Improve my FH topspin

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Maybe there are several ways to upload a video, but one way is to upload the video to youtube then post a link here.

take my comment with a grain of salt, i'm not very good at video analysis, and there is only 1 angle, i might be fooled by it as well

Here is what i have to say

1) the most striking thing, is that more than once, you totally miss the ball, you're just hitting air ! you have a sync / timing problem

2) the overall impression is that you are putting way too much effort, you need to be much more relaxed

3) not sure, but it looks like you might be a bit too close from the table, and hitting the ball too late / too close from your body. It doesn't help that the robot is setup so that the bounce is rather high, so it makes it a bit difficult to do a drive at the top of the bounce, too close from the table. The best hitting zone is in front of you, so it means you should hit those balls before the top of the bounce [and adjust the motion] or go back by 10-20 ?

4) swing is way too vertical, i think it should be more horizontal with a more closed angle. When you do you follow through, we can't even see your bat on screen any more !!!

5) you are using the rotation of your body and putting your weight on the right leg at the beginning of the motion, thats good, but i see you then putting your left feet back as you're doing the swing. nope, that left foot shouldn't move and your weight should shift from that right foot to that left foot. What i do to make sure the transfer is done, as i finish my swing, only the toes of my right foot are touching the floor, the heel is up. No way i could not go forward like this, if i tried to do something which looks like you, i would be falling.

like others said, there are plenty of tutorial videos on the net, just look on youtube or past threads

Set the robot to feed without side spin. Right now, the balls are swerving away from your FH. While reaching to your right to make the shot, it's robbing you of any weight transfer. Feed yourself no-spin/light topspin when starting out.

Basically you're trying too hard. Try a lot less. No hip, no nothing. You say weight transfer but you're not transfering weight, you're just jumping around with no control.
Stop all of that.

Now,

Imagine how the racket should be moving through the air if nobody is holding it. It's a nice clean, smooth diagonal line, right?

Now hold the racket and make it do that motion. move it through that clean, smooth, slow line. No need for hip, no wrist, no whatever. Just let the racket move through the air in a clean smooth line the way you imagine it moving through the air for a topspin.

Do it real slow.
Don't move your legs, your body, nothing. Just help the racket go through that smooth line.

Not turn on the robot and do the same.

Hit the ball real slow.

Doesn't matter if it doesn't even cross the net.

Keep doing that.

Then you'll improve fast





Problems I detect (for which I propose the above exercise):
1) Your left foot is sliding backwards. You're not doing 'weight transfer' at all. Don't move the feet.
2) You're extending your upper body. No need for that.
3) You're hitting upwards. Topspin is a diagonal arc. This is very important. The point of it is that wherever in the arc you hit the ball, it will be more or less a consistent topspin. If the line the racket travels is not clean and smooth, you'll never have a good shot.
4) Your upper body is rotating a lot. No need.
5) Your shoulder is lifted up. No need

Change shoes. Those soft Air Max doesn't offer any stability, on the contrary they destroy the balance. Get a pair with thin hard soles so that you feel the contact with the floor.

Too much sliding of the feet. Is your floor slippery?

First up fair play for posting video of yourself, Im sure you will get some good tips!
I’m no expert and coming back to the sport after a break of 10 years so am getting used to the the new balls, rule changes and equipment so just an opinion. But your swing is very big and finishing much to high. Everything needs to be more compact with a shorter swing, there’s just to much going on. Try finishing lower pointing towards not way up pointing to the sky. A more compact swing will give you more time to react to returns.
Go on ittf tv and watch some videos of the pros and there swings, how they move and react. Not saying you should play like them but to give you an idea of the right technique.

You are swinging up too much and not enough forward. Your backswing is ok, you are clearly using your hips going back, but you don't spin forward enough and end up using your arm quite vertically afterwards with little rotation of the hips or body. This is where all the speed comes from.

Swing back like you are doing (but not so low with the bat, keep it higher), then rotate forwards. Imagine you are throwing a discuss.

Practice shadow swings without the bat, practice rotating so fast in the forward swing you feel the blood flow to your fingers. Then practice with a bat, concentrating on that same rotation and feeling. Then try again at the table.

Also relax your grip, you should hold the racket only tight enough so it doesn't fly out of your hand and no more.

I wouldn't think about weight transfer for now. There is none because you aren't rotating. Think about rotation instead and the weight transfer will happen.

Against underspin ball, contact the ball starting at 3 o clock then brush up. In more advanced cases l, it varies depending on the amount of spin. Against to0spin balls, contact 1 or 2 o clock but a little more on the side top part of the ball then brush forward.

Ilcane1 said:

Thank you all. My problem is vs backspin balls. I explain: when i play against no spin or topspin balls i can keep my shots on the table. When i receive back a push with a heavy spin my balls go into the net often. So i'm triing to go lower but i find problems with body rotation. I think i can brush the ball (maybe too much) and sometimes i miss the ball.
I can't understand one thing: if i start lower to hook the ball and to give a high trajectory to it, how can i do the same stretch that i do against topspins? Must my arm follow the bat angle? I cant find the right compromise between bat angle and arm angle...
Other 2 videos, 1 is a match vs one of my club partner.
Thank you again.

Ps: maybe the floor is a little slippery
https://youtu.be/FlHWq2VXbwo

https://youtu.be/dyANbzD9BfE

Click to expand...

Hey man, good on you for posting a video! I make a lot of the same mistakes you do and am lucky enough to have a few good coaches helping me fix them. I'll give a quick description of what they have me work on, maybe you can use some of the points to help improve!

For topspin and no spin, my coach says to rotate your body and bring the racket back at nearly the same height as the incoming ball (tiny bit below the ball). Then as you rotate your hips/shoulders back to square and contact the ball you spin over the top of it with your wrist and forearm, finishing around the height of your face. The wrist and forearm give you spin, while the body rotation gives you power. Think about using the sponge but not hitting through to the blade.

For underspin, you make the same body rotation to bring the racket back, but you drop the racket to behind your right knee. You rotate your body back to square while snapping your wrist and forearm up. This swing should finish near forehead level but with your FH rubber still facing your target (because you snap your wrist up, not over). The racket should still finish in front of your body.

I generally find that swinging forward vs underspin is really difficult to learn and get used to, because you're afraid it will go into the net. Yes, some will go into the net (especially when you're learning), but eventually you learn to control it well enough that netting the ball is a rare occurrence.