Club Match

Yah ma long is contacting in front of the body because his trunk is rotating. Think of your two shoulders as creating a triangle. When your playing arm goes back your left shoulder rotates as well because you should be turning your trunk. Contact is always in the front tip of the triangle, doesn't matter cross court or down the line.. You ask any top player or any competent coach they will tell you the same. What is silly is that this is even being debated; I mean this is fh looping 101. Also, unless you are holding the racket really unorthodoxly, grip has nothing to do with not being able to contact the ball in front of the body.

Exactly. Look at his shoulders, the ball is in between them.  If he was contacting to the side that would mean the ball would be parallel to his right shoulder.

Well if he is trying to say not to contact his fh off the bounce than that is correct. If the ball doesn't have much pace then it will be a shorter ball which means you have to extend more forward. 

Na you don't suck ringer. I have seen your videos and your results at the MDTTC tournaments. You are an up and coming player. Keep fighting!

 I don't know enough about Ma Long's situation to make a judgement, but i learned long ago that hitting the ball in front of you keeps the ball, the table and the player all in view, it makes you quicker, covers the crossover point more easily and enables you to track your opponent.

It might be different at top world level,  (Its not) but I guess not many of us are gonna get there.

Don't get obsessed with technique perfection guys, as long as it is solid and falls within the boundaries of what constitutes an acceptable level of power and consistency, it can be part of a quality players game. Have a look at world class players who don't have what is currently perceived to be a 'perfect technique' ( most of them) and ask yourself how they ever managed to get so good.

 Kreanga Anyone ? or how about Schlager I wish I had their technique flaws.

Yah good point. Technique is not the subject it is more about having the right approach to the shot. By crossover point do you mean the cross-step movement from playing a step around fh to a fh in the fh side or corner. If so, yes it makes that shot more effective because when you turn and play a quality fh to the opponents bh or middle you are almost always going to get a ball back to the bh side of the table, so then you know you can sit on the bh corner and play another strong fh. However, if your opponent is really strong and plays your quality fh turn down the line you will have less time because by taking the ball earlier you are also getting a return from opponent back quicker, making covering the wide fh more difficult. However, if it is a strong fh step around you hit, not only is the likelihood of the opponent changing directions lower, the likelihood of the opponent changing directions and playing a quality block or counterspin is even lower.