Wrist Action

I've noticed that a lot of players, such as Timo Boll and Michael Maze, and a lot of players that I've seen play at my club, and on YouTube, have a strange wrist action.

They cock/bend their wrist, and keep it quite tight when playing shots. Does anybody know the advantages and disadvantages of doing this? Thanks.

to get pure backspin, wrist perfectly straight, u may think it is, but i may be off by a bit

it reduces damage to the wrist

What is everyone's opinion on how the wrist should move during a stroke. Should it move along the same plane as the forearm or should it "flap"? In other words, should you bend it back and give the ball a slapping motion with the wrist?

Pjotr wrote: I think it depends on the stroke you want to do. If you're doing a backhand active block I would say yes, you can 'flap' the wrist. In most cases I wouldn't do that. When doing a forehand topspin loop additional spin could be achieved by moving the wrist in the same 'plane' as your forearm (but it is not easy). The forward movent of the ball (speed) I obtain by waist, body and shoulder 'torsion'.

Ok, that makes sense, to derive your power from the waist and shoulder rotation while keeping the wrist stable. I keep thinking about the "whip" action where the end of the whip moves slow but once the motion reaches the tip... it snaps!! I think of the wrist as the tip of the whip if you will.   

I'm not a pro, but still I use a lot of wrist action. I have to because I have a disability in my neck and shoulder that prevent "normal" movement and fluidity. As a result, I've developed a very quick, unpredictable game. This mostly helps me.

i think the main reason to bend the wrist on a forehand loop is that it will properly align the paddle at the moment of contact during the most powerful part of the stroke so that only top spin is created. If you were to take the same exact stroke but straighten out the wrist, you would get some top side spin as well.
As for keeping the wrist still, it just helps with consistency. It's easy to acquire a consistent stroke with your arm as a large muscle system, but since your wrist is so variable in it's motion it is much harder as a slight change in angle or timing of movement will send the ball long or into the net. That being said if you do master the timing of movement it can add spin or speed to your stroke. On serves for example, if you keep your wrist still there is a smaller margin of error, but if you train your wrist to a movement you can generate much more spin.

and no it won't give you carpel tunnel syndrome