Who has the world's best backhand?

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I love ZJK.
Persson is great
Waldner was great at placing the ball on the Backhand.
DO has a great backhand, but maybe too reliant on it?

What about A. Grubba?

Waldner and Samsonov must have the best backhand when it comes to the block in my opinion! :)
 
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Carl, don't DIVERT the Philly Goon Squad on Tareq for forgetting about how BOTH NL and DE posted vids of themselves on his thread... Heck, I forgot about it myself.

One thing though... NL is Philly based and isn't harrased by the Goon Squad and Next Level uses some rubbers on the Goon Squad hit list..

COULD it be that Next Level took evading and BAITING the Goon Squad to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL and never went public with it yet? Maybe Nexy Level has a bunch of HILARIOUS vids of the Goon Squads in compromising situations and is saving them to enhance his retirement income ???

Let's not sell NL short, maybe he is a whole NEXT LEVEL of bad-ass we haven't seen yet. Maybe he wants it that way.

Dude, where's my car?
 
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kreanga has the most spectacular backhand for sure. but i also like the short spinny agressive move from fan zhendong when he is flipping nearly every serve
 
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Next to ZJK, Crisan, Karakasevic, Ovtcharov, Mattenet and Maze one name comes in my mind that is really really unbalanced towards his backhand (and most likely has the worst forehand I have seen of a top 200 player): Vitaly Nekhvedovich.
 
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Like I wrote before Waldner and Samsonov maybe got the safest block with best placement. And Persson and Kreanga got the hardest. It's hard to say whats defines the "best" backhand but I think placement is high on the list.

Yes, if i have to choose one of those then i will go with placement or more control with backhand, we all can hit hard or fast or strong with backhand, but how many times can we make those on table of opponents?
 
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Well, best backhand (stroke) is a too broad class. I prefer to narrow it down. :)

Bh:
- block, Waldner, with Samsonov in close 2nd
- drive. Kreanga, and several Fukuhara class Japan player, Ito Mima, “Japan Prodegee forgot His name”, etc
- chop. Matsushita Koji, and off course, Angelica Rozeanu
- loop, Wang Hao, with Zhang Jike in close 2nd. For the defensive one, Stephane Ouaiche come to mind.
- lob, Jean Michael Saive
 
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Well, best backhand (stroke) is a too broad class. I prefer to narrow it down. :)

Bh:
- block, Waldner, with Samsonov in close 2nd
- drive. Kreanga, and several Fukuhara class Japan player, Ito Mima, “Japan Prodegee forgot His name”, etc
- chop. Matsushita Koji, and off course, Angelica Rozeanu
- loop, Wang Hao, with Zhang Jike in close 2nd. For the defensive one, Stephane Ouaiche come to mind.
- lob, Jean Michael Saive

This is the best post i read here, this explain better about different backhand style and which player of each style, and i am sure they are can play all those styles, but to each is his/her own
 
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I think the question of best BH is gunna require a lot of context (as there are many different BH shots) and discernment of how it helps/hurts the overall game of the player.

I have been using Kim Jung Hoon's BH school of thought close to the table and even for amature players, I think it is a good idea.

His BH topspin close to the table is basically a very solid struck drive (very forward stroke) without a ton of topspin, but if time is afforded, then can incorporate more wrist & spin.

The advantages of KJH's BH are: it is very compact, easy to consistently strike the ball in the strike zone, easy to repeat, easy to recover and reset/be ready, and make variations.

I use a totally different BH for BH looping underspin and flips, but Kim Jung Hoon's concepts for the close to table BH are very sound and amature players could apply them to their game close to the table.
 
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Since there are a lot of different areas of the backhand you could rate I think that in terms of the best Backhand Block I'd have to go with the Mozart of tabletennis J.O. Waldner, slightely ahead of Samsonov and Primorac.

When I look at who has the most powerful backhand I can't pick one out of those four as the number one: Schlager, Kreanga, Rosskopf, Ovtcharov.

Playing the backhand over the table I like Zhang Jike, Ovtcharov and Mattenet.

Overall I think Zhang Jike has the best backhand in my opinion with Kreanga as a close second and Oh Sang Eun, who is a pretty underrated player in my opinion, as the 3rd ranked on my list.
 
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I used to ust think that it was zjk, but then I watched persson and he has an epic bh smash too. my top 3 probably goes:

1) Zhang Jike

2) Jorgen Persson

3) Xu Xin (yes I know he is penhold but for some reason I could watch his bh all day!)

Anyway, who have your fave bhs?

I am glad you mentioned Persson. He could do everything with his BH it is possible to do in table tennis and it was steady as a rock. Overall, when you consider strength on that side of the table with every type of shot -- drive, push, return, block, loop, smash, fish, it is hard to top Persson, even if it rarely looked spectacular like, say Kreanga. (By comparison, for example, Waldner almost never looped with his BH). In the current generation of players there are so many amazing backhands it is hard to pick just one or two. That aspect of the game has really taken another step in the last few years with players like ZJK, FZD, Ovtcharov and so many others. Also, you have to mention Wang Hao. Greatest penhold BH ever, totally revolutionized the sport.
 
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