OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi there! Saw this video of Ma Long looping in slow motion,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNhdaK20eE4 and I notice something about his swing that perhaps has been discussed, but what to check out here.


At the start of his backswing, rather than coming straight back down, he appears to drop his arm close to his hip (putting his swing on a low plane) and then at the start of the forward swing raises the plane of the swing up. The combined motion creates an oval shape to his swing rather than just a straight back down the straight forward on the same plane swing. I hope this makes sense.

When I try it, it does indeed feel as though there is a downward loop and then a rise back up to the ball.

Is this a preferable way of swinging or just an characteristic of his swing?

Thanks!

One reason I was given for this by a top ranked player was this. It is easy to go for a ball away from the body as well as cover a ball close to to elbow if the take back bat position is close to the hip. I am sure there are other advantages. Perhaps having the same back swing for both topspin against top and top against backspin leads to greater consistency.

This makes sense to me, and I caught my son taking out the garbage and threw him a paddle to see how he did it. He changes the plane of his swing, as well.

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

Looks like what they call a hysteresis loop..

What I see is that the plane of the backswing is lower than the plane of the actual stroke. I think part of it is he's reacting to the height of the ball. If the ball were lower (i.e. if he were further back) he'd already have his bat in position at the end of the backswing, but the ball he's returning is relatively high so he adjusts accordingly. Perhaps he's standardized on the low backswing, perhaps it gives him more power in the "whip". He doesn't pause at the end of the backswing, it's a smooth transition from backwards to forwards movement.

Iskandar

I think you are right there. And a lot of small, micro bounces. Of course, thats probably due to being 18, but the his swing is very loose.

Thanks for your observation.