Backhand or Forehand

[karan705]

What do u guys prefer to play backhand or forehand? I personally cant decide.

 

[Archosaurus]

Isn't it really dependent on what ball your opponent gives you?

Or do you seemiller forehand everything to your backhand wing?

 

[thekleifheit13]

My guess is most people will say forehand because it's usually the first people learn. Then you get awkward and uneducated lefties like me that would rather control things with the backhand until we get a chance to hit something hard. Working on changing that but for now I'd still prefer my backhand.

 

[ttmonster]

Depends on the ball, but if you mean what would you preferably setup to play , backhand most of the time because it means less footwork and keeps you in position , but then again it all depends .. I don't want to run around and play backhand from the forehand side or forehand from the backhand side but I would try to set up the ball in a way so that when I initiate my first attack and follow up I don't have to move too much

 

[varik]

FH, my BH wing is a lil´broken

 

[thekleifheit13]

It seems like more strategic players prefer the backhand because blocking is easier and that allows you to control the game. But power-oriented players usually prefer forehand (except your Kreangas) since you can get a bigger moment arm and swing harder.

 

[Ilia Minkin]

I'm slowly coming to accepting that my BH loop is a way "natural" stroke for me and I have to play a very backhand-oriented game.

 

[ttmonster]

Lets just say its easier to generate optimal , power , spin and placement and still remain in position on the backhand. Also, backhand is more deceptive than forehand so its easier to deceive your opponent on the placement . Thats one of the good reasons why its better to have a shorter stroke , because it gives less clues to where you are doing ... now kreanga is a different beast. Most PROs are way way above our levels to even compare and generalize .

It seems like more strategic players prefer the backhand because blocking is easier and that allows you to control the game. But power-oriented players usually prefer forehand (except your Kreangas) since you can get a bigger moment arm and swing harder.

 

[NextLevel]

I'm slowly coming to accepting that my BH loop is a way "natural" stroke for me and I have to play a very backhand-oriented game.

I got to usatt 2000 as a BH oriented player who developed my forehand mostly to make people not just play lousy shots there to win points. Just pointing it out in case you think for some reason this is a seriously limiting thing.

 

[Ilia Minkin]

There is another advantage of BH. With forehand, you hit on the side, so it is very difficult to watch your opponent with peripheral vision and make a good placement decision. With practice it gets better, but it is not easy. While with backhand you always have a great panoramic view of the situation, and you can choose the best placement in the last moment. Going to hit crosscourt, see your opponent stepping around early to counterattack -- hit the winner down the line. It is much harder to do that with forehand.

 

[NextLevel]

I enjoy playing forehands more but my backhand is my stronger and higher level side. If I win a match, it is almost always by dominating the opponent's backhand.

 

[NextLevel]

My guess is most people will say forehand because it's usually the first people learn. Then you get awkward and uneducated lefties like me that would rather control things with the backhand until we get a chance to hit something hard. Working on changing that but for now I'd still prefer my backhand.

Your issue is more an adult and footwork and height problem and less a leftie problem. Taking the ball besides you is not easy once you are a certain height with long arms. The forehand is the more powerful stroke in general so it has premium place in table tennis, but the backhand has its strengths as well.

 

[Ilia Minkin]

I got to usatt 2000 as a BH oriented player who developed my forehand mostly to make people not just play lousy shots there to win points. Just pointing it out in case you think for some reason this is a seriously limiting thing.

Well, there is no doubt that BH-oriented game can be succesfull. There are many top players that are much happier to play their BH, than their FH. I was just dreaming of building a very FH oriented style, because it looks very flashy, just to find that backhand game is more natural for me. Interestingly, I think that I've invested disproportionally more time into developing my forehand, yet many people independently keep telling me than my BH is better than my FH. Nuts!

 

[thekleifheit13]

@NextLevel
Being a lefty learning basement ping pong against righties, especially without footwork, definitely didn't help me there. But I agree that long arms and awkwardness add a lot of difficulty to it. Also, I'm only 5'8 but my wingspan is around 6' so it's definitely tougher to see the ball put away from my body like that. Interested to see what others say on this FH/BH debate though.

 

[thekleifheit13]

Interestingly, I think that I've invested disproportionally more time into developing my forehand, yet many people independently keep telling me than my BH is better than my FH. Nuts!

Exactly the same here. Kinda makes you wonder where your BH would be if you focused more on it, doesn't it? Maybe it'd be worse since you may have deprogrammed your instinctual strokes though, nobody knows

 

[NextLevel]

Well, there is no doubt that BH-oriented game can be succesfull. There are many top players that are much happier to play their BH, than their FH. I was just dreaming of building a very FH oriented style, because it looks very flashy, just to find that backhand game is more natural for me. Interestingly, I think that I've invested disproportionally more time into developing my forehand, yet many people independently keep telling me than my BH is better than my FH. Nuts!

The investment is necessary. Opponents with coaches know where to tell their students to get points. So if the disparity is too large, you may never get the shots you want. For a huge part of last year, I was arguably a forehand player. I have played players even up to USATT 2200 who I would absolutely destroy in return of serve and rallies if they played to my backhand. So their coaches immediately told them to play my forehand. What you want is a good enough forehand that people will still need to put a quality ball there and just just anything, especially a good down the line or middle placement so that you can force backhand rallies quickly. I have worked on my forehand much more than my backhand over the years and I finally got it to a point I am happy with it - the issues are not as much the base stroke as my ability to deploy it because of knee issues.

 

[Baal]

If your mobility is reduced, the best thing you can do is improve your BH, so you can play more in the center of the table. Part of the reason Primorac was able to stay at such a high level so long.

But you don't want either side to be a complete liability. For me, FH was always more natural, but not so much anymore.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

For analyzing this, watching a few matches between Ma Long and Zhang Jike to see how things play out. It would be worth making it 50% matches that each win. And it would also be worth making it matches that go to 7 rather than blowouts.

Ma Long is an FH dominant player with a very good BH. And ZJK is a BH dominant player with and excellent FH.

You will be able to see some trends and patterns in how ZJK tries to pin ML on BH wing and how sometimes he is successful and sometimes he is not. And how ML works to make the open rallies more open, sometimes he is successful and sometimes he is not as successful.

I know, it is an over-simplification but it is worth examining how they play each other in those tight matches where either player could have pulled out the victory.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

 

[NextLevel]

Exactly the same here. Kinda makes you wonder where your BH would be if you focused more on it, doesn't it? Maybe it'd be worse since you may have deprogrammed your instinctual strokes though, nobody knows

Reprogramming instinctual strokes is not a bad thing. The strokes that made my backhand great when I was 1400 almost never show up in my game today except vs pips players sometimes. But my overall feel for the backhand has not changed.

 

[Shuki]

As of more recently I've become more balanced, neither a backhand or forehand dominant player. It really depends on my mood against a player. I'm told when I'm playing more of a forehand game I'm scary to play against, but then I've also been told that when I'm playing a more backhand dominant game it's harder to read me and nothing seems to get by.