Best FH in the world at the moment?

[ttmonster]

As long as Wang Liqin is alive ( does not have to play ) , he is the best FH in the world at the moment

 

[suds79]

As long as Wang Liqin is alive ( does not have to play ) , he is the best FH in the world at the moment

Ha. Nice. Like the angle you were there. Although I think we should add that we didn't get to see his FH with the plastic ball. If we're doing the people still alive game, there's a lot of people who could be in the running in the 38mm era.

But I digress. I'll put in my vote for that it's still Xu Xin. Despite an inconsistent backhand his entire career, he's still essentially the 3rd best player in the world which should tell you something about just how dominate that FH is. He takes it.

Around the net. Too much spin forcing opponent to block it long. Hook? fade? There's really nothing he can't do with it.

 

[ttmonster]

I don't want to start a fire ... but what I have witnessed is even just before he retired , nobody could win FH to FH against WL , be it ZJK or ML or Xu Xin or Fang Bo or whoever , all of them won their matches by switching to BH to BH ... or FH to BH in Xu's case

Ha. Nice. Like the angle you were there. Although I think we should add that we didn't get to see his FH with the plastic ball. If we're doing the people still alive game, there's a lot of people who could be in the running in the 38mm era.

But I digress. I'll put in my vote for that it's still Xu Xin. Despite an inconsistent backhand his entire career, he's still essentially the 3rd best player in the world which should tell you something about just how dominate that FH is. He takes it.

Around the net. Too much spin forcing opponent to block it long. Hook? fade? There's really nothing he can't do with it.

 

[zeio]

Although, harimoto can be a contender already adding to that.

Harimoto has the best FH perhaps if you phrase it "who has the best FH ranked in the Top 10 who's U15."

You folks seriously need to hear what Kurashima said right in the face of Harimoto at the Korean Open.

 

[shinshiro]

Best FH now for me it is XX. Hard to beat him on FH-FH rallies.

As long as Wang Liqin is alive ( does not have to play ) , he is the best FH in the world at the moment

I think we can also include Ryu Seung Min in that category too.

 

[zeio]

At the moment,

ML has the best FH in terms of 3rd ball. LGL wrote once in his Table Tennis World column that ML's 3rd ball is better than MLin.

LGL's opinion in 2011
http://sports.sohu.com/20110621/n310955653.shtml

　　马龙的特点是非常全面，好的时候哪儿都好，但是到了关键时刻，他缺少“核武器”，缺少致命的杀手锏。马龙始终给人一种与人保持距离的感觉，能让对手施展开。其实马龙的前三板比马琳好，但是在大赛当中，他前三板的优势就体现不出来。平时他的攻防是最全面的，但是到大赛时防守总是虚的。他的头脑、手感、战术意识是强项，他现在要做的是一定要算计在别人前，想着怎么能把别人锁在他的圈里。光考虑自己打着舒服不行，应该是先让别人难受。

ML's opinion in 2012
http://www.ctsports.com.cn/2012/08/09/12281551499.html

马龙说：“自己相对来说进入状态比较快，属于前三板型，自己跟两年前相比已经有了进步，可能在关键时刻把握上，包括心态上有很大的提高，教练放心的让我打第一场。”

XX has the best FH in terms of handling topspin shots out of all penholders in CNT's history. Wu Jingping said this.

http://mytabletennis.net/forum/foru...le=esteemed-coach-why-put-me-in-charge-of-him

XX has good talent. He is very strong in topsin exchanges, whom I believe is the greatest inverted penholder in handling topspin shots in the history of CNT. Also, XX is tall, has a huge wingspan, has got a good touch and outstanding physique. However, his style could use more aggression. He wins mostly by his coping ability and he is adept at clinging to his opponent, giving rise to his nickname "the boa".

 

[ttmonster]

His FH was awesome and it was his only shot , his BH block was good but it was mostly defensive when push came to shove, he will be known for the quickest footwork every which helped him to play his FH from everywhere , but WLQ would blast holes in his opponents ... look at this response from Waldner ...

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/showthread.php?1850-Waldner-interview!!

Q:I will now ask that you design the ultimate player. I have listed a number of Strokes and qualities below. Pick the player you think is Outstanding for each loop of the thesis and we Will see what we end up with.
Forehand loop, opening: Ma Lin; forehand loop, in open play: Wang Liqin; forehand flick: Damien Eloi, That was a bit unexpected, wasn 't it? backhand loop: Rosskopf, particularly against backspin. Otherwise Kreanga; backhand flick: Wang Hao, over the table. It was unreal; Defensive play: Vladimir Samsonov; Footwork: Ryu Seung Min; Ball sense Mikael Appelgren; Reading the game: Jan-Ove Waldner; Tactics: Jan-Ove Waldner; Serve: Liu Guoliang; Returns: Jörgen Persson Physique Christophe Legout; Attitude Wang Liqin;..

Best FH now for me it is XX. Hard to beat him on FH-FH rallies.



I think we can also include Ryu Seung Min in that category too.

