OOAK Table Tennis Forum

NL and I have solved this already. Every time someone posts one of our favorite blades for sale we buy it, no matter how many we already have. I am up to three acoustic carbons, and narrowly escaped buying a fourth only because it was a flare. So we can have a different set of rubbers for every Köppen zone. That's a really good excuse actually.

OK

The backhand being discussed was mostly inspired by Harimoto. It has become normal for people to see him ranked in the top few, but it's not normal for me.

Harimoto is a child. He is a kid who is significant in World Tour tournaments and children really shouldn't be winning these tournaments and beating Chinese etc. It has been going on for so long that people have accepted that a child is playing at this level. For me, Harimoto is an aberration that deserves a bunch of thought and observation.

I go to many World Tour tournaments. I can tell you for nothing that it is super difficult to win 2 rounds of the qualification/preliminary of these events and it's actually near impossible to win the entire tournament. There are very serious 2900 level Chinese losing early in the preliminary rounds of major tournaments. Yan An is an example in Doha, Qatar.

My point is that these World Tour events are no place for Children so it is amazing how good Harimoto is.

Okay, I'll get back to the backhand topic. Take a look at Timo Boll's backhand topspin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9v-LfwyukE . Is this shot "right" or "wrong"? It's a great backhand and it's what I have previously taught. This doesn't make me a bad/wrong coach, right? The problem with this backhand is, I can't really do it consistently as Timo can. I'm a washed-up coach and I struggle to make 3 of these in a row. I have a thousand ways to miss the ball.

Now take a look at the first 10 seconds of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQlG2qPbhj8 Even though I haven't played more than 500 backhand topspins in the last 12 months, I can easily make 30 in a row of this type. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qn8Dx0FIFs . There was no magic editing done here and you can see the entire take. I could make 100 in a row if I took a couple of shots at it and my arm didn't get tired.

To a certain extent, I think Harimoto is cheating on the complexities of backhand and also gaining an edge in the process. Take a look at this one point https://youtu.be/PQlG2qPbhj8?t=76 After the Banana flick, Harimoto makes what I'm calling a "shove" backhand topspin. It's incredibly effective and surprisingly easy to do. It gives your opponent no time to react and, at the very least, positions you to win the point.

This is the reason why I'm introducing the backhand technique. It will be part 4 of the ttEDGE 2020 series.

Interesting thoughts about Harimoto!

Imo Lin Yun Ju's level of play/form was better than Harimoto's during the second half of 2019 (except in December). During that period, I thought that Lin had a better chance of becoming No. 1 down the road compared to Harimoto. Then, Harimoto seemed to have overtaken Lin again at the Men's World Cup where the former showed significant improvements in his FH topspin and beat ML 4:2 in the semifinal (he also used the BH shove down the line very effectively). I haven't watched much table tennis since then.

Off-topic, but I am curious who you rate more highly.

The master of the shove backhand technique for me is Jeoung Youngsik.

That said, Big Dipper is a better rubber than Mercury 2. It is not even close.

Do you recommend using the BH grip for the BH "shove"?

There is no doubt that Lin Yun Ju is a special player. I've coached against both Harimoto and Lin and I found Lin to be harder. Lin Yun Ju doesn't appear to have any flaws in his game whereas Harimoto's problems are more obvious.

Interesting. Please tell me how/why?

I'm using Mercury on my backhand and Big Dipper on my forehand. I'm interested in what you have to say because I have a few feelings that I can't yet explain.

He certainly has a shove and he is a really nice player.

In general, I feel that Jeoung Youngsik backhand technique is way inferior to Harimoto's, even though he is very good at it. I very much doubt that he "knows" what he is doing. His body movement isn't properly defined in training. My gut tells me that if you asked him how to play the shot, he'd give you a non-sensical explanation, as with most elite players. My feeling is that Harimoto knows exactly what he is doing as his body movement is always exaggerated and properly defined. I'm making a few big assumptions here, I know.

There can be a difference between being good at a shot and being completely correct. I don't think he is completely correct.