r/sports • u/sillygooseguyman • 7h ago
Table Tennis Great Last Round! - Truls Möregårdh of Sweden Makes History as First Non-Chinese Smash Champion!
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u/finnjakefionnacake 6h ago
can any expert players here explain why in rallies like this it's best to keep smashing? i'm coming from a tennis background so instead of getting into extended overhead rallies there are times when you want to take the pace off the ball and hit a little chip shot, or undercut it with some slice to catch your opponent off guard, etc. but i feel like that never happens in table tennis so i feel like it must not be the smart thing to do here.
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u/JohnnyEnzyme 6h ago
Drop shots and chops (like slice) are absolutely a thing in TT, and can indeed be very useful in situations like this. But it also depends on the smasher's comfort level with doing so.
For example, the smasher ideally wants to move the lobber around until they miss of their own volition (which indeed happens). Meanwhile, the lobber is sending the ball as far back on the other side (with some topspin, too) so that it becomes that much riskier to do a chop or drop shot. The smasher may simply feel in control of the situation, and that it's not worth the risk.
Other factors could simply be adrenaline flowing, and/or the smasher having more comfort with staying on the offensive based on their strengths & weaknesses.
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u/old-bessey 4h ago
Saw a crazy rally video just recently where the smasher tried a lil chip shot, it allowed the other guy to go on the offense and he won the point
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u/Leather-Strategy2738 1h ago
He also said in the interview after the match that he thought of doing a drop shot but he was certain he was going to miss it and therefore kept smashing the ball because it was the more safe option.
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u/tehnomad 4h ago
I can imagine on match point you want to stick to your safest shots and not try anything too crazy.
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5h ago
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u/JohnnyEnzyme 5h ago
You're overlooking the fact that the smasher can indeed be perfectly comfortable moving the lobber around as part of a plan, and there's no reason they can't drop or chop when they feel the moment opportune.
Also, you make it sound kind of binary, when in reality there are many factors that go in to these types of rallies, starting with an individual's personal style, where their energy is at, how the match has developed up til then, and so forth.
As with most 1v1 sports, you feel out the opponent across the space of a match, making necessary adjustments, ideally putting yourself in the best position to succeed. That could involve smashing 'endlessly' (which worked in this case), or going for more of the classic alternation of smashing or power-looping to push the opponent off the table, then bringing them back in via drop/chop. There's more than one way to get the job done here, and that's part of the charm.
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5h ago
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u/JohnnyEnzyme 5h ago
Lol... I see you've got your idée fixe and your strawman, so don't worry about me. Have fun educating the masses!
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u/Cahootie AIK 1h ago
In the interview that starts at the end of the clip Truls mentions that his back was hurting, and that he felt that if he were to go for a short ball he would fuck it up.
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u/cheunce72 20m ago
Truls sad in the interview afterwards that he was to tiered to risk switch to an undercut.
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u/dustinthegreat 2h ago
Wasn’t this the young guy that was carrying in the Olympics? Looks familiar, but it looks like he’s put on some muscle
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u/Quantumtroll 2h ago
Same dude, yes. Looks like Sweden is China's worst rival in table tennis, who would have guessed that five years ago?
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u/dustinthegreat 2h ago
Is it Sweden or just this dude? He was carrying at the Olympics
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u/Quantumtroll 2h ago
Well, Truls is obviously the undisputed king, but there are other good Swedes. I think they won gold at a world championship doubles a few years back, for example.
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u/Cahootie AIK 53m ago
Sweden is pretty indisputably the second greatest table tennis nation of all time, and there's a pretty clear cycle where we have new players pop up one generation after the last one succeeded.
J-O Waldner is considered one of the greatest players of all time, winning the 1992 Olympics and six World Championship titles, including the famous 1989 edition where Sweden won the team competition and Waldner and Jörgen Persson faced off in the men's single final, breaking the Chinese dominance (which they then repeated in 1991). Before them we had Stellan Bengtsson, Kjell Johansson and Hans Alsér who won a few gold medals between 1967 and 1973, and even before that Tage Flisberg won two medal in 1954 and 1949.
Even before the emergence of Möregårdh and Anton Källberg we had a world class duo in Mattias Falck and Kristian Karlsson who won a doubles gold in 2021 and a team bronze in 2018 (together with a 16-year-old Möregårdh), so it's not the least bit surprising that Sweden is back at the absolute top. After the success in the 2024 Olympics there's been a boom of kids playing table tennis in Sweden, so come back in 10-15 years when those kids have reached their peak and I'm sure we'll be here again.
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u/Independent-Drive-32 4h ago
What is a smash champion? Is it some special version of table tennis, are there separate rules for smash and non smash?
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u/BadtastePJ 3h ago
Its the equivalent to the tennis grand slam. It has all the best players in the world.
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u/Targaryen-ish 3h ago
Grand Smashes are like Grand Slams in tennis, the biggest, most important events each year. The rules are the same, but they play best of 7 sets instead of the regular 3 or 5.
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u/alex61821 7h ago
Maybe it's me but what would happen if he just dinked it over the net.
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u/seanc6441 6h ago
Not a player but if I had to guess
- easier to make an error if you try to play a fading shot at the net.
- smashes keep your opponent firmly on the defensive and unable to counter attack
- probably getting into this position in a rally usually means you win the point in just a few smashes. So the incentive is to brute force the point
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u/Pentinium 6h ago
The ball is spinning and its not so easy to do, also if he does not do it perfectly and opponent gets to it game is even again.
So I am guessing it is just playing the odds and longterm its better just to smash it
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u/Chef_Bojan3 2h ago
If his body language and posture give away his dink attempt, the player on the back foot can turn the tables and suddenly the Swedish player could be forced to be playing more defensively which may not necessarily be his strong suit. In other words, a well-disguised dink is easier said than done and players on this level will absolutely sniff out and punish any sloppily executed ones.
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u/finnjakefionnacake 6h ago
lol i just left a comment saying the same thing but much wordier and unnecessarily complicated
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u/Phocasola 31m ago
The whole match was insanity. Lin crawled back from 1-3 to a 3-3 and then Moregard took the win in such a spectacular way. And then the atmosphere in the stadium. It was just amazing the whole time and such a treat to watch.
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u/austinblackmore 7h ago
I do that and the ball dents
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u/IShouldBWorkin 7h ago
If a tennis pro used my racquet they'd bend it in half the first serve, professionals got the good stuff with better materials
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u/finnjakefionnacake 6h ago
um...well they definitely customize their rackets more but you can for sure get a nice well made racket that won't bend if anyone uses it lol
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u/comhaltacht 7h ago
How the fuck does ping pong have so much aura? These guys are destroying that ball.