 

[FruitLoop]

Xu Xin. Absolutely ridiculous. Watch him destroy choppers and his away from table loops. Only one close is Ma Long imo.

 

[RidTheKid]

I seriously wonder how this can be a debate. But here is the answer anyway:

https://www.facebook.com/t2apac/videos/204547827124921/

 

[usualsuspect]

I feel like we should clarify what we are arguing about. Counterlooping and strong FH are not exactly the same. Counterlooping is more about timing and borrowing power from your opponent, so physically weaker players can be good at counterlooping, like Lin Gaoyuan and Harimoto.
I think players with truly strong FH can consistently create powerful opening shots with their FH. My reasoning is that in the initial attack, the attacker must supply most of the power and spin.
Ma Long's forehand is good. Among the CNT, Ma Long is more known for his counterlooping ability than for his power. So by my standard, Ma Long does not have the strongest FH.
In terms of pure power and spin, I think XX's FH is probably superior to Ma Long. However, I think FZD's FH is probably the most powerful. To prove my point, just watch any of FZD's match from this year and count how many opening FH kills he has. I bet FZD's percentage on opening FH kills is higher than anyone else's.
Someone mentioned XX is great against choppers, but so is FZD. Case in point, 2018 WTTTC Sweden FZD vs. Ruwen Filus. FZD pulverized most of Filus's backspin shots with is FH.

 

[anchorschmidt]

I think that the best all-round Forehand goes to Ma Long. There is no stroke that Ma Long cannot play extremely well with his forehand. Ma Long's forehand for me is like an updated version of Waldner's forehand. Xu xin definitely has the most powerful forehand. Fan Zhendong and Timo Boll are at their heels. Fan Zhendong has amazing footwork and is able to put so much quality into any stroke he plays and Timo is the King of the forehand counterloop (even though his opening loop has lost a bit of its venom in the plastic ball era)

 

[Loopadoop]

Xu Xin

 

[Lightzy]

Ma Long for variation and control
FZD for raw power
XuXin for "wtf was that", but xu xin can't really use all that against FZD and Ma Long

 

[RidTheKid]

You should all watch (or re-watch) the clip from the WTTC2018 practice. Ma Long hits several fh that should be extremely hard to pull off even once. He hits the ball BELOW the edge of the table with a full power stroke and still lands the ball on the table. Maybe you have no idea how hard that is to do. It's almost conflicting with the laws of nature. Ma Long simply doesn't only have the greatest fh of the present, but of all time.

 

[tropical]

ML .... ML can do FH in almost any scenario and give the opponents hard time to counter. Best way to answer this dumb question perhaps is counting in a game how many FH winners are averagely per player. This may eliminate all concerns about when, type of balls, style, etc.

 

[yogi_bear]

I never said he has the best forehand. Please backread. I said it is either ma long or zjk who has the best forehand. I only added that hari can be a contender. Him using his backhand more does not make his forehand weak.

Yogi you've lost this one. Harimoto is a top 10 backhand dominant player the number 2(reality 3) xu xin has only a forehand on the world stage and is better than him. If Hari has a better forehand and backhand then he would regularly best xu. Imho even fzd doesn't have as good a forehand as XX but almost as good and a waaay better bh. So if th has the better forehand he should be vying for top dog.
My answer. Xu xin has best forehand for killing and soft touch but he is often out of position trying to cover whole table with it.
Ma long is the only other person who can do the same shots as XX but with less sidespin. Fzd is amazing but he doesn't often place the ball on the short edge when it's hard to do like the others

 

[yogi_bear]

Yes you are contradicting yourself clearly. It is clearly different when you say he cannot do counter loops to he rarely uses it and then even claiming he just do soft blocks in his forehand which is funny because in the video you posted it also showed him doing counterloops. If i count he points he won due to his forehand including counterloops and not blocks those were a good amount of forehand points.

Please tell me these are weak soft blocks in his forehand.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sh0QRglzyQk

I'm not contradicting anything. I said that this year Harimoto has rarely played fh counterloops and that last year he used to do more counterloops using the video as an example. I'm not sure what's so hard to understand here.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Yes you are contradicting yourself clearly. It is clearly different when you say he cannot do counter loops to he rarely uses it and then even claiming he just do soft blocks in his forehand which is funny because in the video you posted it also showed him doing counterloops. If i count he points he won due to his forehand including counterloops and not blocks those were a good amount of forehand points.

Please tell me these are weak soft blocks in his forehand.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sh0QRglzyQk

Yogi, you actually need to do a better job of reading. You misunderstood what he said. And what he said was clear.

 

[Der_Echte]

It has to be ma long or zjk imho.

Aunt Jamima.

 

[Der_Echte]

Oh ok. Now harimoto cannot do counterloops for fh? I think you are the one joking. A top 10 ranking player cannot do a counterloop?. Anyway, i never said he has the best forehand. I said he can be a contender.

Damn well said and you were first to the post...

Harimoto may not use a FH counterloop for every occasion, but he can do it and he wouldn't be World Class WR 10 if he couldn't. He has other things about his game (quickness of shot) that help his shot quality over pure power of speed/spin.