I have the same issue in humid conditions. In the summertime, the temperature can get to 40+ degrees Celcius inside our hot tin shed. However, I guess with the lightness of the ball, that's why air con can't be installed to at least reduce the unpleasant atmosphere! :/

I sweat profusely at normal times, so this is really bad for me during the summer. I always wipe my bat after each point, but find I cannot wipe it on any part of my skin or clothing, as they are soaked. In the hot weather, I always bring a towel solely for wiping down the bat.

I use European rubbers (Rasant), and find if they are subject to hot weather, they become too fast for me. A trick my coach taught me a few years back was to put the bat in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to allow the bat to cool back down so its manageable to play with.

But yeah, I agree entirely with Baal...best way to survive playing in the heat is to change clothing regularly and wipe down your equipment.

Maybe also try a sweat absorbent overgrip for the blade handle?

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Setup 1: RADAK DHS TinArc 5 DHS Sharping
Setup 2: Yinhe Offensive Andro Rasant DHS Sharping

Did a search on the work 'humidity' as I was a bit out of sorts this week on comp night. Several people made the comment about how hot and humid the hall was. My forehand was ok however my backhand rubber, Nittaku Zalt really seemed to stuggle. My return of serve at times was laughable, straight into the net and although trying to do some chops, I was all over the place. The ball would just seem to drop as other people have described. I'm not a sweaty person so was able to wipe the bat with my shirt a bit, but perhaps the ball had a bit of moisture on it. The other things is when doing a forehand, my index finger on that backhand side sneaks up the centre of the rubber which could put some sweat on it from my fingers.

My mate a while back, wiped his rubbers pre-game with a wet cloth and his rubbers were still a bit wet when we started playing. The result was hilarious, he couldn't do a thing and at that point I realised the importance of getting sweat off the ball, bat and table.

So I'm not really sure if the rubber had anything to do with it or if I was just out of sorts but there was some unusual stuff happening with my play at times.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

We usually have a few nights of insane humidity here during the summer each year. We seem to have avoided it this year so far (touch wood). I class insane humidity as when you can see a film of condensation across the table. Its only ever really bothered me (to the point of ruining my game) twice that I can recall. Once was when I just started using a new FH rubber (which was Gewo Proton). It HATED the humidity. All my spinny serves off it went into the net handing so many points to the opponent he couldn't help but win. The 2nd time was more recently in a tourney at my club in 2013. This time it affected my dtecs pips, where I found it made them pop up heaps and gave the opponent a lot of points via killshots. I hate playing in those conditions...so am glad to have had a milder summer this year so far (at least on TT nights ).

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
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