What's Wrong with Harimoto's FH?

says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
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Harimoto has been working on his FH since his sounding defeat to LJK in Korea Open 2018. The problem right now is not his stroke. It has to do with his stance and footwork. I'll probably post a video and write more on this after this Australian Open.

So busy catching up on these interviews.

After much ado, here it is.

 
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I'm not sure why harimoto doesn't use elbow as much as the usual players. The rotation is also forced a lot on the waist then using natural weight transfer on the legs

Of course, this is an amateur observation at best but LJY & WCQ in comparison are much more balanced on both wings
 
I think that Harimoto is still used and fixed to his close to the table BH stance and he still can't get the proper transfer to a mid and longer distance FH.
His FH swing, including the legs swing, is good and proper for a power FH close to the table, but I think that his legs are wider open than needed for that distance and that hinders the faster recovery for the next steps, so if the shot is a killer - ok, but if not - that's the end.
Harimoto is growing up, making changes to his style, and he has to fit together the changes of his physic, mind and technique.
I think that he will do it good.
 
Maybe he is not as physically capable than those Chinese players.

I don't think he needs to be.

I don't think the problem is that his forehand isn't as good as top chinese players. It's that he had a fairly bad forehand for a player of that level, period.

The whole thing is just a mess.

Firstly there is so much torso rotation that I actually wonder if he sometimes has trouble keeping track of the ball, keeping your head still while your body moves that much must not be that easy. Keeping your elbow close is supposed to give you faster recovery, but if you have to arrest all the momentum of your rotating upper body, and bring it back to neutral, you really arn't gaining much (or any) time.

Secondly, there is no fluidity. Even watching the brief clips Xu Xin's forehands, you see his arm, or parts of his arm are relaxed before and during the shot. Harimoto's stroke looks like he's tensed the whole way through, even during the preparation for the shot! He's just muscling the stroke through, and he doens't have that much muscle to get away with it. There are some parts of the stroke, where it's ok to use the weight and momentum of your bat/arm. But Harimoto seems to be using, if anything at all, the momentum of his rotating upper body, this is... bizarre...

Thirdly, his feet don't stay very grounded. He has a very wide stance, so you'd think he'd be perfectly grounded. But when you watch his fast multiball, some shots, he's not only not generating power from his legs, he's actually losing power from his waist rotation into pushing his lower body the wrong way.

While, more muscle would help him muscle his stroke through more, and maybe he wouldn't need to compensate so much with waist rotation. His problem is not primarily a matter of strength, it's that his forehand stroke is biomechanically, horribly inefficient.
 
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Harimoto raises his elbow too much on shots where he needs more upward brush.
He's still not using his legs to push forward and upward to power the brushing element of the swing. I feel like his leg is only pushing forward, so he needs to rotate shoulder and lift elbow in order to generate the upward brush.

Just look at XX's swing, his elbow is rarely ever above his shoulder height.
 
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If he used a chinese rubber on FH for a while he would learn how to properly generate power. Of course that's impossible for someone like him

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Reworked the translation for Ito's part.
 
says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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Maybe you are joking, but you shouldn't think of Harimoto as any normal 16-year-old.
Think of him as WR# 5 player in the world.

I am having fun. But you also have to realize, he is a kid. LGL at one point said he had the FH of a child. I think he is correct. From 16 to 20 is a big difference in terms of biology and physical development. In other words, stuff that will change not because of training but because of biology.

Does he have things to improve? Of course. But he is pretty amazing for a 16 year old. I was also amazed when FZD came on the pro tour. But FZD then was almost the age TH is now. Think about it.
 
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says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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BTW: I always felt they brought TH on the world stage too early. He still had technical skills to develop. China has always been intelligent in not bringing some of their massive talents out on the international stage too early. To keep them training, developing and hungry until they are more fully developed. Ma Long and FZD are examples I can think of who were brought out early. But still, nowhere near as early as TH was brought into international competition as a primary player.
 
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I am not sure this is the correct way of thinking.

Being WR #5 doesn’t make his body fully developed.

I think his forehand vs Zhu Linfeng showed a marked improvement. He is beginning to spin rather than drive more consistently and this helps his recovery. Keeping the elbow close and using his back for stability.
 
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says The sticky bit is stuck.
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I think his forehand vs Zhu Linfeng showed a marked improvement. He is beginning to spin rather than drive more consistently and this helps his recovery. Keeping the elbow close and using his back for stability.

That, and, I think, sharper and more distinctive choices between either spinning it and going in very closely for flat and short slapping counters.

I applaud both. With his BH ability this is a dangerous mix.
 
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That, and, I think, sharper and more distinctive choices between either spinning it and going in very closely for flat and short slapping counters.

I applaud both. With his BH ability this is a dangerous mix.

I didn't remember a slapping counter. There was more forearm rotation even on counters that I remember used to be flat. But.maybe I am just biased. I agree with you largely by the way.
 
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