The Best Defenders, and How Equipment Helps, Part 2
Zhang Yibo’s choices: Tomokazu Harimoto, Kenta Matsudaira, Jun Mizutani
He mentioned Tomokazu Harimoto can switch defense to attack, excels at close-table defense, with exquisite defensive technique. Kenta Matsudaira excels at making opponents lose points, with good adaptability on defense. We discussed Harimoto’s and Mizutani’s gear in the last piece. Today let us discuss Matsudaira’s — which brings up the Kenta Matsudaira ALC. Lately the forums hotly debate whether the Boll A, Vis, Zhang A, Lin A, Fan A are nesting dolls. Whether the blade body is a nesting doll is one issue. But even if the body is a nesting doll, you should be able to hit out each one’s differences, because their handles also differ. The handle’s effect on striking feel and performance is huge. Some handles push the blade’s balance point toward the head with more power (like the 968, 520X); some use a Vis-ified handle making the balance point more centered and the two wings more balanced (like the Heima-tuned series). Even just adjusting the handle gives a different feel. The Kenta Matsudaira ALC is like this. Matsudaira asked Butterfly to make the handle thinner, so he could grip tighter and better control the ball at close-mid table. We can feel it is more nimble in over-the-table short control.
Boll himself, on the Vis basis, also had new demands on Butterfly, hoping to strengthen over-the-table control and spin, so the Boll Spirit came about. This was mentioned in an old Tabletennis Kingdom interview. But Matsudaira, in his late Butterfly career, actually played more the Zhang Jike ALC. His final pairing was T05 forehand, D09c backhand, fairly distinctive. He said he was earlier T05 on both sides; after D09c launched, at first it felt a bit hard, but quite usable. And since he is fairly good at backhand, harder rubber easily produces quality. So he stuck with soft forehand, hard backhand. After signing Tibhar, he now uses the Kenta Matsudaira Carbon, with MK PRO forehand, K3 PRO backhand. But these two rubbers are custom too.
Ai Fukuhara’s choices: Ni Xialian, Zhang Yining, Kasumi Ishikawa
She said Ishikawa, even while moving, keeps her torso and center of gravity stable, receiving the ball steadily in any posture. Her adjustment of the bat angle at the instant of contact is first-class, excellently absorbing the opponent’s powerful spin and effectively returning. Ishikawa’s blade went from the Xingsheng official-import CL CR to the Innerforce Layer ALC to the Vis. Zhang Yining not only blocked the ball back but flexibly controlled the blocking line and placement depth, locking down the opponent’s continuous attack and swiftly turning to counterattack. Her attacking speed after blocking was simply astonishing. This is understandable. Zhang Yining’s career mainly used Butterfly tensors on both sides. In the inorganic era, her setup was the Zhang Yining ZLC, T05 forehand, T64 backhand. Such a rubber combination, on one hand, relatively does not easily catch spin, and on the other, the attack-defense speed was quite fast for the time. Ni Xialian’s defense, forehand or backhand, is solid as a rock, and varied — after all, short pips on one side, long pips on the other, with flexible control and various small-trick strength variations. Whether the seven-ply Swat or now the Ni Xialian signature blade, both highlight ease in control and defense.
Dong Qimin’s choices: Jun Mizutani, Kenta Matsudaira, Koki Niwa
Dong Qimin, who once made China’s second team, later became Tomokazu Harimoto’s coach. He mentioned that among Japanese players now, the young ones with good defense are Tomokazu Harimoto and Sora Matsushima. We can see some clues here — because Sora Matsushima serves fast-long serves especially often, and only those with good enough defense dare operate this way. Speaking of this, some friends may recall when I mentioned my own game-improvement. An elder told me to avoid over-the-table short balls as much as possible and play the ball “long,” deliberately defending, while exploiting my long arms. That one sentence improved me by 100 points. How to play to your strengths and avoid weaknesses really is very important.
In this survey, for the top three defenders, the most voted for Kenta Matsudaira (13 votes), then Samsonov (9) and Tomokazu Harimoto (7). Old Sam’s style deserves to be called a Taiji tiger — soft, with very widely distributed placement, varied long-short, also favorable for his defense.