I don’t thoughts admitting that I’m utterly fascinated with Truls Moregardh. He has had a sensational Olympics in Paris, reaching the singles ultimate and serving to Sweden to the crew ultimate. He’s had a string of wonderful wins in opposition to Wang Chuqin, Hugo Calderano, Anders Lind and Dimitri Ovtacharov. He’s the participant in type. 

What fascinates me most is the sheer creativity of his desk tennis. Sure, he can do all the standard attacking strokes – the flicks, the loops, the topspin to topspin exchanges. However he has such a spread of different pictures which he repeatedly makes use of – chop blocks, fades, strawberry flicks, punches, snakes, empty loops. 

To make use of all these pictures, and to mix them right into a useful enjoying fashion on the highest degree, is so massively troublesome. In different Olympic sports activities, similar to gymnastics, diving or skateboarding, athletes get increased scores primarily based on the complexity of the manoeuvres they carry out. If desk tennis was scored in the same approach, Turls Moregardh can be approach out within the lead. He’d be untouchable.

The pictures Truls performs with seemingly such ease are literally very troublesome to execute persistently, even at a a lot slower tempo. To play these chop blocks, fades, sidespin pushes, empty loops in opposition to the immense velocity and spin of different professionals, and with the stress of competing on the Olympics, is sort of astonishing. 

How does he even have the psychological capability to shift by means of all his shot choices, choose the proper one, after which execute with exact timing? It’s an unbelievable ability.

Excessive danger, excessive reward

Truls’s enjoying fashion is massively excessive danger. It doesn’t all the time work. Any slight mistiming when enjoying a chop block, for instance, and the shot will go flawed. It’ll pop up too excessive, or go extensive off the desk. Level misplaced. However when his disruptive pictures work, as they’ve been within the Olympics, then Truls is a nightmare to play in opposition to.

There’s a fixed change of velocity, spin and tempo. You actually do not know what shot Truls goes to play subsequent. I’m not satisfied Truls is aware of what shot he’s going to play. However his mind processing is so quick he can seemingly pull out any variety of pictures in any state of affairs. This unpredictability makes it very exhausting for his opponents to seek out any constant rhythm. The number of pictures forces opponents to hesitate, make errors or play weak pictures which Truls then punishes.   

Some might really feel that Truls is messing round when he’s enjoying and he’s not taking desk tennis significantly sufficient. That he’s making an attempt to point out off with all his loopy pictures. That he’s extra targeted on entertaining than profitable.

However I don’t see it this fashion. He has developed the final word disruptive enjoying fashion. His creativity has a goal. And he’s good at it. And desk tennis is healthier for it. We want personalities within the sport. And Truls, together with his vary of loopy pictures, his expressions, his celebrations makes folks need to watch desk tennis. Not solely does he entertain, however he’s having success. In a sport which typically feels somewhat one dimensional – topspin to topspin energy play – Truls is exhibiting there’s nonetheless one other solution to play and achieve success on the highest degree.

Copying Truls

Is there something we mere mortals can do to be extra like Truls, aside from purchase a STIGA Cybershape blade? Nicely, let’s not fake we are able to play identical to Truls. All of the trickery is approach past most of us newbie gamers. Simply getting our ft in the proper place is sufficient of a problem! However there’s scope so as to add not less than one disruptive shot into our recreation, whether or not a chop block, a fade, a punch or an empty loop. Doing one thing somewhat totally different can have a disruptive impact and optimistic impression on our recreation. 

For me, I discover an empty loop is surprisingly efficient. It is a loop which has little or no spin. It seems like topspin, however the contact is slower and never as a lot brush, so in actuality there isn’t a lot topspin in any respect. This fairly often will get blocked into the web. My opponent will examine his bat questioning what went flawed. 

I need to admit, this empty loop isn’t all the time intentional. I’m truly making an attempt to spin the ball. However I get somewhat tense and the shot goes over slower than I meant. Nevertheless it someway works. Moderately than admonish myself for my garbage loop, I now congratulate myself for taking part in like Truls!

Maybe the best approach for us mere mortals to play like Truls is to maintain altering the tempo of our pictures. Combine up slower pictures and quicker pictures. Take some balls earlier and a few balls later. Play pictures with extra spin and a few with much less spin. 

You don’t have to study any new pictures to do that. You simply use the prevailing pictures you have got, however do them with totally different ranges of velocity, spin and timing. This fixed tempo change may be very unsettling for an opponent. If it really works, we are able to disrupt an opponent’s rhythm, pressure our opponent to make errors or play weak balls. There’s a little bit of Truls in all of us. Let’s embrace creativity!

There are very strict copyright guidelines on sharing footage from the Olympic video games, so as a substitute here’s a compilation of a few of Truls Moregardh’s good vary of inventive pictures over the previous few years. Take pleasure in…