open-up-topspin-backhand
Nomad asked 7 months ago
Hi Dan / Tom
I wrote about 2 weeks ago regarding my new rubbers and development of my backhand open up and said I would send a video. (Sorry for the delay in replying.) The league has started and I am pleased to say that I won alll 3 games in our first match. I have attached a video link showing the open up stroke which I have been practicing against a medium backspin ball. The main changes I made were:
1) Bending my legs more which meant that the bat was lower too and then coming up under the ball. (This may not be obvious in the video as the floor of the garage slopes downwards and there is a foot or so of a difference between the top and bottom.)
2) Raising my elbow to create a natural pivot and then using the wrist to come around the side of the ball to give it the lift to clear the net. I also managed to change the direction from the right to left of the table just by using the wrist. I also introduced a long push stroke.
I took the ball at the top, or just below, to maximise speed and spin. For the next stage I am going let the ball to drop slightly and use the speed of my wrist and forearm to give the ball more spin and height against a heavier backspin ball. This will mean bending the legs even further and following through more upwards than forwards.
Any advice or comments would be gratefully recieved.
Thanks again for all your help.
Alex
Dan Academy Coach answered 7 months ago
Hey Alex! That’s great you managed to win your games, really pleased to hear that! You can really see the improvement you’ve made on this shot over the last year or so from other videos you’ve sent. I think to be honest you are on the right track with everything here and just continue what you are doing. All the elements you mentioned here are spot on. I would say the main focus now is just to start using the legs to help a bit more, like you mentioned, this will be really useful for heavy backspin balls and also just to add variation so the opponents don’t get used to your shot speed and spin. But fantastic work, keep it up!
Dan 🙂
NomadHi Dan
Thanks for your comments.
The advice and videos from both yourself and Tom have been first class in helping to bring my game to the next level. I will now be working on developing my open up on the forehand for half long ball services using a shorter backswing but heavier topspin using mainly the elbow and wrist. I see this stroke using less arm movement than the normal topspin drive but a good follow through and, if successful, putting the opponent on the back foot straight away.
Perhaps you could prepare a video showing how this could be done against various aggressive sidespin/backspin services, not neccesarily winning the point but to prevent the opponent from getting in to
the attack.
Alex
