Angel is our visiting/semi-resident professional. He has videos on YouTube, look for Angel Hernandez to see his posts. He plays professionally in men's doubles.
He dropped by the Downs a couple of times over the holidays and I was lucky enough to play with him a couple of times and against him, too.
Aside from all the things he does well, he has a dink action that I've not seen before. It looks to me that he has an open paddle face, i.e., facing a bit towards the sky, and the stroke seems to be totally vertical. He does not seem to lift the ball or push it. What this stroke does is pop the ball up and forward and with top spin.
A version of dinking theory would categorize all dinks as either lifts or pushes. Lift for short shots, and push the ball for longer shots. Angel's version is not covered by this model.
The forward motion is provided by the speed of the ball when he hits it. All he provides is the open paddle that transforms the momentum into some forward and upward motion and the top spin.
These balls don't rise much over the net and then they kick a bit when they hit. He is very good at placing them at the kitchen line and his directional control is also very good.
I've found this stroke is not easy to hit without some practice. I think a soft grip is essential and then the usual trust not to try to help the ball over the net.
Try bouncing a ball on your paddle then altering the face angle and letting the ball hit it. See what happens with distance and direction.
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