Which side of the ball I should flick in some circumstances?

[Fantastic_Muffin_D]

Hi guys and to all flickers, I would like to know in which situation you guys would flick at the side of the ball or flick at the back of the ball? Or just always flick at the left side of the ball no matter what if you're a right-handed player. I twist/bend my wrist to the maximum, so I think my rotation brush is nearly enough and I do wait for the ball over the highest bounce (sometimes I don't lol: DD).
I'm using the flicks a lot in match in returning serves and 3rd short ball. Most of the time if it's close to the net, I found that just need to brush at the back of the ball, it would be totally fine and i could manipulate the direction of my flick into their wide forehand corner pretty easily. But sometimes, if the ball is super heavy and load with side spin, go nearly half-long, flick at the left side of the ball is usually more comfortable, but the placement of the ball will very be likely to go their BH, where they are waiting for the demi counter. Could we adjust the direction of the flick by contacting the left side, cause it's not really natural when you contact the left side and you're trying to flick to the left too. Sometimes I go for the right side of the ball, in nature, the way we should contact for the push if the opponent serves right hand pendulum, but the problem will be the side spin will often drag the ball sideway off my bat; if I contact on the right side of the ball, flick for the middle or wide FH of opponents are easily doable. In short, my flicks are predictable if the opponents know what spin they're gonna deliver lol . I don't know if my approach is right, so I hope to get some experiences.

 

[blahness]

Are you talking about BH chiquita flick?

 

[blahness]

For chiquita, I have a system against all 6 main types of serves (FH pendulum side under, FH pendulum side top, pure heavy under, no spin, BH pendulum side under, BH pendulum side top)

I always contact the slightly on the left side against BH pendulum type serves. Side under I will contact near bottom left and the stroke will be upwards and to the right, side top it'll be contacted at top left of the ball, stroke is mainly to the right and sometimes even downwards if the topspin is significant).

Against pure heavy under I also contact bottom and slightly on the left with a mainly upwards stroke, against no spin it is similar except I go a lot more forward.

Against FH pendulum is where it gets tricky. I never contact the left side of the ball otherwise it's too difficult to control the sidespin. Contact is usually at the back of the ball (although I still go around the side of the ball throughout the complete stroke). Underspin I contact near bottom and topspin near top of the ball. If I want to go to the FH, to avoid telegraphing it early I move the upper body to the right and contact on the right side of the ball. You can even fade it with the opposite sidespin (I recently learnt this) which is even more effective and disturbing.

The really annoying thing is that it is very difficult to go down the line if they serve it wide to your BH such that by the time you contact it it's exited the side of the table to the left of the net. In this position down the line is extremely risky because of the short table distance and you can get absolutely destroyed by a FH sidespin counter to your wide FH even if you do so. So the only real options are wide BH and middle for the most part, but this makes their block/counter very easy. You can add a lot of quality in this spot compared to a normal chiquita because there's more swing room, but because the placement is locked there's no choice but to accept it and go into a equal topspin rally.

 

[Fantastic_Muffin_D]

For chiquita, I have a system against all 6 main types of serves (FH pendulum side under, FH pendulum side top, pure heavy under, no spin, BH pendulum side under, BH pendulum side top)

I always contact the slightly on the left side against BH pendulum type serves. Side under I will contact near bottom left and the stroke will be upwards and to the right, side top it'll be contacted at top left of the ball, stroke is mainly to the right and sometimes even downwards if the topspin is significant).

Against pure heavy under I also contact bottom and slightly on the left with a mainly upwards stroke, against no spin it is similar except I go a lot more forward.

Against FH pendulum is where it gets tricky. I never contact the left side of the ball otherwise it's too difficult to control the sidespin. Contact is usually at the back of the ball (although I still go around the side of the ball throughout the complete stroke). Underspin I contact near bottom and topspin near top of the ball. If I want to go to the FH, to avoid telegraphing it early I move the upper body to the right and contact on the right side of the ball. You can even fade it with the opposite sidespin (I recently learnt this) which is even more effective and disturbing.

