As I mentioned in my last post I've given up on Eurosizing my forehand and am going with my previous Chinese style.  Never mind that during the Euro experiment of 2010 my usatt rating went up to 1400 while during the Chinese era (2006-09) I was mired in 900s.  Also never mind that it is understood that the Chinese style requires a high level of footwork and quickness to execute correctly and my deficiencies in these departments are well documented.  You can also add to this list that a tacky rubber will devastate my serve return on the fh side.  Basically that's how the pros and cons are adding up in this decision process.

First up is a 729 rubber that I picked up from Dave at the Alameda club today.  I had to get red since my current backhand rubber is black and it cost $50 and is nearly brand new.   I assume the black version will be softer and a bit tackier.  729 SP on the transcend sponge, the so called Wang Nan model.  According to the package it's super excellent and also doubles as a sensor (of what they don't say, presumably it will notify me if and when it senses something).  On a scale of 1-10 it scores 11s and 12s in speed, spin, control, and something simply called "forward."  Out of the package it's not super tacky, will barely hold onto a ball for a split second.  The last time I used tacky rubbers I remember that they're typically super slow at first and require a few sessions for the initial tack to wear down a bit.  After that they last forever.

It's heavy and the sponge is hard, just what I was looking for.  I wonder how many layers of speed glue Nan had to put on it when she played.

The losing continues but my 2011 goal of improving my opening on the bh side is showing signs of life.  I went 1-4 tonight at the Berkeley club but hit many bh openers against all types of spin, even against a guy who likes to serve heavy long underspin to the backhand side that I've been losing to recently (tonight he was my only win).  There was a moment where I hit two, yes two, backhand 3rd ball attacks in a row.  I actually stopped and noticed it because normally a long return to my backhand is a guaranteed point for the other guy.

So yes, feeling optimistic about that.  At least I've broken the pushing habit and am now looking to open on the backhand.  Now if only I could recover fast enough to handle the block coming back.

I've given up on the forehand side.  I spent most of 2010 trying to retool my forehand to a more compact European style figuring it would better suit my poor footwork and molasses-like reflexes than the Chinese style loop so many of my coaches have preferred.  I had some success with it I guess but for whatever reason my body has decided to go back to the Chinese style.  I really had no say in it.  My guess is that the Euro style loop was too mechanically complicated, too many wrist movements (not to mention elbows and shoulders) and in the end my body rejected the transplant.  So I'm going back to a hard sponge, tacky rubber on that side, something more suitable for brush looping.  The last one I used (2009) was Hurricane 3 (not speed glued) on a pretty fast carbon blade and I remember that combination being decent in speed but not fast.  A normal tensor on that blade (Xiom stradivarius) was much faster.  But now I'm committed to the allround blade I'm using so I'm not sure what would work well in that department.  I have to say it's become a dreary task shopping for a new rubber, I wish someone would just tell me what to get so I wouldn't have to go through it all!  I've got a Haifu whale on order (tuned, so not expecting much) and a Palio hadou biotech coming in the mail.  I'll probably give the skylines a try as well.  I thought about butterfly spin art for a nanosecond or two but no, I can't pay $75 for a sheet of rubber.

Is it possible to go 0-9 and still feel like you had a good tournament?  I don't know but that's kind of how I feel.  In the western open this weekend I was in the U1550, U1700, and U1850 events and went 0-3 in all three of the round robins.  These are far higher than the events I was entering even a year ago but since my rating got bumped up to 1412 after the nationals I had no choice.  Of the nine matches I was really only out of one and oddly enough it was against a guy I've player three times recently at the Alameda club.  He's a shakehand player with a great tomahawk serve and I literally could not return a single one of them.  In the remaining matches I felt like I played well actually even though I won only four sets total on the tournament (or perhaps five, who's counting?).  I probably lost 10 or 12 deuce sets and one 3-0 loss was all at deuce.

So it wasn't bad.  Even though I lost all nine matches I actually feel encouraged by the results.  Despite the high level of the events I was not destroyed by these guys (and one girl), I was in every match (except the one) and no one had anything unusual that I couldn't handle (see above).  In other words, I think I can play at this level.  Maybe not now but eventually.  Definitely the best really awful tournament I've ever had!

[The conditions were still bad today.  My 1pm event started at 2:30 and didn't end until 4:30.  The gym was slightly warmer today but that's just because the weather was better.  NATT take note: you overbooked this one.  Next time put a limit on the number of players, not more than 250 please.]

Some of the Joola sponsored NATT tournaments at UC Berkeley have been good and some bad.  This weekend's Western Open is shaping up to be one of the worst.  There are too many players (289) for the hall (30 tables) and so there are no tables available for warm up.  I arrived today 2 1/2 hours before my event and was able to squeeze in maybe 20 minutes of warm up in that time.  The huge crowd also meant that as the day went on events fell further and further behind schedule.  My 3 pm event started at 4:30 and later events were more than 2 hours late.  The huge number of players also meant a correspondingly large number of parents and coaches and the small spaces between the three rows of tables were crowded to the point of overflowing.  There were very few empty chairs and as a result I had to sit outside or else stand while waiting for a table to open up (itself a fruitless endeavor).

In addition the hall is plagued by cold drafts coming through the northern wall of the room.  For some reason this wall has large metal grates that are apparently exposed to the outside.  Today the outside was a cold and rainy 45 degrees and the grates were generating huge drafts of cold air on tables 21-30.  Combined with the near complete lack of tables to warm up on this made for a very cold and stiff day for many of us older players.

NATT and Joola really managed to screw this one up.  Normally any day I get to play ping pong is a good one but I'm not looking forward to going back tomorrow and dealing with this.

I like reading other players' blogs.  Some of the good ones include my former coach Dora Kurimay (who I can now reveal has moved to New York city to coach at Spin.  Really Dora: you moved to the big apple to give lessons to Susan Sarandon rather than stay at Alameda and coach me?  Seriously?  Harumph!), Larry Hodges, and Greg Letts.  In Larry's February 8th entry he asks "What is your game?" and then of course goes on to describe his game in detail.  This is something that's been bugging me lately because frankly I don't think I can answer that question.  After six years you'd think I'd have a game but I really don't.  My game, such as it is, is more or less a mishmash of things I've learned from various coaches over the years.  I'm not sure there's much of me in it other than the fact that I have a proclivity for attacking and love a strong loop.  I feel like I need to work more on the fundamentals, like hitting the ball with my racket so that it lands on the other side of the table more often than not, before I'm able to express myself in anyway at the table.  Of course you say that that attitude is itself an example of self expression to which I say try not to be so contrary, ok?  So I guess my game is "I'm still trying to learn the game."  Only time will tell whether I'll ever have any game other than that.