Does Ma Long use his wrist in his FH?

A usefull thread that helps you about Ma Long's technique: http://www.tabletennisdaily.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?420-Ma-Long-s-Technique-in-Detail

Daniel. said:

Does Ma Long uses his wrist, when he strokes his forehand topspin ?

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I'm pretty sure every player at the elite level uses wrist when looping.

Take a look at this video:

***Humor***

Does he ever need to use the restroom?


***End Humor***

Actually i don't think many chinese players use their wrist in the forehand. It only comes to mind Chen Qi due to his european style grip, maybe Yan An. Ma Long has closed grip making it very difficult to use the wrist in the forehand but very easy to do that in the backhand.

hipnotic said:

Actually i don't think many chinese players use their wrist in the forehand. It only comes to mind Chen Qi due to his european style grip, maybe Yan An. Ma Long has closed grip making it very difficult to use the wrist in the forehand but very easy to do that in the backhand.

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Agree with hipnotic comments...

There's got to be SOME wrist involved.

Chinese players don't use their wrist so much in forehand. Ma Long use his wrist a little (not so much) in his forehand.

by the looks of it he just tightens his grip before contact or that extra punch/power

Of course he does. There's an external rotation where the wrist opens up combined with the flexion giving the stroke an extra "smash". In the Chinese loop, the angle of tilt changes quickly, right before contacting the ball. The bat goes from being fairly open to completely closed. Whereas in the European loop, the wrist moves in the same direction as the arm, just to add that extra little spin.

Looping aka Timo Boll is more about adduction/abduction is (like when you're waving at someone), in Ma Long looping there's more flexion/extension is (like when you're slapping something). Although some don't use this opening bat angle like Ma Long does, for example Zhang Jike/Kong Linghui is more european orientated looping.

I think it is advantegous to know both kind of looping, then you can utilize in what situations which loop is the best to use, whether the one with more opened up bat angle for an extra power or the one where the wrist is abducting/adducting giving more spin.

Think about it this way as the way players tend to graduate their strokes.
1. Improving players; Legs, waist, shoulders and finally, elbow snap.
2. Good/advanced players; Legs, waist, shoulders, elbow snap and finally, wrist.
3. Elite players; Legs, waist, shoulders, elbow snap, wrist and finally, fingers.