What helped you get better at backhand rallying?

[AutomaticBackhand]

I am curious about what things have helped you with your backhand rallying.
Technique / footwork wise.
Maybe certain cues that helped get some things right.

To make it clear: My BH is not weak, my technique is decent/good, most people appreciate my BH, but against certain oppoents / in certain situations I am seeing patterns of issues
My backhand is strong as 3rd ball attack, against backspin, finishing points and playing with spin, but my weakness is a combination of footwork + rallies where my opponent opens up with a slower / less powerful ball and I need to keep up with that.
Or when the rhythm changes and I need to change the pace / adjust timing - when the ball comes a little slower / a little faster / higher / lower etc.

I would appreciate to hear what things have helped you get better at it, apart from the obvious things like "practice", multiball etc. .

Maybe certain things that made it "click" for you or get it right.


My equipment is: Harimoto Super ALC + Battle 3 40 + Battle 3 38
This racket is the best one I could play with so far, really good feeling, power, arc, spin, safety and most importantly confidence and ability to know what I can do and what I can't do.


For example: The "cue" that helped me the most with my forehand was using my wrist more.
Weight transfer, footwork, etc. was good, but pulling back the wrist and adding it to the movement was the final touch and that made it work properly.

 

[Zezima]

Knowing when to drive the ball just back and when you need to give the ball more topspin.
Once in the rally I make sure I don't use a lot of force upwards even though I take the ball sometimes late when its falling again.

Most people I see just topspin upwards and the ball flys out especially if I give them even just a little bit topspin.

Understanding how to apply spin with a forwards stroke instead of upwards was the key for me. And sometimes it's just better to hit it more flat and fast - remember the spin of the ball doesn't matter if your opponent doesn't have the time to hit the ball (properly)

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I have just spent two months working on my BH through drills: Open ups & drive. Also I made a conscious effort to play more BH during game play.

 

[cytivrat]

Answering the question, it was combination of 5-6 training videos. I doubt that I'll find them now, but they were:

• some Chinese guy talking about triangle when making backhand
• Shmyrev talking on some master class about where head of the racket must point
• Zhang Jike saying that he prefers side contact rather than straight into the ball and that long ball can be dealt by simply moving left leg farther from the table instead of jumping or attacking completely out of position
• Khanak Jha saying that he also prefers not straight contact but a little bit at side of the ball
• some short video on youtube where some girl was showing start postion and end position of the bh loop
• Set Peth with his thoughts how he can deal with short balls

All that somehow combined in my head and bh is definitely much more stable in a rally now + a lot of practice on a table, couple of robot session feeding higher and slower balls, and shadow practice sometimes with racket and sometimes with tiny dumbbell.

But if you have problems when rhythm changes, then I'm not really sure that something except obvious practice can be the answer here. If someone can feed you balls with different spin/speed regularly.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

practice, a lot of practice... and guidance with good coaches too..

 

[Amayzde]

Rallies where my opponent opens up with a slower / less powerful ball and I need to keep up with that.
Or when the rhythm changes and I need to change the pace / adjust timing - when the ball comes a little slower / a little faster / higher / lower etc.

What exactly goes wrong when your opponent plays this very slow ball? I can list 100 solutions, but it would be easier if I know what happens.

 

[Dr Evil]

...

• Zhang Jike saying that he prefers side contact rather than straight into the ball...
• Khanak Jha saying that he also prefers not straight contact but a little bit at side of the ball

A coach gave me this advice and it improved my rallying on the spot. I think it encourages longer contact time and a feeling of holding or wrapping around the ball.

 

[AutomaticBackhand]

A coach gave me this advice and it improved my rallying on the spot. I think it encourages longer contact time and a feeling of holding or wrapping around the ball.

Answering the question, it was combination of 5-6 training videos. I doubt that I'll find them now, but they were:

• some Chinese guy talking about triangle when making backhand
• Shmyrev talking on some master class about where head of the racket must point
• Zhang Jike saying that he prefers side contact rather than straight into the ball and that long ball can be dealt by simply moving left leg farther from the table instead of jumping or attacking completely out of position
• Khanak Jha saying that he also prefers not straight contact but a little bit at side of the ball
• some short video on youtube where some girl was showing start postion and end position of the bh loop
• Set Peth with his thoughts how he can deal with short balls

All that somehow combined in my head and bh is definitely much more stable in a rally now + a lot of practice on a table, couple of robot session feeding higher and slower balls, and shadow practice sometimes with racket and sometimes with tiny dumbbell.

But if you have problems when rhythm changes, then I'm not really sure that something except obvious practice can be the answer here. If someone can feed you balls with different spin/speed regularly.

What exactly is meant by that?
Contacting on the side like you do for a banana flick but in the rallies instead?
Or only for the down the line where you hit the ball on its right side as a right handed player?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

follow the line of the ball

 

[Dr Evil]

What exactly is meant by that?
Contacting on the side like you do for a banana flick but in the rallies instead?
Or only for the down the line where you hit the ball on its right side as a right handed player?

Typical banana contact for flipping underspin would be even more on the side and towards the bottom rather than the top but, yes, that's the general idea. It works for both cross and down the line. Here's the Kanak Jha video where he talks about this (around 3:25):

 

[blahness]

My BH really improved heaps after learning Ti Long's 2 finger lever arm for brushing. This allowed me to create huge spin at will even when I'm out of position. And I can switch this on and off at will so it became a real weapon for me. So opponents can face a flat shot, then suddenly heavy topspin, suddenly flat again.

The other thing is learning the closed to open racket angle preparation for BH which improved my BH vs underspin (both short and long). With this, I no longer feared backspin, it was just like any other ball.

I also train a lot vs ppl who rally with weird ass spin so I'm quite resilient to spin variation on my BH.

How to use footwork to cut off the ball and keep it within my hitting zone (triangle concept). You need to lunge with your left to cut off balls to the left and lunge with right foot for balls to the right. I can cover 2/3 table with just BH these days with this concept.

Another tip is to use different strokes vs different shots. BH is not like FH where you can brute force overpower the spin (well you can but it can be suboptimal). Embrace the variety and experiment more.

I wish I can develop the same amount of skill on the FH side which is still a work in progress. But FH side for me is just mainly issues about footwork and following up after the 1st loop.

 

[mamedium]

timing, timing and timing