April 12, 2013

Wet Balls

I saw a discussion on the OOAK forum about whether it's a let if the ball is wet during a rally, and so slides off your racket into the net. The question comes up all the time. The answer is yes. Here's the rule:

Rule 2.09.02.04: [Play may be interrupted] "because the conditions of play are disturbed in a way which could affect the outcome of the rally."

If a ball is wet, "the conditions of play are disturbed in a way which could affect the outcome of the rally." The only question is how to judge this. A wet ball normally slides off the racket into the net. But so does a misread backspin serve. So it's a judgment call. The best indication is if there's a wet spot on the racket - but again, it's a judgment call since that wet spot might have been there before the point started or have been hit with sweat during the point. But normally it's pretty obvious if the ball went into the net because of a wet ball, and checking a wet spot on the racket is just verification. I have had opponents put my heavy backspin serve into the net and call "wet ball" when they had simply misread the serve, as indicated by their racket angle. (If you serve backspin but the split second after contact pull your racket up, this'll happen a lot. But it takes practice.)

I believe the wording used to be that it would be a let "if the ball was fractured or imperfect in play," but at some point it was changed. With both wordings the main reasons for calling a let because of the ball is because it is wet or fractured. (Or, of course, if another ball rolls into your court.)

How do you avoid wet balls? When it's hot & humid, I always advise players to have two towels. (Yes, I'm doubling up on "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.") One for you, and one for the ball and your racket. If you use the latter towel regularly, you'll rarely have wet balls. However, having two towels doesn't mean just bringing two towels - you might need to bring a third, since towels get damp when it's hot & humid. You might be able to use a damp towel for yourself, but drying a ball with a damp towel only makes the ball damp. I often bring an extra towel or two for students I coach at tournaments, who always seem to forget to bring one (not to mention two). 

There's still a flaw in this two- (or three-) towel strategy - your serving hand tends to get damp when it's hot & humid, which means every time you serve you start with the ball lying on your damp hand. My solution? I use my regular towel to dry my serving hand off. When that towel becomes damp, then I use the ball & racket towel to also dry off my serving hand. This gradually dampens that towel, and eventually you will need to go to your third towel. Or a fourth. Or a fifth. (Practically speaking, I've never needed more than three towels in a day to keep the ball, racket, and serving hand dry - one for me, and two for the ball, racket, and when needed, serving hand.)

There's a simple solution for all this. It's called AIR CONDITIONING.

Table Tennista

As usual, there are a lot of new international articles at Table Tennista (mostly featuring China), including the following:

• Xu Xin & Yan An Challenged In The 2013 Asian Cup
• Zhang Jike's Main Issue Is Still His Attitude (Videos)
• Yan An Just Got Lucky Against Zhang Jike (Videos)
• The Chinese Transnational Pairings Donate Prize Money (Video)
• Xu Xin Attaches Importance From Winning Over Ma Long (Videos)
• Zhang Jike Accepts Defeat In The Korean Open (Video)
• Ma Long Is Now Warmed-Up For Paris (Videos)
• Ding Ning Qualifies For The 2013 World Championships (Videos)
• San-Ei Is The Official Table Provider For Rio 2016!
• Chartres And Pontoise Won In The French League!​

Very Fast Training with Dimitrij Ovtcharov

Here's the video (24 sec) - why can't you do this? Of course, Dimitrij is #7 in the world.

USA National College Championships

They start today in Rockford, IL - follow the action (results and video) at their home page!

Richard McAfee Paddle Picture

Here's a picture of former USATT Coaching Chair Richard McAfee. (If Facebook won't let you see it, try this.) As he describes it, it was "given to me from a table tennis coach in Thailand in appreciation for my work leading the ITTF Tsunami Relief Project in 2005. Besides being a top junior coach he also teaches art." And yes, the shadow on the lower left is a silhouette of Thailand.

David Bowie Playing Table Tennis

Here he is - but what is that he's wearing? (If Facebook won't let you see it, try this.) It's like a psychedelic version of Neo from The Matrix! 

Airport Ping-Pong

Here's a picture of Michael Landers (R, 2009 USA Men's Singles Champion) and Patrick Wu playing on improvised tables at Chicago O'Hare Airport. (If Facebook won't let you access it because you aren't "friends" with the owner, try this.) What, you've never seen Airport Ping-Pong? Here's a video (2:48) at Houston Airport last August after the Southern Open and Junior Olympics (held back to back). At the start you see Amy Lu (the lefty) and Lilly Lin playing, with me in the background catching balls for them. Then Nathan Hsu starts to play. At 1:14 I start hitting with Nathan.

"I'm Pinging in the Rain!"

Here's the picture!

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