Here is a translation of Image 1 and 2. Image 1 and Image 2 are in fact opposing pages in a magazine (Ping Pong World, the most popular Table Tennis Magazine in China), with Image 1 on the left and Image 2 on the right. The whole article is about Ma Long's Loog Drive against down spin. The Picture numbering sequence in the 2 images is correct, i.e. you should look at Picture 1, 2, 3, 4 in Image 2, then Picture 5, 6 in Image 1, then Picture 7, 8 in Image 2, then Picture 9, 10 in Image 1. I have translated the whole article pertaining to Image 1 and Image 2 as follows (my comments are in italics):
Forehand Loop Drive against Downspin
Forehand loop drive against downspin is a common form of attack. It is also one of the most destructive forehand techniques. Since it is forehand power drive, you should deploy it with power. In addition, from actual game considerations, you should also suppress the arcing trajectory of the ball and make sure the ball carries enough spin and cleverly vary the placements of your shots. All this will greatly enhance the effectiveness of your attack. However, during forehand power drive, many table tennis enthusiasts will pay too much attention to power, thereby exaggerating their body movements, causing arm and body to be out of sync. The result is that the power generated does not “flow” and the consistency of the attack will suffer greatly.
In the process of forehand power drive, the control of the ball arcing trajectory and the varying of the placement of the shots should be of foremost importance. Only after you have achieved consistency can you try to increase the “substance” (i.e. power) of the loop drive. In addition, even though power drive is very deadly, you still need to pay attention to your posture recovery. You need to control the span of your movements, maintain the stability of your center of gravity and be able to quickly return to your ready position.
Footwork must be good. During back swing, first determine accurately where the ball will be hit before you increase your movements.
In this group of pictures, Ma Long was attacking a down spin ball with his forehand. In Picture 1, Ma Long was moving from the backhand corner towards the forehand corner. His center of gravity was very low, legs were bent and upper body leaning quite a bit forward. His whole body was very cohesive. While he was making a straddle step to the right (i.e. left foot stationary and right foot making big step to the right), he was also doing his backswing. Therein lie two important elements: (1) The straddle step must be accurate and move the body to the correct position relative to the ball and hence provide him with the best position to hit the ball; (2) before he gets into position with his straddle step, he should keep his backswing small. This will allow him to relax the upper part of his body. This will in addition allow him to better handle balls that barely get out of the table or balls that stay within the table. After all, we sometimes do make mistakes in judgment and balls do sometimes net or hit the edge of the table. If the backswing stroke is too big or the body movement is too much, it would be hard to make adjustments.
One common problem for amateur players is they tend to overplay the power play. They would have neglected the correct rhythm in hitting the ball. They also would have difficulty in controlling their power.
In Picture 4, after Ma Long has reached his position, he increased his arm swing. His body started to turn towards the back, with arm fully stretched. His right foot was firmly pushing the ground, giving the body the sensation of moving forward. This illustrates a key point of power loop: using the force generated by the body moving forward. Amateur players doing power loop usually know how to use the force generated by the turning of the waist of the body. They may even jump up in the process. The quality of their shots is high. However, their movement has one weakness: the incoming ball may have a short arc and may be weak or they may make a wrong judgment on where the ball lands. If this happens, they would not be able to use the power of the incoming ball. It would be hard to loop drive a ball with little incoming speed. This will greatly decrease their consistency and the quality of the shot. As a result, we must be firm on this: before we do forehand loop drive, we must stand slightly further away from the table. When we hit the ball, the body should move forward. This will provide a quality shot, at the same time allowing adjustment space and hence improve consistency.
At the moment of ball impact, increase the power forward, close the upper arm and control the ball arcing trajectory.
In theory, if you want to increase the power of the shot and increase the velocity of the ball, you must increase the force in the forward direction. Although many amateur players have a feel for this, they usually encounter some questions in practice: (1) Does more power mean more “impacting” (i.e. as opposed to brush-spinning the ball)? (2) Does power loop require wrist movement? (3) When you execute the power loop, how much do you need to close the forearm? For these questions, we can get some answers from Ma Long’s series of movements.
