comparision-of-approach-to-backhand-topspin

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Hi Tom / Dan
As the new season is about to start I thought I would have another look at the mechanics of a backhand topspin return from a backspin ball.  Having seen the video by Leam Pichford who has one of the best backhands in the world, I noticed that he advises an open bat angle when contacting the ball followed by a fast wrist movement to brush over the top of the ball. The open bat angle provides good contact and grip with the ball and the fast turn-over of the wrist gives a good deal of spin and control. However when he started his approach at waist height the bat angle is almost closed and it is only when he contacts the ball is the bat open.
I decided to experiment with both approaches using closed and open bat angles. I would still use the normal ‘flick’ action for short balls as shown in the TTDA video but for the purposes of this experiment I set the robot to fire three quarter length backspin balls.
The first video shows the wrist bending back towards the body and then moving forward and turning clockwise over the ball to produce spin and power. 
In the second video I have turned the bat almost horizontal on the backswing before contacting the ball and then turning the wrist over the top of the ball to produce spin. In this style I found that when I turned the bat nearly horizontal before the backswing my elbow moved forward and raised almost 2 inches higher. This, in turn, gave me a slight body turn. I found I could create more power and most of the returns landed in he last 18 inches of the opponent’s side of the table.  I ithink that this could not only be due to the open contact of the ball and spin produced by the wrist but the slight (involuntary) body turn and increased arc length of the swing which helped to add more weight to the shot.
I will look forward to hearing your views.
Alex