Coach Meng teaches the "breaking" backhand ("Kaitai", "Kaidai" or "haru", according to the English subtitles) used often by Lin Gaoyuan, and compares it to the more powerful but difficult to master Kō (or "Kong") technique (Harimoto style). Breaking is something like an active block, with elbow stable and rotation of the forearm to the right (for right handers) on contact to add spin. Kō involves punching forward with elbow extension and whipping through with rotary motion on contact to add spin.
[WRM] The "breaking" backhand and other types of topspin backhands
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My backhand is "kaitai" all the way, and a lot of top backhands especially in away from the table rallies (FZD, Calderano, Franziska, Pitchford, Lin, LYJ) are largely "Kaitai". I have never been able to seriously understand Ko as a default technique (Harimoto, Liang, arguably Ma Long and Kanak) even when a really good coach tried to teach it to me, so I am really waiting for Coach Meng's video on that. FZD does use it on lots close to the table counters, so I am beginning to appreciate how the Chinese use specific names for each technique, vs the Western confusion that arises from calling everything backhand topspin lol.
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I also like having specific names for each technique. Obviously it's useful shorthand for coaches, but I think it can also help to fix in mind something fairly abstract like the action pattern and feel of hitting a certain type of shot. There is the risk of creating artificial bright lines between techniques that exist on a continuum like loops and drives. I think kaitai and ko backhands are not so distinct either, and it's more a question of how much punching forward (elbow/shoulder extension) you do, rather than all or nothing, as well as the degree and timing of forearm rotation around the elbow. If the linear/forward punch is more prominent, as with Harimoto, than it's easy to classify it as ko. But every player in your kaitai classification (including Lin) also has a significant forward punch component to their backhand unless it's fast off the bounce. And I think Kanak has one of the purest kaitai backhands except when he's actually punching the ball. He keeps his elbow unusually high and forward, but that's usually where it stays all through the stroke.
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I can see why You would consider Kanak to be more Kaitai for sure but I have never found the sideways element of his loops to be particularly strong, but I guess the forward element isn't particularly strong either. All of the players I listed as kaitai have a significant sideways element and none of that precludes a forward element, but their sideways elements are all significant. and no, I would not consider any of them to have a significant punch element unless you mean thick brush as a punch element. OF course, sideways doesn't preclude forward. At that level, everyone uses equipment that can handle thick and fast contact.
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I was glad to see that video Coach Meng released recently about the punchy type of BH since I was doing those unintentionally anyway and thought it was suboptimal form instead of a useful variation.
this is a really good distinction. The kaitai one seems more powerful but less control, especially close to the table, and seems kind of sidespin-ish, whereas the ko one is more safe and stable close to the table but seems hard to add power away from the table. Combining them depending on the distance to the table seems like a good idea.
I think it is really tricky to use the appropriate strokes and techniques for different length and height and spins of balls, and according to the game situation. On BH alone you could do a soft block, a punch block/smash, a sidespin chop left or right, a slow spinny TS, a powerful kaitai TS, a slow controlled ko TS, a sidespin TS (kaitai only I assume), a short touch, or a push.
Knowing the technique is one thing but recognizing which technique to use, which requires reading the incoming ball and the opponents stroke first and in time, is crucial as well.
I think it is really tricky to use the appropriate strokes and techniques for different length and height and spins of balls, and according to the game situation. On BH alone you could do a soft block, a punch block/smash, a sidespin chop left or right, a slow spinny TS, a powerful kaitai TS, a slow controlled ko TS, a sidespin TS (kaitai only I assume), a short touch, or a push.
Knowing the technique is one thing but recognizing which technique to use, which requires reading the incoming ball and the opponents stroke first and in time, is crucial as well.
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Nice theory but really isn't true, definitely in my experience. There are two aspects of Kaitai, the first is the basic Kaitai (brushing backhand), and the second is the breaking backhand, where you use Kaitai to form a mountain around the ball, and it is this mountain forming technique, which in the video Coach Meng compares to tearing a piece of paper, that extends Kaitai and makes it even safer when you add more power to it. The video in OP covers the breaking backhand, the original Kaitai video covered the basic Kaitai which I produce below:
Kaitai is extremely versatile, easy to play and use from all distances and against a variety of spins, and has been my default backhand for a very long time because I tend to topspin, often very conseratively. To hear that it is only good far away from the table is alien to me when it is is my close to the table exchange and counterlooping stroke, especially in its breaking form.
