Today, let's continue focusing on the fundamentals of the forehand stroke. The first key point is the backswing. For a forehand drive, your backswing should be at the side of your body. A common mistake is pulling it back behind you. A backswing that goes behind your body will only result in a slower, weaker shot. Once you develop this bad habit, generating power becomes very difficult. So remember, the forehand drive backswing is at your side. While the drive is here at the side, the block is here in front. A forehand loop starts near your thigh. A forehand loop starts near your thigh. When looping against backspin, lower your center of gravity; the racket starts around your hip level. Many amateurs have incorrect backswing positions, causing them to either get jammed by the ball or fail to generate power efficiently. The height of your backswing—side, front, thigh, or hip level—is different for each shot. However, many amateurs use the same backswing height and position for every type of ball. This means you can only hit the ball well when it's fed perfectly to you. Once your feet and center of gravity start moving, you'll make many unforced errors on your attacks. Second, let's talk about the racket angle and forearm position during the backswing. When blocking, your forearm should be higher than your elbow. Use your elbow as a reference point for height; this makes blocking easier. Many amateurs drop their forearm, which causes the ball to go off the table. For a forehand drive, keep your forearm level with your elbow; they should be parallel. Keep the forearm level. If it's too high, your drive becomes a push. If it's too low, you'll end up just brushing the ball. So, it should be basically level with your elbow. For a forehand loop, your forearm starts lower than your elbow and finishes higher. For a forehand loop, your forearm starts lower than your elbow and finishes higher. Understand the relationship between your forearm and elbow, and your forehand framework will become much more stable. For a block, the forearm is higher than the elbow. For a forehand drive, the forearm is parallel to the elbow. For a forehand loop, the forearm is lower than the elbow. For any loop where you want to create friction, remember to drop your forearm. This also applies to backspin balls; if you want to loop, drop it down. If I want to flat hit the ball, I raise it up. Get this right, and your stroke framework will be fundamentally stable. The third key point is about the racket angle. When you block, does the racket angle change? It doesn't. Your racket face itself should not wobble, but it's guided downward by the forearm. What about a forehand drive? Does the racket face change? It does not. So you must remember: in any hitting technique like the drive, there should be no movement or wobble in your racket face. Absolutely no wobble. If you want to hit the ball hard, you must grip the racket firmly, whether you use a shakehand or penhold grip. This kind of wobble is especially detrimental. It happens when your wrist isn't strong enough to stay locked, causing it to wobble. Once you keep your racket face stable from backswing through contact, your shot becomes consistent and you'll make fewer errors. Watch as I generate power. So what causes errors? Wobbling the racket right at impact. So many players have this problem. Even a slight wobble at impact will cause an error. This also applies to blocking when he loops at me. Therefore, this kind of wrist wobble is the worst thing you can do in table tennis. This forward-and-backward movement shows that your wrist lacks strength and can't stay locked. It should be tensed and stable through the backswing, contact, and follow-through. Grip the racket tightly. Especially at the moment of acceleration, only a stable racket face will ensure your hits land on the table. Now, let's talk about the loop. If I want to power-loop a ball with light backspin, does my racket angle change? Actually, it doesn't. The more you incorporate hitting into your stroke, the less your racket face should move. When I looped that ball just now, my wrist didn't move at all. Because the incoming ball had no spin, his push was passive and also had no spin. Against this kind of passive return, I can even flat-hit it and it will land, because the racket face is stable. When your stroke is more hit-dominant, keeping the racket face stable is the key to consistency. I don't think you wobble on purpose. It's that when you try to generate power, your wrist can't handle the force, or your fingers aren't gripping the racket tightly enough. So when you accelerate and the force transfers, the racket vibrates. This vibration is a major factor in your inconsistency. So, what should the racket angle be for a hitting-based stroke? If I close my racket like a standard loop and try to hit through it, the ball will go into the net. But if I use the racket angle of a forehand drive to hit it, it goes over, right? My feeling is, if I want to hit through the ball, there will be less brushing. Imagine the ball is a clock face. 3 o'clock is the side, 12 o'clock is the top. I need to contact the ball around the 2 o'clock position. If I start by closing my racket to the 1 o'clock position, any attempt to hit through it will send the ball into the net. I need to open the racket face a bit. Contacting at 3 