Post-Match Dialogue
Yu Heyi: Brother Dong, did my arc make you dream back 15 years?
Fan Zhendong: Yeah, everyone played like this before I came along!
Technical Differences Between Ball Eras
Now with the bigger ball, the contact point choice for topspin shots is to select an earlier rising phase to borrow force and push the ball forward and downward. The ball arc is nearly a straight line pushing forward, and the receiver also borrows force to continue adding quality.
Yu Heyi uses old-school backhand technique—with a later contact point, he wipes and sticks with his forearm to send out long, high, slow arcs. At the moment of release, it creates an illusion—the ball speed is fast at release, then when it reaches the table, the ball arc suddenly drops. This is his core ability and his technical characteristic from his national team days.
Yu Heyi’s Progress
After retiring to play commercial matches, he could barely win games, but his touch and movement framework are particularly suited to the current ball. So after many matches, he actually improved, gradually moving from second-tier amateur commercial matches to current first-tier level. He’s a bit behind Wei Shihao, but at least now he can trade blows with first-tier commercial match players.
What improved?
- Backhand friction feel—in rallies, the feeling of wiping and pulling became clearer, able to produce thin contact and added spin variations with backhand
- Plus commercial matches nationwide every week, his skill at targeting half-long balls also refined
- Previously coming from the national team was all about placement and continuity, now struggling and forcing himself to grab first three shots’ offensive-defensive single-shot quality
- Especially the forehand attack after side-position serve is much more calculated than before
Yu Heyi’s Core Problem
Yu Heyi’s core problem is still absolute quality. Overall connection rhythm changes are varied and stable, but compared to Wei Shihao, even today’s Fan Zhendong, there’s still an issue—his active continuous rhythm can’t keep up anymore, he can’t catch the early point continuity near the table at all, can’t withstand top-level attacks.
Being able to play 2-3 with Fan Zhendong is impressive, after all, there’s no one playing like Yu Heyi in the national team, and almost none in provincial teams either.
Value of the Small Ball Era
The small ball framework may not continue, but the understanding and rhythm of small ball still have aspects worth learning from.
Fan Zhendong’s backhand upward swing with the big arm is actually the same routine as Yu Heyi’s—both are methods to counter arc variations, the ball arcs are completely the same! This isn’t Fan Zhendong’s regular method.
The difference lies in the active quality-adding shot:
- Fan Zhendong’s movement catches the early point
- Yu Heyi’s point is later
The reason is simple: Yu Heyi’s slow play is rare and effective! But playing it long-term gets exploited… Fan Zhendong has slow but also needs fast—necessary! Otherwise he gets counter-looped…
Conclusion
Table tennis now is absolutely a counter-attack era. The thinking is definitely early point continuous shots adding quality board by board—this trend is irreversible!
But understanding table tennis can also achieve surprising effects in matches. This unconventional arc trajectory—many players can’t adapt in one or two matches. At critical points and key matches in encounter battles, it has surprising effects!
Many retired national team players are formidable—they’re only released because the team really can’t keep them. Training partners are the national team’s most core resource, bar none. Unfortunately, one by one they don’t want to go back: they’re given too little!