Not everyone plays breaking backhands close to the table and it is possible to think that only breaking backhands are Kaitai (and this was one of the reasons why I admitted that I was likely wrong on Kanak), but no, Kaitai is not only good far away from the table. Let's not spread theoretical misinformation.
where on earth did you get the idea from that I said kaitai is ONLY good away from the table?
I thought it would be obvious I was talking about marginal differences.
Of course you can use any technique from any position and be more or less successful with it. But clearly, the marginal advantages of ko are spin and control close to the table as it naturally is designed for brushing over the ball while kaitai clearly is comparatively a more hitting motion, and therefore is easier for power but comparatively less good for close table spin and control.
Calderano for example clearly is using something closer to kaitai, while harimoto uses ko. Now who of them do you think focuses more on safety and who on power?
Let's try to read carefully and not spread misinterpretation.
I thought it would be obvious I was talking about marginal differences.
Of course you can use any technique from any position and be more or less successful with it. But clearly, the marginal advantages of ko are spin and control close to the table as it naturally is designed for brushing over the ball while kaitai clearly is comparatively a more hitting motion, and therefore is easier for power but comparatively less good for close table spin and control.
Calderano for example clearly is using something closer to kaitai, while harimoto uses ko. Now who of them do you think focuses more on safety and who on power?
Let's try to read carefully and not spread misinterpretation.
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Hi, to shed some light into this topic, the breaking backhand its what in the quanshibao videos is called backhand tear (it might be a bad translation). Professor Meng omits, in my opinion, the most crucial point about the backhand tear, what is the use of waist (right leg as a pivot) in order to increase power in the shot. In fact, Meng talks about a forward and to the right side backhand, which it takes more sense when the a small angle with the waist appears (its just a relative motion in our perspective), but the actual force of the backhand is forward:
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Ko is harder to master as you are in direct conflict with incoming topspin - both with your own topspin and forward momentum of the stroke towards the ball.
As the description “topspin” suggests, the ball wants to react by going up and forward off your inverted rubber.
The more incoming topspin the harder it is to control, though the payoff is a more powerful outgoing ball if you get it right.
Whereas with kaitai type there is the stabilising force going to the side at the end of the stroke, where the subtle wrist rotation can hold the ball a touch longer to control the length of the ball.
I could only fully understand this concept now that I am a year into self learning to chop at a closer mid distance - if chopping directly under the ball and forward (similar in concept to ko) there is a high likelihood the ball will go out - unless you step further back or do a shorter motion jab.
However, if the full chopping motion finishes more toward the side it gives a slowing braking effect and there is less chance of being chopped out while maintaining a high quality, which is the framework of kaitai (and also the chopblock).
As the description “topspin” suggests, the ball wants to react by going up and forward off your inverted rubber.
The more incoming topspin the harder it is to control, though the payoff is a more powerful outgoing ball if you get it right.
Whereas with kaitai type there is the stabilising force going to the side at the end of the stroke, where the subtle wrist rotation can hold the ball a touch longer to control the length of the ball.
I could only fully understand this concept now that I am a year into self learning to chop at a closer mid distance - if chopping directly under the ball and forward (similar in concept to ko) there is a high likelihood the ball will go out - unless you step further back or do a shorter motion jab.
However, if the full chopping motion finishes more toward the side it gives a slowing braking effect and there is less chance of being chopped out while maintaining a high quality, which is the framework of kaitai (and also the chopblock).
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Interesting! A clubmates brought a chopping setup the other day and I tried chopping with it and I found the same thing! I tried chopping up and down, or back to front, and the ball would either flow very high or go out, but once I started chopping with a bit more of a left to right motion (BH chop) I could keep it low to the net a lot more often. The feeling was kind of like chopping from up to down at first, aiming at the bottom back of thr ball, but as my racket met the ball I would accelerate to the right.
