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Tips on improving flat back/fore hand

1236 commentsu/JuanPahblo1w ago
Im coming off of a sprained acl so I had 3-4 months without playing. Im coming to class to improve my flat strokes. What tips can you give me to better adjust my forehand/back hand or to make more efficient
https://v.redd.it/ciut710f9xng1

Comments (36)

From my perspective, these are not flat shots but topspin shots? Please correct me if I'm wrong, maybe the perspective is misleading me.
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u/JuanPahbloOP1w ago
I come from a heavy ping pong background. I tend to play with a bit of topspin. It’s a habit that I’ve battling quite a lot and my coach seems to have managed to find a middle ground. Yes there’s some. Topspin on my forehand
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topspin isn't an issue. watch the pros, they play with a lot of topspin.
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I think your forehand shots in the video are "strong" topspin shots, from a padel perspective! Not saying this negatively, but for sure these are not flat shots. On a different note, I would assume that playing sliced shots are quite easy then for you as well? I have a padel friend, coming from ping pong, and basically all his groundstrokes are coming with a lot of slice.
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Finally someone working on something so fundamental and important. Good job sir!
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u/sup3rfm1w ago
WhAt abOUt mY KiCK SmAsH??
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What about it?
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Looks like top-spin to me. Plus you hit way too hard.(all balls are in the net)
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u/JuanPahbloOP1w ago
Tbh she’s always on me cause i tend to play with th wrist a lot since i come from a heavy ping pong background. I tend to play with a bit of topspin. It’s a habit that I’ve battling quite a lot and my coach seems to have managed to find a middle ground. Yes there’s some. Topspin on my forehand. The hard hitting is something she also tells me a lot and tbh I feel like am hitting soft tho but now that you point it out that most of the balls ended up in the net after hitting the glass
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u/zivicn1w ago
Two things that helped me improve my backhand: 1. Watch the ball all the way until you hit it. 2. Let it enter a bit more, you're hitting it a bit too far forward, leading to your shots not being really flat, but with some top spin.
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You have a coach there, what does she says you need to improve? That will be the best thing to do is listen to her (assuming she is indeed a coach and not just someone giving you balls). Anyways, as someone else said, let the ball enter a bit more. Hit it between your shoulders, not in front of your front shoulder. Also, you are 'arming' the ball alot. Use some body weight transfer to impart some force in the ball. You will have more control and tire less, and probably prevent some arm issues in the future. As for stance, a lot of the times you aren't even in closed stance, but you are OVER closed stance. Your front foot crosses the back one making your natural body direction wrong. (see forehand around the 10 second mark for a prime example). This stance completely blocks your body and indeed you need to use your arm.
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u/JuanPahbloOP1w ago
She is indeed a coach and she is super picky about the technical stuff from each shot. The thing she focused the most in that class, was to stop “wristing” the shot, to lower my body and to stop hitting hard as I’m trying to hit a tennis winner. As I com from ping pong, I’m used to heavy wrist on my shots and that’s something that I’ve been working and she has also managed to find like a middle ground so that I’m comfortable aswell. I guess that as she was focused on certain details, she let go of other that she thought were not that critical as some of the details you mentioned. Thank you for pointing those out
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Also coming from Table Tennis (10+ years competition). So if the wrist is the focus, even more important to let the ball 'in'. You can try it for yourself. put a ball on a table slightly in front of you, close your stance, and try to move the racket to the ball. you will almost have to use your wrist to control the direction/impart power. It will be very difficult to not move the wrist at all and hit the ball solidly. Now do the same, but get the position where the ball is much closer to you, between your two legs, you will see you can hit the ball without using the wrist, and the direction you can control with where you hit the ball (a bit more in front => cross, in the middle => paralel, a bit behind => open angle). This is the natural 'movement' of our body. `1st try:` `Ball front leg back leg` `O | |` `2nd try:` `front leg Ball back leg` `| O |`
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On your forehand, use your left hand/arm to track the ball. It’ll help improve your timing. This is probably because of the drill, but all your shots were from the closed stance. Maybe hit some from an open stance because in a match you will have to do that. I personally change my grip on my backhand to go more eastern. Your backhand looks great, but you could give that a go and see if it works for you. However, changing grips is second nature to me. For people that are not from tennis, it can seem very strange and adds to “mental load” during a game. Generally looks good
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I’m from tennis as well, and tried the continental grip for a long time, and just had to realise that it was unnatural for me, so I do the same (not for slice or chiquitas though). One tip on the backhand side is to really move the none dominant hand in the opposite direction. For me at least, having great form, is so important on the backhand to avoid over rotating. From what I see you could be more consistent on your backhand form.