In Picture 5, Ma Long’s left foot started moving forward, body leaning forward, using the power generated by the body moving forward. We can see that Ma Long’s paddle angle is close but not by a lot. In Picture 6, Ma Long’s paddle angle stayed pretty much the same. It contacted the ball slightly lower than the upper middle part (I think that means slightly lower than 10:30 hour arm position). When you do forehand power loop, some brush-spinning is necessary. This is because the incoming ball has down spin and we need to overcome that. However, if you analyze the feel of a loop, impact (or hitting) should be more than brushing. This is because we need to increase the power and speed and increasing the impacting (or hitting) portion would produce better result. In addition, the amount of brushing depends on the spin and arc of the incoming ball. For incoming balls that are pushed over, the spin is usually not strong and we do not need to overly brush. When we power loop such balls, we need to hit the ball either at the highest point (after the bounce off the table) or just slightly before. If we brush the ball too much, the resulting arc will be too long and the ball will go out of the table. In Picture 5 and 6, Ma Long’s movement clearly demonstrates applying his power forward (instead of upward). This increased the power and speed of his return shot.
In Picture 4, we can see during Ma Long’s backswing, the wrist was bending outward. In Picture 7 and 8, Ma Long’s wrist was doing a slight inward hooking movement, which shows that he was using the wrist. When we are doing the power loop, because the impacting (or hitting) portion dominates, in order for us to produce more spin and better curvature in the ball trajectory (I think this refers to the loop drive ball’s signature dip before it lands), the wrist movement is a major key. When we move the wrist, the range of the movement should not be much. However, we need to make sure the movement is sudden. We need to release the explosive force of the wrist to increase the spin of the loop. The wrist is an augmenting force in the whole execution.
For Pictures 6-8, Ma Long’s forearm closing movement is obvious. The forearm closing is used to transmit the power of the body and control the length of the ball trajectory. When we close the forearm, we can divide the process into 2 steps – at the moment of contact with the ball, the forearm is just barely closed. We are using mainly the upper arm’s movement to apply the power. Immediately after contact, we greatly increase the forearm closure. This will decrease the forward power on the ball, at the same time suppressing the ball trajectory. This is an important point for looping close to the table.
Picture 9-10 shows Ma Long’s recovery process. His left foot was pushing the ground to prevent the body from leaning too much forward. At the same time, he relaxed his arm to recover. His whole body all this time retained a cohesive posture.
Forehand Loop Drive against Downspin
Forehand loop drive against downspin is a common form of attack. It is also one of the most destructive forehand techniques. Since it is forehand power drive, you should deploy it with power. In addition, from actual game considerations, you should also suppress the arcing trajectory of the ball and make sure the ball carries enough spin and cleverly vary the placements of your shots. All this will greatly enhance the effectiveness of your attack. However, during forehand power drive, many table tennis enthusiasts will pay too much attention to power, thereby exaggerating their body movements, causing arm and body to be out of sync. The result is that the power generated does not “flow” and the consistency of the attack will suffer greatly.
In the process of forehand power drive, the control of the ball arcing trajectory and the varying of the placement of the shots should be of foremost importance. Only after you have achieved consistency can you try to increase the “substance” (i.e. power) of the loop drive. In addition, even though power drive is very deadly, you still need to pay attention to your posture recovery. You need to control the span of your movements, maintain the stability of your center of gravity and be able to quickly return to your ready position.
Footwork must be good. During back swing, first determine accurately where the ball will be hit before you increase your movements.
In this group of pictures, Ma Long was attacking a down spin ball with his forehand. In Picture 1, Ma Long was moving from the backhand corner towards the forehand corner. His center of gravity was very low, legs were bent and upper body leaning quite a bit forward. His whole body was very cohesive. While he was making a straddle step to the right (i.e. left foot stationary and right foot making big step to the right), he was also doing his backswing. Therein lie two important elements: (1) The straddle step must be accurate and move the body to the correct position relative to the ball and hence provide him with the best position to hit the ball; (2) before he gets into position with his straddle step, he should keep his backswing small. This will allow him to relax the upper part of his body. This will in addition allow him to better handle balls that barely get out of the table or balls that stay within the table. After all, we sometimes do make mistakes in judgment and balls do sometimes net or hit the edge of the table. If the backswing stroke is too big or the body movement is too much, it would be hard to make adjustments.
