Forehand Topspin Like Ma Long | 5 Tips

[TableTennisDaily]

Yes guys, in this video we take a look at 5 things that make Ma Long's forehand the best ever! We recently got to be up close and personal with the goat and see him in action, this gave us the chance to get a good look at how he plays his deadly forehand and we want to share the key points with you!

We hope you enjoy the video guys and let us know what you think makes Ma Long's forehand so good!

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

Awesome!!! Lots of practice time and world-class training : )

 

[Tyce]

Tip 6, as you can tell from the thumbnail (and something I've noticed before in TTD videos) @Dan is holding his bat at a pronounced angle away from the line of his arm. Ma Long holds his bat out as a perfect extension of his arm. This allows for an easy 10-15cm more swing arm as well as leaving space for the wrist to make small corrections (or even add spin).

Sometimes people limp-wrist it and actually get the opposite angle with arguably even less control and power.

Edit: looked at it again, your elbows are both in the same position but the bats are in quite different places.

Edit2: don't get me wrong, I'd get 11-0'd by anyone on the TTD team

 

[SFF_lib]

Yes guys, in this video we take a look at 5 things that make Ma Long's forehand the best ever! We recently got to be up close and personal with the goat and see him in action, this gave us the chance to get a good look at how he plays his deadly forehand and we want to share the key points with you!

We hope you enjoy the video guys and let us know what you think makes Ma Long's forehand so good!

Ma Long’s FH is beautiful to watch. Fluid and perfect. The Chinese narrators call ML’s FH a textbook example 😆😆

For most amateurs without training we aren’t strong enough to rotate as far and as fast as Ma Long.

I think so far the closest one is WCQ. Most other athletes like LSD and FZD don’t pull back as far because they rely on 2-wing fast play.

 

[Dr Evil]

Great job. To summarize: (1) Early preparation: dropping weight to right leg, turning shoulder, power from the ground. (2) Bat position: bat drops to knees, helps to connect upper and lower body, more coil. (3) Arm extension: closer to straight on backswing (165 degrees vs 111) compared to most Europeans like Dan. (4) Contact: in front of body, top of the bounce, consistent timing, elbow snap just before contact. (5) Recovery: long swing but main length is backswing with shorter follow through, finishing in front for faster fh-bh switching.

It seems to work pretty well for Ma Long, but I think his long low coiled backswing is a bad idea for most players. It's high energy, stressful especially on the back, core and knees, and requires great footwork and timing to meet the ball consistently just in front of his body, at nearly full extension, at the top of the bounce.

On the other hand, I think his elbow extension (without dropping the bat so low), with the elbow snap/whip (i.e., the "salute" motion as taught by most coaches) just before contact, and the short follow through finishing in front, are good ideas for almost anyone. Also, getting power from the ground -- with legs doing the work, and connecting lower body to upper body by keeping tension in the core -- is the key to a powerful forehand. Not having that consistent lower body to upper body connection is the most common weakness I see in players who lack power on otherwise good forehands.

 

[kindof99]

It is a good tutorial video, but sadly most amateurs can't learn much from this simple approach.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

View attachment IMG_1139.mov
This is the most beautiful shot in the TT universe!

 

[Tyce]

View attachment 34756
This is the most beautiful shot in the TT universe!

The power generation for the fluidity of the motion is insane.

 

[Dan]

Awesome!!! Lots of practice time and world-class training : )

Haha for sure! I would love to know: if we all did the same amount of practice as Ma Long and received the same coaching feedback, what level could we reach? Would it be enough to make us at least professional-level players? I understand that there are many other contributing factors, but considering the phenomenal number of hours Ma Long has put in, would just those hours and coaching feedback be enough to get someone to a professional level?

 

[Dan]

Tip 6, as you can tell from the thumbnail (and something I've noticed before in TTD videos) @Dan is holding his bat at a pronounced angle away from the line of his arm. Ma Long holds his bat out as a perfect extension of his arm. This allows for an easy 10-15cm more swing arm as well as leaving space for the wrist to make small corrections (or even add spin).

Sometimes people limp-wrist it and actually get the opposite angle with arguably even less control and power.

Edit: looked at it again, your elbows are both in the same position but the bats are in quite different places.

Edit2: don't get me wrong, I'd get 11-0'd by anyone on the TTD team

You make a great point, it's something we missed here, and it adds even more leverage to his forehand! I'll experiment with my bat angle in practice and see how it goes

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

You make a great point, it's something we missed here, and it adds even more leverage to his forehand! I'll experiment with my bat angle in practice and see how it goes

Dan is Timo Ver. Lite and not ML.

 

[latej]

You make a great point, it's something we missed here, and it adds even more leverage to his forehand! I'll experiment with my bat angle in practice and see how it goes

Hey Dan, speaking with tongue in cheek here... Allow me 1 point - notice how close is ML's elbow to his body during back-swing, he's almost hitting his body with it... It influences how you rotate to the right, and also the non-playing hand influences it, and these two then influence the forward motion, try it ;-)

 

[dingyibvs]

You make a great point, it's something we missed here, and it adds even more leverage to his forehand! I'll experiment with my bat angle in practice and see how it goes

It's not a bat angle thing, it's the wrist movement that causes those differences. If you keep your wrist loose and snap at contact then it should be in-line with the arm before contact and be at 45+ degrees afterwards. Those 2 pics in the thumbnail are presumably taken at different point of the stroke, with Ma Long's prior to contact while yours after contact.

 

[Tyce]

It's not a bat angle thing, it's the wrist movement that causes those differences. If you keep your wrist loose and snap at contact then it should be in-line with the arm before contact and be at 45+ degrees afterwards. Those 2 pics in the thumbnail are presumably taken at different point of the stroke, with Ma Long's prior to contact while yours after contact.

Maybe in this case, but I noticed in earlier TTD videos @Dan has his wrist already in post-snap position before hitting the ball. I actually used that as an example to play less limp-wristed.

I haven't seen that position on Ma Longs stroke even after contact, but it's so fast I might have missed it

 

[dingyibvs]

Maybe in this case, but I noticed in earlier TTD videos @Dan has his wrist already in post-snap position before hitting the ball. I actually used that as an example to play less limp-wristed.

I haven't seen that position on Ma Longs stroke even after contact, but it's so fast I might have missed it

Right, and the issue is that @Dan keeps his arm rather stiff from elbow onward, throughout the stroke. I believe he does it for both FH and BH, and is a big reason why his shots have a lot less power than other TTD members because he has very solid body usage otherwise. His wrist is never fully relaxed like ML's so it never straightens up completely. For power generation purposes you don't really need to actively use the wrist, it just needs to stiffen up upon contact, that's why I said 45+ degrees after contact rather than the close to 90 degrees that Dan has his bat relative to the forearm. If you just stiffen up the bat the end angle after contact should be ~45 degrees like this:



Of course, in real game situations it'll vary depending on the situation.