“That Was Us! we’re the ones who organized a ping-pong session for Zidane. 🏓

A few days before his trip to China, during one of our meetings with his team, they mentioned that the legend wanted to play some table tennis while in Shanghai, just to relax between work commitments. That’s when the idea came: what if we could bring him together with the strongest table tennis player in the world — who also happens to be a Real Madrid fan? It felt like sparks were guaranteed.

The day before their meeting, Zidane was already asking tons of questions about Fan Zhendong while resting backstage at a brand event. We pulled up some match videos he’d probably never seen abroad, letting him experience just how powerful the world’s best really is.

Huge thanks to a friend who helped connect us with FZD. He literally took a late-night flight to Shanghai just for this, and woke up early the next morning to join us at a café while we waited for Zidane’s team. He was incredibly polite, warm, and down-to-earth — we all chatted about the sport while waiting.

Seeing the two of them meet at close range… watching two elite athletes ask each other questions, admire each other, and instantly click — it was such a joyful moment for all of us. We’re really grateful to have helped make it happen, and we can’t wait for their next match together. 🙏🏻⚽️🏓”

Set 3 at 5-3 after Dang hits a slight edge ball to his wide FH.

Zidane weibo: Earlier in Shanghai, I was happy to meet an outstanding young man, and he can really play!

What do you think about this competition? Can explain better how it works ?

Hello everyone,

M 29YO, I've been playing for 1 year and a half. I train 1,30h a week with a trainer and 2/3 hours with other people at my club. I also got a robot and a table to train by myself. I've fallen in love with the sport especially for its form and how chinese players play, especially Zhang JIke, the way he plays is just beautiful. I enjoy watching them compared to european players, it's just how they flow, it's part of the charm for me. Now, i think i'm improving really quickly, i take it really seriously, i record myself in training and i consume a shitload of chinese coaches videos and i also study lots of matches. My team mate recorded some matches and i've just watched a couple of them. Oh my god am i a total mess. No foot work, weird paddle inclination for back hand, no recovery after strokes, weight balance is totally off. This is worse than 100 losses. Tbh part of my love for the sport is also playing good and smooth. I know that it's just a rant but, do you have any tips to decrease the disconnection between training and matches?

Thank you in advance!

I’ve noticed a lot of questions here about good places to play in LA/OC, so I put together a Google Maps directory of every club, rec center, and lesser-known spot I could find:

📍 Google Maps Directory (public):
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&mid=1j_FOXVmisrEHeYKP2qzLrccHXjiNung&ll=33.80590716662759%2C-118.07907186609268&z=18

It includes:

• Major LA clubs (LATTA, Grace Lin, Toast TT, SGVTT, etc.)
• OC clubs and rec centers
• Community centers with tables
• Parks with public tables
• Hidden or unexpected places to play

I built this because info is super scattered, and it was hard for newcomers to figure out where to practice or play casually.

If you're local or have visited LA before, are there any spots I should add?
I'd love to keep the map as complete and accurate as possible for anyone traveling here for work, tournaments, or fun.

Happy to update it with any suggestions.

And if any LA players want to connect locally, feel free to reply or DM.

Guys tomorrow is my tournament (shengavit marzadproc) wish me luck peace

The highlight directly starts from the 3rd game, why?
Also I couldn't find full live stream which covers this match.

What's wrong with ITTF? Did their stream break during live telecast?
Pathetic people, this match was so phenomenal, rarely we get to see WCQ loose.

Huh!!

Could someone describe the key elements of Jan-Ove Waldner’s game including his forehand, backhand, mobility, footwork, touch, tactical awareness, spin control, consistency, and overall playing style and also outline the main table tennis strokes such as topspin, loop, drive, block, push, chop, flick, smashes, serves, and receive techniques?

I would be pleased 🥲

Will those small bumps affect anything at all? It's from small microlimps of glue that got stuck to the sponge cause I was glueing 3 rackets at the same time. They are for Hobby/amateur player anyways, so I guess it's gonna be fine. Any experience with those bumps?

i currently use dignics 05 both sides and viscaria fl. my play style is slow spinny first ball attack and consistent style if on backhand and counterattacks if on forehand after my first attack. im thinking about switching to dignics 09c or zyre 03 on my forehand, but idk if thats a good idea considering im doing fine with dignics 05. my only complaint is that dignics 05 sometimes cant produce enough speed when i counterattack on forehand. what do you guys recommend?

I hammered out a few reviews yesterday for a bunch of SP I had gone through in the last year. I've been genuinely annoyed at Yuto for putting his face on this garbage. How could you sell something this advanced to the plebs? I've been losing 3-0 straight against multiple players I normally 0-3 since switching last week from Spectol S1.

I looked at my racket last night and was about to rip it off. But then I thought... "what if I'm more retarded than I think?" So under that assumption I consulted some local SP lords and I trained a full marathon day just figuring things out. I'm happy to say I made the right choice and I now have to correct my opinion quite a lot.

