Backhand Strokes
From TableTennisTraining
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Basic Backhand Strokes
When hitting a backhand stroke, the ball is generally contacted with the bat in front of the body, unlike forehand strokes where the ball is typically contacted beside the body. One side effect of this is that most of the power of the stroke comes from the arm, whereas most of the force of a forehand stroke tends to come from rotation of the upper body just above the waist. Since less of the body's muscles can be used in a backhand loop, they tend to be less powerful than forehand loops. Therefore, many attack-oriented players will often "turn the corner" so as to use their forehand to attack weaker balls sent to their backhand court instead of using a backhand stroke. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule: for a good example of a player known for favoring strong backhand loops, take a look at some of the games of Kreanga Kalinikos.
Although backhand strokes are typically less powerful than forehand strokes, backhand strokes have one big advantage: since they are hit in front of the body and mostly with the arm, it is easy to change the trajectory of backhand shots with only slight modifications of the stroke, making it difficult for your opponent to anticipate where you will hit the ball. Therefore, it's especially important to work on varying shot placement when doing backhand practice, to compensate for the lower speed of the strokes.
Another way some players compensate for the relative weakness of backhand strokes is to use a less spinny rubber such as Anti-spin or Long Pips, seeking to disconcert their opponent by returning a slower than expected ball with a difficult to read amount of spin. Most players who use long pips or antispin rubber play with it on their backhand side, although some will occasionally "twiddle the bat" (flip their bat before hitting the ball to use the other rubber) to use it on their forehand strokes (twiddling takes a fair amount of skill), and a very few will actually use long-pips on both sides of their bat.
Basic Backhand Counter
The force for the backhand counter stroke comes primarily from opening the elbow joint and hitting forward into the ball with the flat of the bat. The ball will automatically arc upwards somewhat in counter stroke as it's rising off the table when it hits your bat.
When attacking a topspin ball with a backhand stroke, it's typically easier to use a counter stroke instead of a loop stroke, as it takes less power to hit a fast counter than it does to hit a fast loop. The ability to deceptively vary the placement along with the shortness of the backhand counter stroke make it an excellent "surprise" attack weapon in a rally.
Backhand Wrist Counter
One of the quickest strokes in table tennis is a "wrist counter" stroke. With this stroke, most of the force comes from snapping the wrist rather than the elbow. This stroke is moderately effective when using a shakehands or penhold grip, but it becomes incredibly powerful when used with a pistol-grip bat, since the flat of the blade is perfectly aligned with the path of the wrist snap. Note that the wrist snap referred to here is different from the wrist snap used to add sidespin to a loop. Here, we refer to a forceful outward snapping of the knuckles during the snap, whereas during a loop wrist snap, the knuckles move sideways in a line (and the wrist's motion is much more restricted).
Backhand Block
Since most players find it difficult to develop a strong backhand attack, it's critical to at least develop a strong backhand block that allows you to keep the ball in play. Penholder players, in particular, will often develop a strong backhand block, since their opponents will often try to keep the ball on their backhand to prevent them from attacking the ball with a powerful forehand loop.
Backhand Push
Backhand Touch Shot Against Backspin
A touch shot is a shot where the player utilizes the spin already on the ball to return the ball properly instead of introducing his own spin. To this extent, blocking a topspin by closing the bat as needed or blocking a sidespin by appropiately turning the bat sideways can both be viewed as touch shots.
One unusual shot I've seen several penhold players employ to good effect is to hit a soft flat shot near the bottom of the ball with their bat open as if they were about to push back the ball. This shot can only be used when they receive a backspin push and works most effectively when the ball they receive has a lot of backspin (if hit against a topspin ball, it will cause a long pop-up, similar to attempting a push against a topspin ball). This shot returns a medium speed topspin ball to the opponent, who is typically expecting a backspin push instead, so it can be very disconcerting. This stroke can also be performed using other grips: I suspect that it is simply not taught much as a technique here in the USA.
Backhand Loop
While the loop is the main attacking shot in table tennis, it's not as commonly employed on the backhand compared to the forehand. This is mainly because looping requires a lot of power and it's easier to generate power using the legs and upper torso when performing a forehand loop. When hitting a loop, you want to scrape the top of the ball to impart it with topspin to bring it down onto the table. Like the forehand loop, there are many different variation of the backhand loop: you can play a slower loop with more spin or hit a faster, straighter loop with less spin and less control (it is often wise to open up with the slower loop then go for a fast loop or counter after the return). You can also play backhand loops with side spin making it harder for the opponent to time and play. Note that you can generate a lot more angle with a well placed sidespin loop that spins away from the opponent.
