Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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THE TABLE — For years I fancied myself as a pretty good pingpong player. My friends and I would play all the time, and I was up there as one of the best. I considered my friends to be good players, as well, considering we'd spend hours in someone's basement playing pingpong.
Before you ask, the answer is, no, we didn't have girlfriends.
Then a few years ago, a neighbor of mine asked if I'd like to play. I was on board and figured I'd hold my own, as I had heard he was a good player. Well, how good could he really be? I mean, he's never played on my friend Scott's table in his mom's sunroom. So, we'll see what "good" is according to this guy.
Turned out that my friends and I are total posers and had no idea what real pingpong was because this game was embarrassing. Not only did I fail to score a single point, but Mr. "good player" also made me aware of the fact that all my best shots and serves were actually illegal.
Suffice it to say, I am not good at pingpong and neither are my friends, but we can appreciate a good player when we see one. And I see one in this video.
This point between Emil Johnson and David Björkryd Ängbys was captured in 2019. The volley lasts nearly a minute and it includes numerous shots that I can only dream to pull off.
How good was this point? Good enough that the rest of the tournament basically stopped to see how it turned out.
The only time an entire venue stopped to pay attention to what I was doing was when I walked into the wrong college class, only to realize my mistake about 12 minutes in and then make a bit of a scene as I packed my things and left in the middle of the lecture.
This point is well worth a watch and I have some work to do on the pingpong table.
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