Harimoto forehand

[TensorBackhand]

What is it specifically that makes Harimoto's forehand kinda weak and prone to error?

One thing i see is that he hits a very parallel brushy stroke. He doesnt hit through the ball as much. Having said that, he is hardly alone in that regard.

Another thing is that his arm is bent through his entire swing. The best fh hitters start with straight arm and snap their forearm during the swing.

But thats just what it looks like to me. What do you think is causing him to have a weaker fh?

 

[Fantastic_Muffin_D]

He’s used to block a lot man. It’s becoming his natural habit. When you’re blocking, you hardly block with the straight arm and rely mainly on your core rotation.

 

[NextLevel]

It is the shift in playing distances from close to the table to away from the table which he doesn't do as fluidly and confidently as players who have been doing it far longer. But over time he will continue to improve.

 

[blahness]

What is it specifically that makes Harimoto's forehand kinda weak and prone to error?

One thing i see is that he hits a very parallel brushy stroke. He doesnt hit through the ball as much. Having said that, he is hardly alone in that regard.

Another thing is that his arm is bent through his entire swing. The best fh hitters start with straight arm and snap their forearm during the swing.

But thats just what it looks like to me. What do you think is causing him to have a weaker fh?

it's not that weak lol... he can generate a lot of power, significantly more than Mizutani ever could.

Imo his problem imo is that sometimes he goes crazy attacking and misses everything, or he then prioritises safety too much and then gets countered to death. He needs to find more of a balance between crazy attacking and playing too safe. Technically it is a solid FH for sure, powered by weight transfer and body rotation and a good amount of brushing.

There's some part of me that thinks he should transition from D05 to D09c on the FH to get more spin and dip in his top end attacking shots now that he has built up all the required muscles for a good FH. I'm also using D05 on FH and I'm starting to realise the issues too - the shot quality and stability at top end power is not as good as D09c. Furthermore, D05 is crap at the short game and D09c is just much better in this regard.

 

[tackyfh]

Something I notice about Harimoto's FH stroke: he gets to the ready position quite slow, thus harder to make a contact with the ball in front of his body, look at this pic below

I'm pretty sure that his center of mass is behind his leg and result in him having to have more upward motion, reduce the amount of forward force he can put in the ball.

Too much backswing, Harimoto can't incorporate his body into the shot enough and his arm ends up doing most of the work. This will make his arm stiffen up gradually and ended up inhibits the next FH shot, that's why you often see him lose in FH-FH rallies.

We can look at Fan ZD multiball traning against underspin and close table counter to see the difference

 

[zeio]

http://mytabletennis.net/forum/foru...5&title=the-end-of-the-harimoto-dream#1133295
Above is the link to the article after WTTC 2022 in which Tasei talks about asking Dong Qiwen to help Harimoto solve the issue of transitioning between FH and BH while moving around without losing the 打球点/ball hitting point, equivalent to 擊球點 in Chinese.

In the points below, notice the distance Harimoto needs to 帶/guide (counterhit before top of bounce by borrowing the incoming spin/speed) instead of 貼/paste (block with a forward motion). He is often forced to 貼 in the first few strokes before he can get the right 點/point to 帶 on FH and BH or 撕/rip on BH.

And that's how other players get him, by jamming him with deep balls to his FH when he expects a BH, on top of hitting to his crossover point. Therefore, it comes down to how well Harimoto can cope with the disruption to his impact point. At some point, there is simply no way to "protect" it and yet he refuses to budge, as Mizutani pointed out.

WTTC 2022 FZD vs Harimoto
https://youtu.be/3uPkcRroNoQ?t=0
https://youtu.be/3uPkcRroNoQ?t=480
https://youtu.be/3uPkcRroNoQ?t=551
https://youtu.be/3uPkcRroNoQ?t=598

WTT CS Macao 2022 Falck vs Harimoto, right after WTTC 2022
https://youtu.be/jW_vvLakIZ8?t=136
https://youtu.be/jW_vvLakIZ8?t=330
https://youtu.be/jW_vvLakIZ8?t=452
https://youtu.be/jW_vvLakIZ8?t=598

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Thinking out loud:

Would TH benefit from using super bouncy European rubber on his FH like MXP? Sit back relax and let the rubber do the job.....

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Thinking out loud:

Would TH benefit from using super bouncy European rubber on his FH like MXP? Sit back relax and let the rubber do the job.....

He would benefit more if he change coaches and hire TB/MZ

It is the first time in my life, that I am hearing WR4 (career high WR2) getting hammered every single day on TTD.
There was a guy called Kreanga, one of the best BH in the world - total non text book.
Aruna is total non textbook.
Even KLH - the founder of Chinese shakehand style is "weird" if you look back at it today.
Werner Schlager world champion - check him out. He can coach text book, but he doesn't play text book.

I know for certain, CNT respect HT way more than TB/MZ does.
HT may have his flaws, he could or can't over come, irrespective of now or the future, today HT is CNT's public enemy number one and the only player in 2 decades that took down both CNT no 1 and no 2 on the same day is called HT

Now, what will the next thread OP will start in regards with HT....

 

[Metaxa]

I still maintain, HT has a lack of responsiveness. This came up several times in his match against Lin. Weak response of RH > FH. It looks always of he is surprised.

 

[AchyGeorge]

What is it specifically that makes Harimoto's forehand kinda weak and prone to error?

I was shopping for some glue earlier on today and may have stumbled on the reason … Although I suppose it doesn’t say what he is using it for🤣

 

[zeio]

After Team World Cup 2019, Harimoto said in an interview that his FH had been underestimated up until then. 4 years later...

「自分のフォアはなめられていた」16歳エース張本智和の苦悩
https://dot.asahi.com/articles/-/119000
「今まで、自分のフォアはなめられていた。でも、『簡単にフォアに打ってはいけない』というイメージを（相手に）させることはできたのかな」

Check out his FH at World Cup 2020. Arguably the best FH-BH balance and speed/spin/power/agility in his career.
https://youtu.be/dpQmOotrh4A?t=146

張本智和・17歳、巣ごもり期間にフォーム大改造 全ては卓球で世界を獲るため
https://rallys.online/forplayers/harimoto-number202011/

 

[ben1229]

I don't see how weak he is, I just see the incoming ball super fast towards to his face.