Forehand Topspin Against Backspin - Table Tennis Video Lesson
The Forehand Topspin Against Backspin
The Forehand topspin against backspin is used in the early part of most rallies and will enable you to make the first attack in a rally. Remember, keep it simple. The most common mistake we see is people trying too hard and tensing up their arm and as a result the swing becomes bent. The bat should move through in one straight line on one plane.
The Starting Position
Your feet can be a little more side on to the table than most of your other forehand strokes. Your swing start position is with your bat down low and as a starter try to start it at about knee height with the face of the bat tilted slightly forward.
The Contact
The crucial part of putting topspin on and being able to lift the backspin ball is the contact of the ball on the bat. The contact needs to be a fast brushing action to generate the topspin and lift. If your contact is too slow you will not lift the ball over the net.
The Finishing Position
Checklist for your finish position:
- Your swing should finish at an imaginary line that is drawn in front of the middle of your body. You don’t need to swing past this line as it makes recovery slower and throws you off balance. For more power twist your body but still don’t let the bat go past this imaginary line.
- The bat should finish between at head height or higher.
- At the end of your stroke you should have a 90 degree angle between your side and your upper arm as well as a 90 degree angle between your upper arm and lower arm. You can add a little wrist movement with this stroke but be careful not to use too much wrist as the stroke will become too inconsistent. The movement is mainly lower arm with a little upper arm.
Spin versus Speed
The starting and finishing height will vary depending on the amount of spin vs speed you want to put on the ball. The more spin the lower the start and the higher the finish position (more vertical swing). The faster the shot you want the higher the start and the lower the finish position (more horizontal swing). However remember with the backspin on the ball if you want to generate speed with a horizontal swing you need to contact the ball fast.
Consistency
Practice your Forehand using the Consistency Chart. Make sure to keep the ball slow at first until you have really mastered the stroke. That means you can easily hit at least 100 shots in a row without a mistake. If you can spend just 10 minutes of your Table Tennis training session doing this you will be amazed at your improvement.
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