Best forehand in the world ?

[phillypong]

Hm, so you are laughing at Maze and saying he has poor technique and therefore should not be the best, only to praise that Saive should be the best BECAUSE he has poor technique?

Seems legit...

I have to clarify indeed. The topic title is "Best FOREHAND in the world".
Saive's forehand was the best in the world, his backhand technique was mediocre.

Please watch

(birmingham 1994 against Waldner). There are other matches in this period of time where Saive destroyed ALL the competition , based on his forehand's monstrous powerplay.


By the way, is table tennis a big sport in South Africa ?

Saive's forehand completely destroyed Waldner, Saive even powerspinned Waldners serve, who was known for his excellent serves.
Waldner desperately tried to play into Saives backhand, he knew there was no chance of winning on Saives forehand.

Just look at the whole match and then ask yourself honestly, has there ever been a forehand that was that deadly fast and efficient ? A hint : 6:55.
I think Gatien came close with his forehand, also Ma Lin came close, Wang Liqin maybe, but Maze was never nowhere near.

And about Maze and his technique : just watch his (for pro player) poor footwork, jerking movements, not to be amazed he has so much injury problems.

 

[mahomedy13]

Its growing very fast in South Africa.I should say its 1 of the fastest growing sports here. Maybe Tony(from Tonys Table Tennis) can help me out here. He is more involved in training with future players and the national junior side.
Have to agree with you though-Saive's forehand was a machine-few can match that kind of capability

 

[paellota]

Guys, we are talking about forehand. Ok some will say that forehand lob still is a forehand, but I don't think it is the best way to win points in table tennis, it is just a way to save some desperate points, that's all. I am talking about top spin, or even push, but no lob, please.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Guys, we are talking about forehand. Ok some will say that forehand lob still is a forehand, but I don't think it is the best way to win points in table tennis, it is just a way to save some desperate points, that's all. I am talking about top spin, or even push, but no lob, please.

Thats not fair then, FH lob is a FH shot - espeically it is recorded in the ITTF coaching manual

How about FH chop then? As in a classical chopper's chop?

Another forehand shot is the forehand serve?

 

[Alborz]

Thats not fair then, FH lob is a FH shot - espeically it is recorded in the ITTF coaching manual

How about FH chop then? As in a classical chopper's chop?

Another forehand shot is the forehand serve?

I think it's better not to discuss about forehand serve here. Because players grip the bat different to playing serves comparing to playing other shots.

Anyway, i don't think Wang Liqin's forehand is/was the best forehand. He tries to hit the ball so hard but still his powerloops are not as fast as Wang Hao, Ma Long, Xu Xin, ...
For me Xu Xin, Wang Hao and Zhang Jike have more raw power than him. Also i think Wang Liqin is overrated.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I think it's better not to discuss about forehand serve here. Because players grip the bat different to playing serves comparing to playing other shots.


Anyway, i don't think Wang Liqin's forehand is/was the best forehand. He tries to hit the ball so hard but still his powerloops are not as fast as Wang Hao, Ma Long, Xu Xin, ...
For me Xu Xin, Wang Hao and Zhang Jike have more raw power than him.

Hm... few things I think I want to debate with you here.

The grip - is different to not just serves, but to ways FH shot and BH shot are executed. This applies to within the Cpens, Jpens and Shakehands. I did not name the other grips.
I don't think you should take grip into consideration. As you didn't compare Timo Boll's grip's FH shot, VS ZJK grip's FH shot or WLQ grip for example, so now why are you mentioning grip in Serves? Surely how one holds the bat or what ever other process being done is not the debate here, but rather the ultimate end result?

I can also understand why you put Ma Long and Xu Xin into the "top FH" category, but I am really suprised you included Wang Hao... His FH is weaker than the other top Chinese players in his era, and for sure weaker than Wang Liqin by far. This is simply because his Cpen grip is more a BH/RPB oriented grip, thus is FH is weaker than other Cpen in his era, and weaker to the top shakehand forehand players.

I also think you under estimate Wang Liqin's forehand ability.

 

[Alborz]

Hm... few things I think I want to debate with you here.

The grip - is different to not just serves, but to ways FH shot and BH shot are executed. This applies to within the Cpens, Jpens and Shakehands. I did not name the other grips.
I don't think you should take grip into consideration. As you didn't compare Timo Boll's grip's FH shot, VS ZJK grip's FH shot or WLQ grip for example, so now why are you mentioning grip in Serves? Surely how one holds the bat or what ever other process being done is not the debate here, but rather the ultimate end result?

I can also understand why you put Ma Long and Xu Xin into the "top FH" category, but I am really suprised you included Wang Hao... His FH is weaker than the other top Chinese players in his era, and for sure weaker than Wang Liqin by far. This is simply because his Cpen grip is more a BH/RPB oriented grip, thus is FH is weaker than other Cpen in his era, and weaker to the top shakehand forehand players.

I also think you under estimate Wang Liqin's forehand ability.

