Forehand smash technique

Andrew Pape Asked 13 years ago

Hi Alois,

Years ago, a coach saw my huge f/hand back-swing and told me to use minimal back-swing. It took me a long time to eliminate this back-swing. Now I can hit f/hand drives consistently and another coach said my f/hand is very natural. I still had the problem of back-swing when top-spinning, which seemed odd to me, perhaps indicating that the counter-hit and the top-spin are 2 entirely separate shots. I've reduced the looping swing now, and am doing better. But my f/hand smash is terrible. I go to the trouble to get the ball set up and then I miss the "easy" put-away. My practice partner tells me that I'm taking a back-swing when I shouldn't. Overall, this seems to imply that the drive, loop, and smash are essentially different shots, as when I master one, I still have to master the others. I think the smash may take longer to fix because smashes are few and far between.

I have practiced against my partner, but I'm not getting enough repetition. The robot is no good, as it can't lob. I'm wondering about multi-ball: would it be better if my partner tossed up ball after ball so that I get higher frequency hitting? I'm told to start the bat higher, have no back-swing, and aim downwards so the ball doesn't go off the end. At the moment, I'm playing the smash forwards too much, and they're going off the table. My practice partner says my smash looks like a loop gone wrong, even though I think I'm getting a flat contact.

Any ideas?

Cheers,

Andrew.

Alois Rosario Answered 13 years ago

Hi Andrew,

Firstly, I would do some multi- ball practice first to get the reularity of the smash and get the feel of it.  It may be that you are hitting it more like a topspin than a smash.  Starting higher is an important factor but also hitting the ball flatter to get the speed and the ball to go straight onto the table.

Often the problem is not that you can't smash but you may find it difficult to transition from the topspin to the smash.  They are a different starting position.  I find with a lot of players that they tighten up in the shoulder when they go to smash compared to the topspin because it is on a different height level.

So as a next step to your ulti-ball training also do one ball lower that you topspin and the next ball high which you smash.  Keep alternating between the two.  

The final step would be to do a few low balls and then randomly one ball high that you need to change and smash. This will get you to practice the transitioning between the two.

Give it a try and let me know if it improves.