Tahl Leibovitz - Paralympic Table Tennis

The way I used to play before the coaching. I could say it was gambling. Now I think I am actually playing table tennis at a high level or at least trying to. Its not easy to play at that level mentally. Its very tough. I have however done it in a few matches. I've played a few matches in the last 4 years where I can say I actually played table tennis as a professional and the way the game should be played.

Before that, the matches I won were random and probably a bit lucky. Like playing a slot machine. I don't play the slot machine anymore, Now I'm the casino, however sometimes the casion loses.

Nice! That super fast underspin serve at the end was awesome. Good thing you put the slo-mo to see it thoroughly.

How good is the opponent? What are his opponent's disabilities?

When I first arrived in Vegas, I saw Tahl playing a practice match against first Wally Green, whom he easily beat, and then 2500 Samsun, who he also beat.

Tahl is truly incredible to watch. I remember watching him in San Diego last year. He was in a tough match. At the very end, he TOTALLY changed tactics and completely messed up the opponent. It sounds easy to say, but when you are in the 7th most people will be trying to hit hard, etc. Tahl was already hitting hard. So he went the opposite way, served short and did drop shots while the opponent had already backed up expecting an attack. The dropshots were never even touched. 2 match points to Tahl. How you can stay calm enough to do that, after all that time and energy is experied, and soooooo much pressure, is amazing. But Tahl is pretty much known now for doing unexpected things when you least expect it. That's one of the reasons why I really enjoy watching his matches. But you have to see the full match to appreciate it. Just a little clip like this, and you might think this is the only way he plays.

He sure did his forum name justice at 0:10

Tahl is practicing with Mohsen Javaheri in this video. He's not disabled, just a partner of Tahl from NY. It's hard to say what his level is. He's currently rated 2252, but in the last 5 months he's lost to 2 players under 2000 and another 3 players under 2100.

Moshen ia probably rated about 2150 now. He was 1900 fore a while but, we worked on a few things and he recently beat 2 players over 2300.

I usually play against him lefthanded cause its a fun match, although I pretty much dominate left handed. I have to focus mentally right handed cause he knows where I am weak.