o'clock is a pure flat hit, and the projection angle is too high. If I hit it that flat, I'd have to use a 'flicking hit,' a style from the 70s. If I want to make solid contact, I aim for the 2 o'clock position. This feels very reliable. Let me demonstrate against a couple of backspin balls. But the backspin can't be too heavy. If she chops it hard, you could still hit it, but the success rate would be low. But against a light backspin like this, you can see I'm hitting a solid spot on the ball without flipping my wrist. But against a light backspin like this, you can see I'm hitting a solid spot on the ball without flipping my wrist. I don't recommend hitting through backspin; I'm just demonstrating a point. The point is, when hitting, if you close your racket angle like a loop, you'll hit the net. So, by opening your racket angle slightly, you can even hit a backspin ball over the net. Okay, now for looping. Watch closely and see if there are any changes in my racket face. Okay, now for looping. Watch closely and see if there are any changes in my racket face. If we say hitting at the 2 o'clock position is one-dimensional, then brushing the ball is three-dimensional. I believe the biggest difference in a loop is the 'curved friction'. Hitting is contacting a single point. Looping is about wrapping around the ball, from a point to a surface. This is what 'curved friction' means. You can't just hit a single spot. Let me imitate a common amateur loop to show why it often fails. After the serve, is the racket closed to the 1 o'clock position? Or is it open to the 3 o'clock position? Then, they start to make compensations. Players who close the racket too much start to scoop the ball. At least that way it gets over the net. Players who open the racket too much start to flip their wrist over. Over time, these become ingrained bad habits, because they are only contacting a single point on the ball. If they close the racket too much and keep hitting the net, they learn to scoop it upwards. Those who keep the racket too open find the ball flies off the table, so they learn to roll their wrist over to press it down. So, you can think of looping as a three-dimensional concept. For example, on a backspin ball, do you think my contact point is at 1 o'clock? That's impossible. If I tried to contact every ball at 1 o'clock, it would just drop into the net. When I loop a backspin ball, my contact path is from 2 o'clock, to 1:30, to 1:00, to 12:30. I need to execute a curved brushing motion. The friction follows a curve, but your arm motion doesn't have to. I brush the ball, then I fix my wrist and forearm, and accelerate through. That's the motion. First brush, then accelerate. It looks good. It's not about making a big, loopy arm swing. When I loop, it's never a single point of contact; it's always curved friction. So what part of your arm creates this curve? It's not the upper arm, forearm, or wrist. It's the fingers. It's your fingers. Imagine them guiding the racket to brush the ball from the 2 o'clock to the 12:30 or 1 o'clock position. You need that displacement, that curve, that arc. Once your wrist creates that arc and friction, and your fingers engage, then you accelerate, and the motion is perfect. Let me demonstrate. Watch as I loop slowly. See that motion? When your fingers engage and the stroke is executed, it's all about brushing and then finishing with acceleration. Brush, then accelerate. Look at that motion. Isn't that the professional loop you see on TV? Add more power and acceleration, and the shot will have real quality. So, understand this: you shouldn't use your entire arm to create the ball's arc or friction. You need to use your fingers. During the backswing, the first key is to prepare for the friction. In this phase, let your fingers create the curved brushing motion. After brushing, lock your wrist, forearm, and body. Then, use your body to drive forward and finish the stroke. That's a complete loop. To transition from a drive to a loop, the biggest difference is in your stroke mechanics. If I try to use a curved, brushing motion for a drive, you'll see it adds spin. And notice the trajectory. It's problematic. From close to the table, your shot becomes slow and high, while your opponent's is fast and low. You can't maintain a rally. Therefore, a forehand drive is fundamentally a forward, hitting motion. So when you transition from a drive to a loop from mid-distance, you can't just keep pushing forward and hitting a single point. That's the problem. It needs to become three-dimensional. Watch me. Now there's an arc. Look closely at the trajectory of this loop; it's very clear. This is a true topspin loop. Third, let's discuss the relationship between your body, the backswing, and the follow-through. Many players have poor spatial awareness. You're either too far or too jammed. This is an issue with front-to-back distance. There's also an issue with side-to-side distance. Let's break down this problem of spatial awareness, starting with the front-to-back distance. For me, the ideal front-to-back distance for a forehand loop against backspin is about one arm's length away from the ball. Extend your racket arm—that's your golden zone. So, if the ball is deep near the end line in this zone, you can execute your backswing and stroke directly. But if the opponent serves a half-long