Idea of a new technique - hitting with your hand

[XpingpingpongpongX]

It's legal if the ball hits any area below the wrist of your racket hand. Can we intentionally hit the ball with the back of our hand? I think it would function like a defensive anti. This could cause big surprise if you use it once in a while.

It's just a random thought. Never actually try it. But is this feasible? legal? fair play?

 

[boretennis]

i'm actually surprised it's allowed to do that on purpose, apparently even with the back of your hand. of course it happened to me a few times by accident, that i missed and hit the ball with a finger, and if those land on the table they most often don't get returned. interesting thought to actually practise this, sort of like the infamous handle shot but even weirder.

 

[Tinykin]

The intention of the rule is that the ball hitting the hand accidentally is allowed.
It's the same as hitting the ball with the side of the racket. Again allowed when accidental.
The rule is written as it is because it is extremely difficult for an umpire to judge such occurrences.
It is expected that players understand this nuance and act accordingly. That's why when you sometimes see a fantastic shot, yet the player follows up with an apology to his/her opponent to indicate that the hit was accidental.

 

[pongguy69]

a possible future: once people exploit it, ittf bans it (as in: it is a violation, thus losing point), then we get cheese plays like in pickle ball where players will smash balls directly at people to force a point (makes for not fun and not good viewership).

 

[golden_son]

Despite the low mass, there's still quite a bit of energy on the ball especially closer to the table where a "shot" like this would be most effective. I've suffered more than a few welts from hitting--or being hit by--the ball with parts of my hand on accident; I can't imagine doing it intentionally.

 

[NextLevel]

It is extremely hard at a decent level to get an advantage hitting consistently with the hand, beyond serve, it is highly impractical. Anyone who masters it deserves their rewards.

 

[allencorn]

When serving, we used to call that an anti-skin serve. Pretty effective, though tough to do consistently.