One common problem for amateur players is they tend to overplay the power play. They would have neglected the correct rhythm in hitting the ball. They also would have difficulty in controlling their power.
In Picture 4, after Ma Long has reached his position, he increased his arm swing. His body started to turn towards the back, with arm fully stretched. His right foot was firmly pushing the ground, giving the body the sensation of moving forward. This illustrates a key point of power loop: using the force generated by the body moving forward. Amateur players doing power loop usually know how to use the force generated by the turning of the waist of the body. They may even jump up in the process. The quality of their shots is high. However, their movement has one weakness: the incoming ball may have a short arc and may be weak or they may make a wrong judgment on where the ball lands. If this happens, they would not be able to use the power of the incoming ball. It would be hard to loop drive a ball with little incoming speed. This will greatly decrease their consistency and the quality of the shot. As a result, we must be firm on this: before we do forehand loop drive, we must stand slightly further away from the table. When we hit the ball, the body should move forward. This will provide a quality shot, at the same time allowing adjustment space and hence improve consistency.
At the moment of ball impact, increase the power forward, close the upper arm and control the ball arcing trajectory.
In theory, if you want to increase the power of the shot and increase the velocity of the ball, you must increase the force in the forward direction. Although many amateur players have a feel for this, they usually encounter some questions in practice: (1) Does more power mean more “impacting” (i.e. as opposed to brush-spinning the ball)? (2) Does power loop require wrist movement? (3) When you execute the power loop, how much do you need to close the forearm? For these questions, we can get some answers from Ma Long’s series of movements.
In Picture 5, Ma Long’s left foot started moving forward, body leaning forward, using the power generated by the body moving forward. We can see that Ma Long’s paddle angle is close but not by a lot. In Picture 6, Ma Long’s paddle angle stayed pretty much the same. It contacted the ball slightly lower than the upper middle part (I think that means slightly lower than 10:30 hour arm position). When you do forehand power loop, some brush-spinning is necessary. This is because the incoming ball has down spin and we need to overcome that. However, if you analyze the feel of a loop, impact (or hitting) should be more than brushing. This is because we need to increase the power and speed and increasing the impacting (or hitting) portion would produce better result. In addition, the amount of brushing depends on the spin and arc of the incoming ball. For incoming balls that are pushed over, the spin is usually not strong and we do not need to overly brush. When we power loop such balls, we need to hit the ball either at the highest point (after the bounce off the table) or just slightly before. If we brush the ball too much, the resulting arc will be too long and the ball will go out of the table. In Picture 5 and 6, Ma Long’s movement clearly demonstrates applying his power forward (instead of upward). This increased the power and speed of his return shot.
In Picture 4, we can see during Ma Long’s backswing, the wrist was bending outward. In Picture 7 and 8, Ma Long’s wrist was doing a slight inward hooking movement, which shows that he was using the wrist. When we are doing the power loop, because the impacting (or hitting) portion dominates, in order for us to produce more spin and better curvature in the ball trajectory (I think this refers to the loop drive ball’s signature dip before it lands), the wrist movement is a major key. When we move the wrist, the range of the movement should not be much. However, we need to make sure the movement is sudden. We need to release the explosive force of the wrist to increase the spin of the loop. The wrist is an augmenting force in the whole execution.
For Pictures 6-8, Ma Long’s forearm closing movement is obvious. The forearm closing is used to transmit the power of the body and control the length of the ball trajectory. When we close the forearm, we can divide the process into 2 steps – at the moment of contact with the ball, the forearm is just barely closed. We are using mainly the upper arm’s movement to apply the power. Immediately after contact, we greatly increase the forearm closure. This will decrease the forward power on the ball, at the same time suppressing the ball trajectory. This is an important point for looping close to the table.
Picture 9-10 shows Ma Long’s recovery process. His left foot was pushing the ground to prevent the body from leaning too much forward. At the same time, he relaxed his arm to recover. His whole body all this time retained a cohesive posture.