The really annoying thing is that it is very difficult to go down the line if they serve it wide to your BH such that by the time you contact it it's exited the side of the table to the left of the net. In this position down the line is extremely risky because of the short table distance and you can get absolutely destroyed by a FH sidespin counter to your wide FH even if you do so. So the only real options are wide BH and middle for the most part, but this makes their block/counter very easy. You can add a lot of quality in this spot compared to a normal chiquita because there's more swing room, but because the placement is locked there's no choice but to accept it and go into a equal topspin rally.

Hi, so thankful for your informative reply. May I know what depth on the table that you know should go for a flick or you just feel confident and go for it? My opponents serves right now are kind-of short two bounces (last bounce near the back line) and half-long (I would go for a backhand topspin full stroke if i know it's half long) and last 2 bounces close to the net. These last two weeks, I felt like if i hit/penetrate more into the rubber and then brush later, it would grab the ball better instead of brushing only. I'm playing D05 on the BH with an inner blade. Is it the right way to do it?

 

[Lowday20298]

It's situational, sometimes you need to go to the side to lift up very heavy balls, and others you can go from behind to get a bunch of speed and rotation. I don't think there's a correct answer here, read the situation and adapt the best you can.

 

[blahness]

Hi, so thankful for your informative reply. May I know what depth on the table that you know should go for a flick or you just feel confident and go for it? My opponents serves right now are kind-of short two bounces (last bounce near the back line) and half-long (I would go for a backhand topspin full stroke if i know it's half long) and last 2 bounces close to the net. These last two weeks, I felt like if i hit/penetrate more into the rubber and then brush later, it would grab the ball better instead of brushing only. I'm playing D05 on the BH with an inner blade. Is it the right way to do it?

I can do the flick regardless of length. The shorter it is the more you have to be more precise and use more of the fingers. The longer it is the fuller the stroke. The thing is that you shouldn't drop your racket or arm at all even against long balls - this ensures that you have a smooth transition between short and long balls. Its the modern way of BH looping anyway, if the ball is low just go lower with the body. The really hard part is if ppl are varying placements a lot - your anticipation and reactions need to be on point to get to the ball in time.

Your setup should be completely fine. You never want to do pure brushing, there's always a certain degree of hitting involved even if it's pure heavy underspin.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

The really annoying thing is that it is very difficult to go down the line if they serve it wide to your BH such that by the time you contact it it's exited the side of the table to the left of the net. In this position down the line is extremely risky because of the short table distance and you can get absolutely destroyed by a FH sidespin counter to your wide FH even if you do so. So the only real options are wide BH and middle for the most part, but this makes their block/counter very easy. You can add a lot of quality in this spot compared to a normal chiquita because there's more swing room, but because the placement is locked there's no choice but to accept it and go into a equal topspin rally.

coming off the backhand side, I will use side a lot more and still go down the line.
It just practice
since it is off the table, it is a long ball and you have a lot more time and space to hit the ball. Same as a FH shot where you can go around the net.
BH side, you can use side and go around the net too.

If the ball is high enough, the I will just go over the upper half of the ball (behind the ball still)

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

@UpSideDownCarl
Base on the reading of the above, I nominate blahness to the video footage safe thread - if you and he agrees.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

@UpSideDownCarl
Base on the reading of the above, I nominate blahness to the video footage safe thread - if you and he agrees.

Are you nominating him to post video tutorials on how to do a BH Flick?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Are you nominating him to post video tutorials on how to do a BH Flick?

the list on your op

 

[pong99]

If server is RH and does pendulum serve, set up chiquita BH return, then switch to strawberry at the last second, hit the right side of the ball

see videos of Simon Gauzy and Mima Ito for pros doing strawberry

 

[blahness]

If server is RH and does pendulum serve, set up chiquita BH return, then switch to strawberry at the last second, hit the right side of the ball

see videos of Simon Gauzy and Mima Ito for pros doing strawberry

This can be quite devastating but needs the right ball to do it (best against middle ish short balls with sideunderspin).