Choosing a Shakehand Blade, Starting From the Handle, Part 2
FL becoming mainstream — Zhang Jike also played an important role in driving this. As the fastest Grand Slam winner, his backhand banana flick and forehand loop were widely admired. It is generally thought that FL makes it easier to generate power on over-the-table flicks and forehand loop-drives, especially the backhand flick. As this technique became mainstream, FL grew more and more popular.
Most players now use FL; far fewer use ST. Even a long-time ST user like Jun Mizutani switched ST to FL in 2020. He felt ST was convenient for handling over-the-table balls, with the wrist generating power more easily. But switching to FL, the backhand stroke had more power, and the forehand was also easy.
Kenta Matsudaira liked ST when young, but shaved the handle very thin. By high school and college, for better control, he chose FL. Because he prefers a thin handle, Butterfly built him the Kenta Matsudaira ALC. He feels a thin handle makes forehand-backhand transitions easier, letting him control the ball flexibly. Wang Chuqin feels the same — he finds the 968’s thin handle more comfortable than the Vis’s, because forehand-backhand transitions are more convenient.
Takumi Tanimoto thinks ST lets him adjust his grip at the moment of contact, while FL’s wider butt end feels a bit obstructing. On the forehand he uses a standard grip; on the backhand he uses a shallow grip, which makes it easier to bend the wrist and can greatly increase the spin and explosiveness of the stroke.
I think that, even among FL handles, the fuller the handle, the more small-ball control and forehand-backhand strokes trend toward stable — like the Vis handle; the thinner it is, the more they trend toward flexible and instant adjustment. Of course, the more flexible it is, the easier it is to become unstable. There is also a kind of FL handle, like the FL on the Boll A and Fan A, whose overall arc is a bit straighter than the Vis, with a different slope. I think the backhand stability is actually inferior to the Vis handle, but the forehand loop-drive is easier to fling out, with more punch.
Actually, if you have played both my Heima-tuned KLC and the Korean-special 520X, you should resonate with this. The Heima KLC has a Vis handle; the 520X’s handle is relatively thinner.
Suppose that as Butterfly-signed players, Lin Shidong, Zhang Jike and Fan Zhendong used the same custom ALC recipe. Then from the handle alone, each has its own character. The fuller Vis handle, used by Lin Shidong and Zhang Jike, actually offers more control stability on the backhand. The straighter-lined Fan A handle has more punch on the forehand loop-drive. I had a similar feeling comparing the player-issue Inn ZLC and the Maharu Yoshimura Limited.
On top of that, a wider blade shoulder makes the backhand stroke easier to stabilize and easier to produce better explosiveness. A narrower blade shoulder makes the forehand loop-drive easier to fling out, with more tail power. This is also an important reason some players switch brands but use a handle of similar thickness. Another reason: this way you only need to change the handle, not the blade body, which makes faking easier.
Of course, grip feel is a very personal sensation. This means that, basically, you can adapt to any of them. Once you cannot adapt, changing blades becomes imperative.