Alright, today we're working on the forehand topspin loop. Alright, today we're working on the forehand topspin loop. The first key point is to lower your center of gravity and keep your belly button parallel to the table. Second, your body isn't stable during your loop; your form becomes loose upon contact. While it's not overly exaggerated, I can see that you're twisting your body instead of rotating it. Your body should move, but it must be a powerful, unified rotation, like a machine, not a simple twist. You must keep your body compact and engaged; this allows your arm to be relaxed. Third, you have a problem with your backswing. You feel jammed because your timing is off. Your mistake is waiting for the ball to bounce before you start your backswing. The correct timing is to start your backswing the moment the opponent's ball leaves their racket. For a topspin loop, you must complete your backswing early, otherwise you'll be fine on the first shot but get progressively more jammed. You're waiting until the ball is almost on you or has already hit the table to take your racket back, which is definitely too late. Fourth, your biggest issue right now is that your arm is too far from your body. When looping, you should bring your arm close to your body first, and then open up for the stroke. All of your loops start with the arm far away, so the radius of your swing is too large, making it too late to control the ball, which is why it goes long. The correct motion is to start close to your body, and then accelerate out to hit the ball. The body's rotation should be powerful and machine-like; it requires effort, not just a casual turn. It's not enough to just turn; you have to rotate with force. Because your arm is generating force, your body must be stable. It's like martial arts: you need a solid stance to generate power from your upper body. A common misconception is thinking that any rotation is enough. You must actively engage your core and rotate forcefully, otherwise the form is empty. Okay, your body mechanics are much better now. It's the same for your backhand. Your hip rotation must be explosive, not a gentle turn. The power from your body has nothing to do with speed; even a slow rotation must be forceful. Your current movement is a twist, and that type of motion is ineffective. Furthermore, that twisting motion will negatively affect your recovery for the next shot. In reality, your core should be tight at all times, just like when you're running. It never relaxes. From the moment I pick up my paddle, whether serving or receiving, my body is always engaged. The body never relaxes, but the arm can. Your body appears to rotate, but its power isn't actually being transferred to the ball. This also causes a disconnect between your arm and body. The worst-case scenario is that you'll mishit any ball that doesn't land exactly where you expect it. See? When your body is compact, the quality of your shot improves, even without using much arm strength. The power comes from the body. Second key point: always keep your arm close to your body during the backswing. Your hand should be close to your body, with a relaxed feel. For a topspin loop, the backswing doesn't need to go behind you; next to your thigh is enough. As you hit the ball, your arm should follow an outward arc, moving away. Then, as you prepare for the next shot, bring it back close to your thigh. If you keep your swing close to your body, you'll make far fewer unforced errors and your stroke will be more compact. Otherwise, you have to compensate by shortening your swing or reducing power, neither of which will produce a high-quality shot. For every loop, you must start the stroke close to your body before accelerating outwards. A common amateur mistake is starting the backswing far from the body and finishing close. Professionals do the opposite: they start close and extend through the ball. If you watch the top players, their follow-through is fully extended. We need to learn from the first part of their stroke: the compact backswing. Many amateur players have it backward. They start the backswing far out and finish it near the body, which is incorrect. Your backswing timing is too slow. Against topspin, you must start your backswing the moment your opponent strikes the ball. Your rhythm is: ball is coming, then you swing back. The correct rhythm is: opponent hits, you swing back. You have to be quick with your backswing against a topspin ball, or you'll be forced to block or punch it. When looping topspin, your ready position for the backswing should be next to your thigh. Don't lift your arm up before the ball comes, as that leads to errors. Keep your racket next to your thigh, and start your forward swing as soon as the ball bounces, then recover back to your thigh. Also, your non-playing arm is an issue; you're keeping it locked. Your non-playing arm must move with your body for balance. When I rotate for a forehand, my left arm rotates with me. This is key for coordination. Right now, that arm is static, which makes your entire motion feel uncoordinated. Exactly, just like that. See? You look way more coordinated. If your non-playing arm doesn't move with your body, it's easy to take your racket too far back, and your power transfer is inefficient. Don't flick your wrist. You're making one of the biggest mistakes in looping: flicking the wrist at the point of contact. The reason your last shot went long is because you had an unnecessary wrist flick at contact. The reason you flick your wrist is that your racket face is too open on the backswing. To compensate at contact, you subconsciously flick it closed. The correct technique is to have a slightly closed racket angle to "cover" the ball, which allows you to absorb and redirect the opponent's power. When brushing the ball, your racket angle needs to be slightly closed to wrap around it. Your problem is that when you make contact with the ball, your racket face is open, and then you try to close it as you follow through, which causes that unstable wrist flick. You're doing it unconsciously, so we need to fix the root cause. If you watch slow-motion replays of the pros, don't you see that their racket face is always slightly closed, wrapping around the ball? In high-speed rallies, the incoming ball is not only fast but also has heavy spin. To control it, your racket face must be slightly closed at contact, never open. Close it a bit. Your wrist is too loose; you need to keep it firm. So, can you use your wrist in a topspin loop? Yes, but only a tiny amount. And notice, when I use my wrist, the angle of the racket face remains consistent. I'm not flipping it; I'm rotating it while maintaining the closed angle. If the ball is too fast, you shouldn't use your wrist at all. Just lock it and drive through the ball. Now that you're looping from further back, your swing is bigger, and the demands on arc and power are higher. Even a tiny wrist flick will cause an error. With a drive, because you're closer to the table with a smaller stroke, you have a higher margin for error. Good shot! Next, let's address a common problem: you're looping well, but as soon as the opponent changes the rhythm, you can't make the shot. This usually happens in one of four situations: the return is faster, slower and shorter, higher, or has a very wide angle. First, if the opponent's return is fast, I simply make my backswing smaller—about one-third shorter than usual. Against fast balls, timing and rhythm are the most important things. Second, for slow, short balls, you must move your feet. Your footwork needs rhythm. For example: one-two adjustment steps, third step to rotate, fourth step is the left foot moving in to hit. Avoid chaotic, small steps. Stay with the rhythm! Whether the ball is fast or slow, the fundamentals of your loop stroke remain the same. You just increase the frequency of the motion; don't change it into a push. good shot! For slow balls, get your center of gravity down. The more you lunge forward, the lower you need to be. You missed that shot because your center of gravity was too high. A high center of gravity makes your arm swing upward; only by staying low can you keep your racket over the ball. When lunging for a short ball, you need to lean your body forward, but you're still too upright. Look how low I am—my hand is almost touching the table surface. You can't do this without getting your body down. When you step in, especially close to the net, the stroke relies more on the forearm. Keep the motion compact. For example, after a normal loop, if I see the next ball is short, my backswing immediately becomes smaller. As I move in, the stroke is all forearm; the upper arm is not involved. For any short ball, you must control the size of your swing. It's the same on the backhand side. If you're in a fast rally and a short ball comes, you step in and use a small, quick punch. Now, let's solve the problem of wide-angled balls. Remember this rule: wherever your hand needs to be, your feet must get there first. If the ball goes wide, my feet move wide. If it goes to the other side, my feet move there. This way, you'll always be on time. Your feet must react and adjust based on what your hand needs to do. For example, on a short ball, my hand needs to reach forward, so my feet immediately step in. For a deep ball, my hand needs space to hit the ball, so my body immediately pushes back to create room for the shot. Think of your racket hand as the boss and your feet as the driver. Wherever the boss needs to go, the driver must get there instantly. That's the coordination you need.