The last two weeks have been very interesting table tennis weeks for me for a few reasons.

 I've made some major breakthroughs with my forehand topspin recently. My forehand topspin has always been a limiting factor for my success at the highest level of world table tennis. My technique hasn't had the power, versatility or difficulty needed to trouble top players. I've felt that my backhand can hold its own against anyone in the world but unfortunately my weaker side has caused me problems. I've been working extensively with national coach Brett Clarke for the last year to try to improve the technique and execution of my forehand. It's been a long process where I've tried to chip away at it bit by bit. I generally don't feel that I pick up new shots or techinques vey quickly and instead have to keep working away and repeating them over and over again for any changes to stick.

 My forehand has evolved over the years to basically back up my backhand. Wheras my backhand topspin flows and I can get the most out of using my wrist, arm and body together, my forehand is more rigid with fewer moving parts. To use an equivalent example - watch the tennis tomorrow and notice how the top players use their wrists and forearms to roll over the top of the ball right at the point of contact. Then think about how you or I would hit a tennis ball and it is probably with a straight arm and very little movement in the stroke except for the arm moving forwards to meet the ball. Brett introduced me to this conecpt of the multi segmented stroke - basically multiple parts moving in conjunction with each other to increase the velocity of your racket on impact with the ball. I'd always been able to do this naturally with my backhand wheras I hadn't with my forehand.

 So the other day Brett had been thinking about Dave Zalcberg's forehand topspin which is a great shot and very difficult to play due to the amount of spin, dip and kick on the ball. Brett slowed video footage down and noticed how Dave finishes his shot - with the wrist following through completely until it almost bounces and goes limp as it reaches the end of its mobility range. Note that the wrist needs to be very relaxed for this to be possible. I tried the new shot and felt an immediate improvement in the speed and spin of my forehand topspin. It made perfect sense - this is exactly what I do (and preach about) for my backhand loop but have been unable to put 2 and 2 together for my forehand.

 I was pretty excited about this revelation. I've always been hesitant to implement technical advances into my normal match play game. The fear of new advances having a detrimental effect on my results has often delayed and deterred me. This has been both negative and positive - I would certainly have progressed much further in many areas of my game if I'd been more open to change. However my stubborness and general discipline when it comes to being able to play strokes the same way over and over again has gotten me where I am.

 But this time I decided I was going to make a conscious effort in trying to work the new technique into my game as soon as possible. So this meant I would be going out on court for the first week of the new Victorian Premier League on Wednesday night with an untested technique that I'd only been developing for a few days. And what better timing than when my St Kilda Cricket team came up against league favourites Redang Bay Resort, Malaysia featuring Miao Miao and George Tang?

 More to follow....