ball and you just stand there waiting to backswing, then the mistake is on you. If their first bounce is near the middle of the table, it's guaranteed to be a half-long, slow ball. Shouldn't your feet start moving? Whether it's your right foot or left foot, you need to adjust your position. Read their body language. Whether they serve or push, if they use a big motion, the ball will be deep. If they use a slow, soft push, the ball will be short. In that moment, shouldn't my body move in to adjust? You need to develop a sense for moving your body to find the optimal hitting point for the ball. This will open up your game. Always move to the ball. Where is the ball? Here or there? You have to find it yourself. Your body's job is to create the best possible hitting environment for your hand. Think of your legs as servants for your arm. When a short ball comes, I might move slowly, but I must move forward. I might be late, but I still have to move. Over time, you will develop the habit of using your legs and center of gravity to find the ball, and your game will naturally improve. Too many players are glued to the floor. This is because when the ball comes, you're too focused on just hitting it back. Keep your hands quietly in your ready position. Let your feet get into position first, then execute the backswing. There is plenty of time. In reality, especially against backspin, the incoming ball is not as fast as you think. The problem is, you see the ball and your hand reacts too quickly. It's a reflex. Instead, keep your hands ready, use your feet to adjust, and only after your feet are in position should you start your backswing. There is always enough time. 99% of amateur players move their hands before their feet. You feel that if you move your hand, you can get away with not moving your feet. Against a no-spin ball, you might still make the shot. This leads to the bad habit of playing flat-footed. When your opponent gets better and adds variation to their pushes, your hands-only approach stops working. ] Only then do you realize your feet never moved. Force yourself: keep your hands in the ready position. If your feet and center of gravity don't move, your hands go on strike. If I can't get there, fine, I'll just watch the ball go by. I must move my feet before my hands can move. Only by doing this can you build the habit of 'feet first, then hands,' which will allow you to handle unfamiliar shots and beat players at different levels. When playing against someone new, you're not used to their ball placement. This is why you're always reacting to the ball instead of proactively moving to it. Once your footwork is active, you can beat 70% of amateur players. When your ability to generate friction is good, you can beat 90% of them. And when you learn to adjust your game, people will start asking you to coach them. Now for lateral movement. Your right foot is crucial. For a right-handed player, every forehand shot requires your feet to get into position first before you can effectively reach the ball. I can't just stand in my forehand corner; I'd be late for every ball to my backhand. In this situation, your right foot needs to initiate the movement. It provides the best explosive power. First, to initiate movement, your feet can't be flat and heavy. If you play like this, with your weight locked on your right leg, of course you can't move. What's the second reason you can't move your feet? Because your entire focus is on smashing the ball, leaving your other side unprotected. After you hit a backhand down the line, if you just stand there, your opponent will definitely exploit your wide-open forehand. So, after you hit that shot down the line, shouldn't you instinctively shuffle towards the middle to cover your forehand? When you play to the middle, you should also adjust to a more central position. When you play to their forehand, you need to move even more to the center to cover both corners. But you stay put. This is especially true after a serve-and-attack. You try to serve like a pro from the corner, but then you just stand there and watch. How can you possibly be ready for the next shot? You must practice the lunge step and the side-shuffle. You need to train these footwork patterns to cover your forehand from the backhand side. You have to protect it. You must be able to take a big step, so from here you can reach the wide line. You must get familiar with these footwork patterns. Then you won't have to fear attacks to your forehand. Remember, we are playing table tennis; the ball isn't playing you. When the ball arrives at different spots, you must always be finding your position. Fast, slow, short, long—always find your position. Look at my body's ready state. As long as I can generate friction, I won't have trouble with his serve. Why do so many people struggle to loop on the forehand? You're not misreading the spin; you're simply too late. By the time you get there, there's no time to brush the ball or execute your stroke properly, so you miss the serve return. Take a short serve, for example. Are you misreading the spin? No. It's because you stood there frozen, didn't watch the first bounce, and were too slow to move in. Of course, when you get to the ball, you pop it up and have to quickly retreat defensively. You're not misreading the spin; you're misjudging the position.