Forehand topspin blade angle

[Quatro]

Been playing for about 1.5 years and happy with how I'm improving. However, I still struggle with the blade angle for topspin. From what I can tell, some players use more of a 45° angle while others (i.e. Ovtcharov) use a much more closed bat angle. Counterintuitively, I feel that the more closed I have the bat the more "feel" I get from the ball biting the rubber tough sometimes I get the ball into the net because of the lack of impact.

Any suggestions?

 

[omelet]

That is somewhat a consequence of grip issue:

If you do a FH oriented grip change (like Timo and Ochtarov do) it naturally closes the angle to 45 degrees on backswing and closes it further at the end of the stroke.

Most Chinese players also switch grips (watch in slow motion during rallies: ) but tend to stick to neutral grip for FH and switch back to BH grip for most other shots.

The reason the grip switch is needed is because the wrist flexion and extension is natural for Fh grip while doing FH and Bh grip for BH. Instead, if you keep the same BH grip for doing FHs, the wrist turns into radial and ulnar deviation which does allow you spin the ball but you lose speed because the latter radial/ulnar deviation is much slower than flexion/extension. You can of course force a close angle even with BH grip during FH but at that point you introduce muscle tension which again slows down the shot more.

My coach suggested I atleast switch to neutral grip for FH (like Ti Long talk about here at 4:30 min mark:

)

 

[Lazer]

I assume you are talking about when playing a little distance behind the table.
A lot of factors influence thus. You should attempt to hit the ball att highest point. Then your swing will be more horizontal. If you wait until the ball is lower your swing will be more upwards. More upwards and you will have to use a slightly more closed angle. The harder your swing is the more closed angle.

With practice this will come naturally. But if there is something wrong with your swing you need to fix this first.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[turbozed]

That is somewhat a consequence of grip issue:

If you do a FH oriented grip change (like Timo and Ochtarov do) it naturally closes the angle to 45 degrees on backswing and closes it further at the end of the stroke.

Most Chinese players also switch grips (watch in slow motion during rallies: ) but tend to stick to neutral grip for FH and switch back to BH grip for most other shots.

The reason the grip switch is needed is because the wrist flexion and extension is natural for Fh grip while doing FH and Bh grip for BH. Instead, if you keep the same BH grip for doing FHs, the wrist turns into radial and ulnar deviation which does allow you spin the ball but you lose speed because the latter radial/ulnar deviation is much slower than flexion/extension. You can of course force a close angle even with BH grip during FH but at that point you introduce muscle tension which again slows down the shot more.

My coach suggested I atleast switch to neutral grip for FH (like Ti Long talk about here at 4:30 min mark:

)

I always love seeing the genuine reactions to Ti Long's coaching from his students.

This guy seemed shocked at how much he was able to improve his forehand in just a coaching session. Obviously, doesn't mean that his FH problems are completely fixed, but sometimes it just takes knowing you can do it and getting the feel for it just once in order to really get over the hump.

You know Ti Long is a great coach just from the positive reactions of his students.