Male and female style of play

Table Tennis Discussion

Last updated 8 years ago

Peter Habich

Peter Habich Asked 8 years ago

Hi Alois

What do you think is the main difference between men and women style of play ? It can't be that much physical strength that makes the differnce. After all it is not a soccer game.

If I watch one of my favourite players liu shiwen, she punches the ball mostly with her backhand nearly like a boxer,very fast and aggressive. I've never seen men play that punching style.

How would you as a man play against liu shiwen and could you beat her or any other top ranking chinese female players only because you are a male player wth a different style ? Have you ever lost against a woman in your career?

Regards

Peter


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago

Hi Peter,

I think a lot of the difference with the two games is the relative strength of the genders.  The women tend to play closer while the men play further with more spin.  Of course there are degrees of this happening.  For example, Ding Ning is very strong relatively and plays with good topspin form both sides, whereas Liu Shiwen plays closer to the table with more speed.  That is why their matches are so entertaining.

I have lost to women in my lifetime.  In fact it took me a long time to be able to beat my mother...  If I played Liu Shiwen now she would beat me easily, however I think the top 200 men in the world would be able to beat her.


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Thoughts on this question

Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 8 years ago


Johan B

Johan B Posted 8 years ago

Yeah there is probably reason that you don't see any midrange one-winged female attackers :p


Jean Balthazar

Jean Balthazar Posted 8 years ago

+1 for physical strength (no sexism here), and +1 for legs more importantly than upper body. The game is so fast that it takes tremendous leg power to move around quickly enough at mid-distance from the table, which is where most top players earn their points after the third ball.

Not that I wished it would happen, but It's somewhat strange though that we don't see any woman trying to get more muscular, like it happened in tennis (the Williams sisters, Amélie Mauresmo and probably others, I'm not a great fan of tennis) where they were quite successful, overpowering many opponents who may actually have had better technique.



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