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This is an excellent point and I also appreciate this kind of thinking generally; I do believe being specific in defining certain movements will have a lot of value for players. Is there are a similar breakdown of FH topspin movements?
I, of course, can only appreciate this theoretically right now lol since my BH is very weak. What is funny is that I think my BH has this "breaking" style as a result of poor technique.
Previously, my elbow used to be low and when I would attempt to generate power I would end up swiping laterally to the right rather than in front (as well as straining my shoulder).
Now that I am relearning my BH technique properly, I find my BH motion is forward and to the right. I was training just this morning to hit more forward when I saw this. I guess I have a free variation!
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There definitely is, the question though is whether these give rise to different technical patterns for teaching with starkly different results. Obviously you can flat block topspin with the forehand, you can smash it, you can guide it. You can fade you can hook, you can straighr countertopspin, it.you can topspin block it etc. Each of these might have subtle differences that can use slightly different body parts but they can also all be just forehand counter or something very generic.
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The specific BH stroke in this video is called 撕 (si in pinyin, pronounced with a short i but way longer like a long e), or rip in English, with a more brushing element.
快帶 (kuai dai in pinyin), or quick guide/carry in English is another stroke that has a more hitting element.
撕/rip is exclusive to BH, whereas 快帶/quick guide is for both FH and BH. The FH equivalent of 撕/rip is 反剃 (fan ti in pinyin)/counter-shave.
The term 拱 (gong in pinyin), or arch in English is typically a reserved term for a long-pips stroke that is the equivalent of the TPB stroke. First time I see it used to describe Harimoto's BH stroke.
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If you look at how Ma Long and Fan Zhendong combines both techniques, it is not impossible to use both.
Basically Harimoto's BH (higher finish forwards, short stroke) is extremely good in terms of speed, recovery and defending/counterattacking against incoming topspin. But the breaking BH (反撕), where you finish more to the right and sometimes even lower than when you start is where you want a killer blow back to your opponent, and don't mind the additional risk of doing so.
Even in FH loops, you can finish higher and more forwards for a more stable shot, but if you look at all the loopkills where you wanna just kill the ball, you rotate more until you finish to the left side and sometimes even left and below. Now, deciding when to use which is entirely a different question and every player has their preference.
For me on BH side, if I feel like i have to absorb pressure (for eg if opponent is looping at me) i will adopt the "gong" style BH, but once the opponent gives me a weaker shot, and I have an opportunity to add quality, I will switch to the "breaking" style.
Basically Harimoto's BH (higher finish forwards, short stroke) is extremely good in terms of speed, recovery and defending/counterattacking against incoming topspin. But the breaking BH (反撕), where you finish more to the right and sometimes even lower than when you start is where you want a killer blow back to your opponent, and don't mind the additional risk of doing so.
Even in FH loops, you can finish higher and more forwards for a more stable shot, but if you look at all the loopkills where you wanna just kill the ball, you rotate more until you finish to the left side and sometimes even left and below. Now, deciding when to use which is entirely a different question and every player has their preference.
For me on BH side, if I feel like i have to absorb pressure (for eg if opponent is looping at me) i will adopt the "gong" style BH, but once the opponent gives me a weaker shot, and I have an opportunity to add quality, I will switch to the "breaking" style.
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Below is a 2024 article about the language barrier that Han Hua faced when coaching the Tunisian national team. The examples he gave happened to be 撕/rip and 反剃/counter-shave.
http://www.news.cn/sports/20240707/915b57bdb0c84cb6927f8d8f8f8de169/c.html
http://www.news.cn/sports/20240707/915b57bdb0c84cb6927f8d8f8f8de169/c.html
("Table tennis terminology is very different in different languages. Some of our technical jargon do not have accurate definitions in French. For example, 'rip' and 'counter-shave' are difficult to express in French." Han Hua analyzed several words for reporters on the spot, and they are indeed difficult to translate directly. "French expressions are not so accurate, so every time I will carefully explain to the players the purpose of practicing a certain stroke.")
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