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Oh, on the forehand, continental feels super natural, so only on the backhand.
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I agree re the backhand - almost exaggerating the movement of the left hand provides a good counter balance and stops you “falling into” the shot. Very insightful advice 👍🏻
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u/pwe1de1w ago
Agreed, open stance should be practiced more often. If you however decide to hit forehands closed stance, then rotate your hip into the shot during impact, meaning that your left foot comes forward. Other than that it looks solid. 
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Because no one is mentioning this... Your movement. Your taking almost five steps to balls that should be one big sidestep and adjustment. You're walking and taking time away from shots. Also, get lower to the use body motion to bring the ball up.
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u/JuanPahbloOP1w ago
Thank you for bringing that up, I’m coming off of injury but I apreciate you pointing that out. Coach didn’t call me out on this one as she was more focused on me not lowering my body enough and to stop using wrist for topspin
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I'm also a coach and I (personally) hate to see a glaring mistake being ignored because the focus is on other aspect being improved. If it's because of an injury, take it easy but please don't walk to get a ball that's right there. Look at the micro adjustments you're making. That's gonna rush your stroke and be one of the causes of the topspin. Still I'd rate 7/10. Solid.
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u/Beedux1w ago
You are playing table tennis shots, have you played table tennis a lot?
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u/JuanPahbloOP1w ago
Played competitively during school for around 5- years. Does it show a lot?😂
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I think the stroke itself looks pretty good. If I wanted to find something to be critical about it's that most of the balls in the drill were at around the same height at the waist. So it's a question of how you do on low balls or on high balls cutting it from high to low. That last one is one I am working on because while I slice it just fine it tends to float on me so I am trying to clsoe my racket face more and earlier.
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Get lower so you can actually hit flat not top spin. And make your racket swing come around the body instead of coming up too much on the ball as this is creating too much of a loop on your shots.
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u/Exawni1w ago
You are getting motion from the wrist. For a flat strike keep the wrist more stiff.
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u/JuanPahbloOP1w ago
I’ve been that a lot. I come from table tennis so it’s being quite hard. But thank for letting me know, that’s why I uploaded the clip
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You are more than closed when you hit your forehand. Hit with open or semi open stance. It will force you to push the weight forward (use your back foot) and usage of your core/shoulders more. There are great videos (especially Spanish) on YouTube. Use your non dominant hand. That with a open or semi open stance will not only help you with balance and power, it will also make you look 5x better on the court.
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I noticed that your left hand always stays close to your body, but it should actually follow the movement of your right hand in the opposite direction. This creates a more open posture almost like you’re about to give someone a hug. =) That position will help you generate better control and more power if needed. I was literally doing the same exercise with my coach just two days ago.
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I'm not sure if it's ok to cross your legs like that when moving laterally. I try to move with sidesteps not to get my legs twisted, for a faster reaction and for a better weight balance in defense.
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u/mac01721w ago
Also coming from tabletennis. My coach taught me too shorten the swing and tighten up the wrist a bit. I also think you should hit the ball a bit less in front of you. OnPopular opinion: unless you plan to go (semi)pro, don't lose all your tabletennis attacking shots. For a lot of people it's a real pain in the A. to adjust to these uncommon attacking topspin shots.
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You need to use the other hand too, not leave just hanging. With forehand point to the ball with the left hand and follow the movement after hitting the ball. With backhand you balance with the left hand opening the arm after hitting the ball. As other mention, hit the ball flat with no spin
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Idk why people are saying “you’re using too much topspin” in high level matches all you use either forehand or backhand it’s both topspin either used for normal returns or a good and fast chaqutia but what I see the problem is it’s that you hit it a little to close your body extend more and the head of the racket should start down and then up or facing the side glass and for the backhand just try to brush more than pushing also another thing you’re giving too much power try to make your hand relaxed never tense it in Padel there’s no situation which you need your hand to be tense even in smashes/3x/4x all of them your hand/wrist has to be relaxed, and when using topspin it’s much better to not push the ball forward that much maybe go half way since you’re using topspin as soon as the ball touches the glass wall it’s gonna go high and if it goes high your opponent will kill you easily and since you’re mostly using topspin don’t torture your wrist just change the grip
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u/iYassr1w ago
form looks good to me
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