Slow Motion Highlights: 2011 WTTC

says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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A friend sent me this video and I think it has great footage even if it was not in slow motion. But seeing it in slow motion really helps you see a lot of the techniques more clearly. Hope you guys like this. And if you see cool technical details that you want to point out and bring to our attention, just add the time in the video where it happens so it is easy to find.

 
says Spin and more spin.
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Okay, I notice in this video, that Wang Hao often follows through with his whole arm pretty much extended. He swings from his shoulder and his whole arm extends forward as his follow through but he does not bend his elbow almost at all as part of his follow through.

I notice that Ma Long swings from the shoulder using the whole arm with the arm almost straight but around where he makes contact with the ball he starts bending his elbow as part of the stroke and his follow through ends up with his elbow forward, his forearm bent. Both Wang Hao and Ma Long take the ball far away from their body when they hit the forehand as often as possible.

For Zhang Jike, I notice his stroke is smaller, more compact than Ma or Wang. He takes the ball closer to his body much more often. His arm does not extend as fully during his backswing so that when he starts his stroke his elbow is a little more bent than the other two. The shots where he takes the ball farther from his body, it looks like he is adjusting to the ball being farther away than he had anticipated. Whereas with Wang Hao and Ma Long, if they are taking the ball closer in to them, it is because they are adjusting to the ball after their feet are set. Jike also seems to use his legs a lot and get a lot of power from them.
 
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Yeah, the easiest reason and probably the right reason for this distinction is the fact that while most Chinese players definitely favor their forehands, and look for all opportunities to go around to their forehand, ZJK shows a definite preference for his backhand. It makes sense to keep a point going from backhand to backhand, when you have probably one of the best if not the best backhand in the world at the moment.

In the games that Ma Long and ZJK have playing in the finals these past few months, you can see a huge difference in their forehand/backhand preference. When they are going backhand to backhand, Ma Long looks for every opportunity to go to his forehand, even at times when he barely has time to step to his left or when the ball is still kind of in his pocket area, he will crouch thereby making the ball easier to hit with his forehand.
 
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Yeah, the easiest reason and probably the right reason for this distinction is the fact that while most Chinese players definitely favor their forehands, and look for all opportunities to go around to their forehand, ZJK shows a definite preference for his backhand. It makes sense to keep a point going from backhand to backhand, when you have probably one of the best if not the best backhand in the world at the moment.

In the games that Ma Long and ZJK have playing in the finals these past few months, you can see a huge difference in their forehand/backhand preference. When they are going backhand to backhand, Ma Long looks for every opportunity to go to his forehand, even at times when he barely has time to step to his left or when the ball is still kind of in his pocket area, he will crouch thereby making the ball easier to hit with his forehand.

A funny thing I noticed in the Austrian Open final is that Ma wins most of those backhand/backhand rallies, because ZJK is playing spin with his wrist acceleration but Ma's backhand block is very strong. At some points in those rallies ZJK would have to play to Ma's forehand, which in fact equals giving away the initiative in the rally, or keep attacking Ma's backhand until Ma makes a block mistake. So even though ZJK's backhand is usually more effective, he doesn't really seem to be able to take full advantage of it in those matches against Ma Long.
 
says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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Yeah, the easiest reason and probably the right reason for this distinction is the fact that while most Chinese players definitely favor their forehands, and look for all opportunities to go around to their forehand, ZJK shows a definite preference for his backhand. It makes sense to keep a point going from backhand to backhand, when you have probably one of the best if not the best backhand in the world at the moment.

In the games that Ma Long and ZJK have playing in the finals these past few months, you can see a huge difference in their forehand/backhand preference. When they are going backhand to backhand, Ma Long looks for every opportunity to go to his forehand, even at times when he barely has time to step to his left or when the ball is still kind of in his pocket area, he will crouch thereby making the ball easier to hit with his forehand.

Yeah. And I would say that Zhang Jike probably does have the best backhand out there right now.

A funny thing I noticed in the Austrian Open final is that Ma wins most of those backhand/backhand rallies, because ZJK is playing spin with his wrist acceleration but Ma's backhand block is very strong. At some points in those rallies ZJK would have to play to Ma's forehand, which in fact equals giving away the initiative in the rally, or keep attacking Ma's backhand until Ma makes a block mistake. So even though ZJK's backhand is usually more effective, he doesn't really seem to be able to take full advantage of it in those matches against Ma Long.

I also agree with these observations. But Ma Long has always matched up well against Zhang Jike. Even when his backhand was not as good and his backhand is now very good, I would say, almost as good as Zhang Jike's and he is using Jike's spin well against Jike in those rallies.

But it is nice to see the difference in the techniques of the forehands of Ma Long, Zhang Jike and Wang Hao in slow motion. They all have excellent forehands and they all are doing things a little differently as far as their technique is concerned.
 
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says Spin and more spin.
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In this video of highlights from the ETTC you can see why the Chinese have so much more power in their forehands.


This video was originally posted by Dan here: http://www.tabletennisdaily.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?1623-ETTC-2011-Highlights

Go to the thread and make your comments.

But what I see from Timo Boll's forehand especially is that his elbow stays bent the whole time which means he cannot use the action of the biceps moving the forearm at the elbow joint to accelerate the stroke. Which means you would get much less power and spin. It is amazing how good Timo Boll's forehand is without this, and he uses his body really well. But, if he had his arm extended at the elbow joint not fully straight but almost straight, and at contact started bending his elbow as part of the stroke, he would have a forehand that would be at a different level and pace. You can see how much more the Chinese get from their forehands from that little detail.

Timo's forehand is as good as anybody else's from the ETTC highlights.
 
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