Ok, I think discussing about serves here will make it very confusing. Anyway there is no rule to ban you from doing this

About Wang Hao, Just see his match against Ma Long at 2013 WTTC. He was winning so many points by powerlooping Ma Long pushes and he surely have so much raw power there. I'm not saying his FH is better than Ma Long or Wang Liqin. I'm saying he has more raw power.
Also Wang Liqin's forehand short game is pretty weak. Weaker than Xu Xin and Wang Hao. That is why he lost to Wang Hao in 2004 Olympics. Wang Hao just serve to his forehand and Liqin returns the balls long and Wang Hao smash them.

Also Wang Liqin forehand serves are not good serves at all. Probably the weakest in CNT.

 

[ttmonster]

Wang Liqin ( Best forehand in terms of power ), Ma Lin ( Best Forehand opening loop) , Wang Hao ( Quickest forehand in terms of speed ) .. and thats how it is ... the rest are just also rans

 

[Anders]

I have to clarify indeed. The topic title is "Best FOREHAND in the world".
Saive's forehand was the best in the world, his backhand technique was mediocre.

Please watch

(birmingham 1994 against Waldner). There are other matches in this period of time where Saive destroyed ALL the competition , based on his forehand's monstrous powerplay.


By the way, is table tennis a big sport in South Africa ?

Saive's forehand completely destroyed Waldner, Saive even powerspinned Waldners serve, who was known for his excellent serves.
Waldner desperately tried to play into Saives backhand, he knew there was no chance of winning on Saives forehand.

Just look at the whole match and then ask yourself honestly, has there ever been a forehand that was that deadly fast and efficient ? A hint : 6:55.
I think Gatien came close with his forehand, also Ma Lin came close, Wang Liqin maybe, but Maze was never nowhere near.

And about Maze and his technique : just watch his (for pro player) poor footwork, jerking movements, not to be amazed he has so much injury problems.

You really can't say Saive has the best forehand based on that video.. If that is the case, then Waldner should be entitled the best backhand ever because of the Olympic final in 1992.. I agree, the forehand of Saive was really good at that time, but not amongst the best ever.. Waldner may be considered amongst the top three most important forehands ever, because he developed the forehand part of the game with his unique technique. But I don't think we really can debate the best forehand for real if we can't measure it in some ways, like most effective or something like that

 

[ColoArbuet]

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[Burns]

So for this topic, it's very difficult to determine who has the best technique, ie FH, BH, flick, block... because it isn't testable, or at least easily testable.
The best way to test a specific skill would be to eliminate other influences of other skill sets that could impact the skill your testing. For example, footwork would impact a players ability to play a forehand.
So you could set up a robot and have it shoot X number of balls to the same spot, and have the players that you are testing return forehand shots and compare results.
You would have lots of data to sample from, number of balls returned, average speed, top speed, min speed, and momentum. Then spin, and height of the loop.
Then even with all that controlled data, how would qualify it. What would make one player's forehand better than another's?
Categorically you could say, this player has the fastest forehand, or the most consistent, but the overall skill of a forehand would be difficult to say.

However, could say which players have the best overall skill. The top 10 list is a decent representation of it.
But if you match 2 players against each other in X number of games, the better player will win more games. The more games that get played the more evident it will become who the better player is. Then you will also have a numerical representation of a players skill compared to each other, that is testable and can easily be repeated for verification.

 

[mahomedy13]

The best forehand will vary on the person deciding. for eg. A chopper will decide who is the best chopper/which chopper has the best forehand etc.
at the end of the day, its each persons own opinion.no 1 can ever be right or wrong

 

[DDF2]

Imo in todays pro table tennis ma long has the best forehand. His strokes are in terms of speed, spin and control just abnormal.

 

[mahomedy13]

Imo in todays pro table tennis ma long has the best forehand. His strokes are in terms of speed, spin and control just abnormal.

No doubt about it being 1 of the best. Ma Long has done very well for himself

 

[TT4Life]

U cant being #1 in the world for a few yrs in a row and not known for the Super Fh Ma Long lolz .

 

[mahomedy13]

U cant being #1 in the world for a few yrs in a row and not known for the Super Fh Ma Long lolz .

Being first doesnt always mean having the best forehand.Tactics,mental strength etc are all important factors

 

[TT4Life]

But FH win the most points % wise and the most important lolz

 

[Tommy.G]

This isnt even a question. Jan Ove Waldner any day of the year. He can hit forehands till new year. Probably the fastest forehand ive seen and his technique is by far the best. He has the best timing amd can hit forehands from anywhere. Although I believe he had an amazing backhand and many people may disagree but he could win a game with his forehand alone. By far the best forehand.

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[Tommy.G]

Plus waldner has probably won the highest percentage of shots on his forehand than any other player. Also the trajectory of his shots were very long and spiny which makes them hard to block

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[izra]

power on an average forehand loop - wang liqin. his nickname on the chinese national team was "great power" because he could hit his forehands with great power consistently, with good placement and recovery.

third ball attack - ma lin.

ryu seung min is a combination of the two, following them closely in both areas.

ma long probably hits the fastest forehands on average. similar to wang liqin, but with more speed, less spin and a little less placement.

best placement - waldner.

zhang jike has a very explosive forehand but doesn't play it very often to his full force.

wang hao is very consistent with great spin, also sometimes plays amazing close to table forehands.


i would say wang liqin and ma lin have the best forehands of all time, building their games mainly on the forehand shot. wang liqin relying on overpowering his opponents and ma lin on his third ball attacks.