Penhold Xu Xin vs Liu Guoliang Forehand

[XpingpingpongpongX]

I think overall this is a net good for the world. I am one of those players who "conformed" to shakehand just because everyone else played shakehand. It wasn't until my early twenties that I tried penhold and found it so much more natural and easier. I don't think I'm alone in this and I'm not convinced that the population of people born to be inclined to penhold is that small.

Funny thing is that people always said that penhold is limiting due to footwork and the difficulty in learning RPB. I found it the other way around; I couldn't do a backhand using shakehand for the life of me, meaning I had to be forehand-oriented with way more footwork using shakehand. Switching to penhold, the RPB angle is so natural and now being two-winged, I found that it solved all my problems, and an added bonus of a spinnier forehand too.

Yea, I think we are not just abandoning penhold, we are abandoning that style or philosophy. That is, if your backhand lacks power to attack, you can play a forehand dominating game with a smart backhand touch with good placements and variations. We can play with this style even in shakehand, with different techniques of course.

But in today's game, at least from what I am seeing, we just focus on attack. If your backhand lacks power, go to short pips to compensate your power, or use long pips/anti to just defend and wish most of your opponents can't handle your style.

 

[Azku]

The simple answer is personal preference. You do what feels natural to you.

Nowadays I prefer loose grip. I think loose grip is more important if you use TPB instead of RPB.