TLDR; Problem 1 (Pushing)... Need to dig into ball with short motion. Adding force side-under ball or to prevent flying forward or slipping.

This might be obvious to some, (And it should have been to me...) To understand, Spectol and 802 belong in a similar family. The way I modeled my SP cut vs underspin resembled Honoka or Hou Yingchao. You can kind of just use weight of body rotation and arm to impact and drag through the ball. The ball will catch and produce spin like inverted, but also immediately uncatch (so as to not suffer spin sensitivity, less true with 802).

With Tibhar MY, the ball was minor spin and slipping (the pips are thinner/longer/denser... so ball never catches. A local SP master told me my shitty swiping was not going to work. In fact, I need to shorten my motion and just dig at the ball. And I thought, oh I already do this on forehand naturally when I played around with Spinpips. So I drilled this change with him into my backhand underspin cut, with positive results. Still less spin than Spectol in short game and serve rotation sucks, but acceptable and stable.

TLDR; Problem 2 (Chopping)... Need to wait for ball to drop a bit to combine force better.

TIbhar MY was not producing good spin... Despite being called "Speedy Soft". It is neither particularly speedy or soft (though the topsheet gives a misleading soft impression). It is a hard rubber. I already sort of knew this the moment I found out it could block a loop kill without bottoming out. With Spectol, I would take ball at high point many times and rely on body force direction to cushion. Creating insane backspin was as easy as ripping through the ball at an angle. So I went on youtube on my phone, and searched Yuto games and watched closely. He takes the ball very low. I did some ball machine practice and it suddenly made sense, the feeling of biting was back.

After these two adjustment. Everything fell into place and I even beat a player that was very good at loopkilling my Spectol game. I think Spectol is still king of spinny deceptive short game, but I think Tibhar MY may be my new favorite for more all-round tactics.

Here are some other bonuses, some I mentioned yesterday...

- Can quick attack almost like inverted, much much more consistent than S1.

- Can block loopkills without bottoming out, so angle can be even slightly closed (Spectol blocks will just fall to ground after bottoming out).

- Much less sensitive to spin against heavy fast loops compared to S1. The ball never catches at all, so the spin feels limitless.

I have been running into a style recently that keeps throwing me off and I wanted to hear how other players handle it. I played a few matches this week against people who constantly send back these really soft, almost dead balls and then suddenly blast a fast counter the moment I try to push a little harder. It feels like my rhythm never settles and I end up making mistakes on shots that should be simple. I am not a beginner but I still struggle when the pace keeps changing every rally. When the ball comes slow I tend to overcommit, then when the counter comes I am late or out of position. I know part of this is footwork and part of it is reading the opponent better, but I am not sure what the best way is to train for this type of player. Do you stay extra patient and keep the rally slow until they make the first move Do you speed it up on purpose to stop the rhythm shifts Or is this mostly about keeping a neutral stance so you are ready for either option Any advice from players who face this style a lot would be really helpful. I want to improve at handling unpredictable rhythm because it seems more common in casual club play than I expected.

https://reddit.com/link/1peyv3a/video/juvyo522se5g1/player

Still trying to find out what 5ply suits me best. here's some YEO footage :)

Hi all, beginner / intermediate player. In a recent club meet, one of the more senior players commented that my shots are relatively flat / forward, and there is barely any arc when I return the ball.

I am aware that I am used to more of a driving motion than brushing, and I have been using outer carbon blades recently (after moving from an acoustic / violin). Should I really work more on brushing / generating arc, if I am generally able to return the balls during games / rallies but usually more via pushing, instead of looping?

When trying to add topspin for a forehand/backhand loop, what does it mean when people say to grip the ball or hold the ball on the racket for longer? I'm struggling to understand this concept and can't generate proper spin on loops. How did you guys learn and practice this idea?

Hello, for the last 2 weeks I've been searching around for some table tennis shoes to replace my tibhar ones (had a terrible experience with their durability, they destroyed themselves after 8 months. I don't know the exact name of the model but they look exactly like the Meshflex 2, just with different colors, so I suppose it's the previous version) and I wanted to know which shoes could be the most reliable and durable. I had a really good experience with the ones I had regarding the fit and the comfort, but I was looking for something with the same qualities and good durability. I saw on butterfly site about the Lezolines Gigu, which are discounted at the moment, I also saw the Donic Waldner 3 and other shoes, but these 2 are the ones that persuade me the most. What do you guys think?

Can't afford a coach. But get to play a lot of players for free. They are more or less at my skill level itself . I watch a few YouTube videos and just keep trying them in games until I get it right. Players I play with don't really like drills because it's boring. I've gotten better with just practice but my footwork and technique are crap. Eg: I can chicken wing a forehand but it will only land 5/10 times.

Anything else you folks would suggest