In the Bundesliga Semifinal, Fan Zhendong Keeps Using the ZYRE-03 — Just an Experiment?
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In the Bundesliga semifinal, Fan Zhendong still ran his earlier Champions League setup: Fan Zhendong ALC custom, ZYRE-03 on the forehand, Dignics 09c on the backhand.
From the look of the match, his forehand Z03 is a bit more adapted than before, but over-the-table short play is still not as free as with tacky rubber.
As I said before, the real test has to be between players of the same level — let us wait until he plays one or two more top-ten opponents.
Does Fan Zhendong believe his forehand will play better, or improve in some aspect, with the Z03 now? Hard to say. He may just be exploring, and may not know the answer himself — he just wants to make some changes.
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I suddenly recall a line from Jensen Huang: do not only chase joy; actively seek out some pain and hardship, because one day you will need them.
The analogy may not be apt. I just want to illustrate that Fan Zhendong may simply want to escape his rubber comfort zone, and along the way look for some new breakthrough. The outcome could be success, or it could bring a winding failure. But some exploration is unavoidable.
For example, over the past year I practiced a lot of forehand serves, which actually do not suit my system. They even somewhat disrupted my original backhand serve system. But at least, now I know these forehand serves do not suit me. Yet even though they generally do not suit me, against some opponents who receive my backhand serve very well, using a forehand serve that does not fit my system actually has a better effect.
For instance, a few years ago when I wrote articles, I would find a quiet spot, clear my mind, and then start writing. Now I might write while waiting for a bus, during breaks between matches, on the toilet with a stomachache (not recommended), even amid a noisy crowd or a group arguing. I have gradually explored an ability to write anytime.
What I want to say is: Fan Zhendong’s understanding at every stage is not necessarily perfectly correct; the Z03 is not necessarily more suitable for him than the D09c. But he needs to explore. The more he explores, the more he may hit some detours, but after exploring, his self-understanding and level may rise.
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Viscaria, with a China-special D09c glued on the forehand. Heima-tuned PLC, with a K3 VIP on the forehand. This is a new exploration of mine recently.
I feel that as I age, I may need to play outer blades. Although after trying, I still feel inner suits me better. On the forehand, where my ability is relatively stronger, I can adapt fairly freely — going from the old inner-plus-tensor to outer-plus-tacky.
But on the backhand, unlike the common understanding that outer is better for the backhand, my backhand adjustment is more stable with an inner blade, and because the ball-holding has more pause, the error-tolerance is higher.
Without this kind of exploration, you cannot understand yourself better. Some explorations take us a step further; some are detours, yet help us better understand our original selves.
By the way, this national-team-special D09c — if you played it blind, you might not hit out a difference from the retail version; you might think it is just quality-control variation between rubber sheets. Maybe, after you fire, it springs a touch more than the retail version, and that is all. Of course, each Butterfly-signed player’s special D09c is not necessarily the same hardness. I will try other players’ versions when I get the chance.