OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hello Everybody,

just a terminological question - what does 'to flat hit' a ball mean?

What kind of stroke is it, how is it exicuted?

Greets,
Dennis

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Spinlord Ultra Allround cpen
729 FX super soft red 1.5 mm
'Fun is a serious matter.'

A ball hit squarely without much top spin, usually when the ball is at or above net height. Watch the guy in red, Kjell Johansson note how low he finishes his strokes-he is a clinque on a flat hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liWV5ht2cAY


Ian

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Blade: Giant Dragon Kris: FH: Friengship 729 Judo (red) 2.0 BH: Feint Long 3 (black) 1.3
Blade: Alfa Pro : FH: Friendship Judo (red) 2.0 BH TSP Curl P-1r (black) 1.4

A flat hit is when the bat moves in the direction which the bat face is pointing. This adds nothing to the ball's spin (but often detracts from it).
The opposite is a thin hit, where the bat moves in the direction of its edge. Such a hit can add very much to the ball's spin.

Generally, flat hits will yield higher ball speed. Also, with a flat hit the contact time between ball and rubber (= the "dwell time") is shorter than with thin hits, so you're not as sensitive to preexisting (incoming) spin.

I guess the most common strokes where a completely flat hit is useful is the smash and the block. With the smash you need to generate speed and to be insensitive to incoming spin. The block gets good ball speed with nearly zero effort, and may also kill the spin.
Flat hits are also used by "material players" with low-friction rubber (antispin or long pips) to confuse the opponent. In this case the incoming spin is more or less conserved, so the opponent expects little spin but gets back his own spin, more or less.
Some players will use a flat hit when lobbing. This gives good directional control, but a no-spin ball will have an erratic trajectory, and the lob has a very long trajectory for deviations to add up. This means that a lob with some spin is normally more precise than a no-spin lob.

You may say that a flat hit drives the ball forward, while a thin hit drags the ball along (mostly by friction).

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Flat hit = Firmly hitting the ball in the center of the blade and driving through it toward the target rather than brushing the ball in some way to create spin.

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I think what most people call flat hits are simply topspin drives at the lower end of the spin spectrum. If the ball is low (meaning net high or even somewhat higher), even if you hit the ball with a totally vertical racket face, or even an open racket face, the racket's still rising and you'll impart some topspin to the ball. If the ball has any pace on it it will require some topspin to come down and hit the table. A totally dead ball (no spin) will float. The only true no-spin flat hits are kills of high balls, and even with those most people will use a little topspin.

Iskandar

dear all,
thanks for all the enlightening answers! I've already been doin' this stroke very often - it's the one that goes a) over the table, or b) into the net.
Can't expect to be good at something after a few weeks. Gotta keep on practicin' !

Yours,
Dennis

_________________
Spinlord Ultra Allround cpen
729 FX super soft red 1.5 mm
'Fun is a serious matter.'

You can experience real flat hit if you take you blade alone (without rubbers) and try to hit the ball. It goes straight without spin.
When you put rubbers it is almost impossible to execute flat hit.
Flat hit is considered topspin hit with little spin (your racket goes in forward motion through the ball). You increase topspin buy moving your racket more and more upwards.

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Blade: Yinhe (Galaxy) W-6 (flared)
FH: Friendship Cream Transcend (2.0 mm)
BH: Friendship Cream Transcend (2.0 mm)

Table tennis you learn your whole life and get better and better. More talented (like humble myself ) get good fast, and others may need longer. But time spent with racket is crucial... Coaching also helps. There are not too many people (like me) who can learn table tennis on their own and from internet.

_________________
Blade: Yinhe (Galaxy) W-6 (flared)
FH: Friendship Cream Transcend (2.0 mm)
BH: Friendship Cream Transcend (2.0 mm)

Remember, though, there's spin incoming. Bare blades behave like long pips - they reverse incoming spin (and very efficiently, too). Try flat-hitting an incoming topspin drive with wood, it'll fly off the end. There was someone who used to play with bare wood at my old club - he didn't any more by then but he used to, and did a few times with a Chinese penhold bat (back then these were usually bare wood on the back). Very hard to play against, any backspin shot he'd hit back. Topspin, he'd chop. Typical exchange was, he'd serve short backspin (using inverted on the forehand), then he'd hit the backspin return push with the wood.

Iskandar

Not if its a high or low throw blade!

If your shots go over the table, throw is too high; if your shots go into the net, throw is too low. If your shots do both, best hedge your bets by getting something some reviews call high throw and some low throw.

If only it were possible to adjust one's bat angle or to alter the plane of one's stroke. Alas...