Pathetic Handshakes

anoop singh Asked 8 years ago

Hello Alois/Jeff,

Two questions:

1. My forehand swing (before I hit the ball) is long, this is causing 2 issues.. I am brushing the ball and hence my loops are more spinny but less powerful and secondly my recovery is jeopardized. How can I fix it ?

2. Why don't TT players do a more meaningful handshake after the match ? It seems like they sometimes don't even make eye contact not sure why... tennis is different story though...why ?

Thanks,

Anoop

Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago

Hi Anoop,

Try to think about rotating your body from the waist to take the bat back. Then on contact if you want it to go a little faster, just focus on the contact being flatter. Don't worry if the ball goes long to start with. This will be a lot of trial and error to start with to get the right feel.

Regarding the hand shake: This is one of my pet hates as well. The top players need to take some responsibility for this. I am sure the Tennis players feel the same way at the end of a match but still manage to shake hands and acknowledge their opponent. It is not something that you can make rules about so it is probably an education process for the top players.

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Dieter Verhofstadt Posted 8 years ago

Tennis is a much more exhausting game. After a game, the players have battled it out and the loser acknowledges his defeat while the winner graciously greets the opponent. Especially at the top, it is not uncommon to see Federer, Djokovic and Nadal to embrace each other after yet another heroic encounter.

Table tennis is not as physically exhausting. After a match, the loser may feel that he could play a rematch right away. The winner may be happy it's over. Often they have another game ahead on the same day.

There may also be a cultural aspect but I think the lack of physical interaction after the game is mostly due to the nature of the game itself.

Ilia Minkin Posted 8 years ago

I think that when it comes to Chinese players it has to deal with the crazy competition to stay afloat be in the team line-up.

Johan B Posted 8 years ago

My immediate thought was also a cultural difference. Do people normally shake hands in China and Japan? If not, it's not weird that it's not as heartily in sports situations as well.