OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I know whom you're thinking of (and he was my coach for 6 years), but he no longer coaches me. My new coach is a Major League player, an all-out attacker; consequently, he doesn't have any in-depth knowledge of chopping strategies.

I asked my chopper coach (around 2600 usatt) the same question -- he said, maybe they can chop the 1st ball... but the top men's players will generate too much spin/speed/power for someone to keep chopping. The attacker has too much time to load up, and the ball will be too difficult to control/chop again. Women aren't as powerful, so they chop more on FH and on the same token, fish less, since they lack the power to put away balls from far away.

I mean, that would be the same reason you still see OX LP blockers in the women's top 100, but none in the men's.

However, this info means absolutely NOTHING to players at our level The coach made sure to drive that point home to me. He commented, "But, at your level... chop is still good." Hahaha...

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

When I first started playing as a chopper, I always used the lob/fish on my fh because it was easier for me to do. I always found it difficult to get into a good position for a controlled fh chop..
Last year I had the opportunity to practice with a high level chopper and he told me that the most important thing for a forehand chop (also for bh chops) is to be ready to play the stroke. You have to hold the bat high to be able to execute the stroke quickly. It is also important to predict the topspin into your forehand. You can try to force your opponent to play into your forehand by playing a good quality chop or push to his/her forehand so you won’t get a powerful topspin. For me these are the situations I use my forehand chop. It works really well if you can push the previous ball with good quality and force your opponent to open the rally with a slow topspin.

It also helps if you have the right equipment. It gets increasingly harder the faster your rubber/blade are.
I would also recommend watching instructional videos on chopping. There is a pretty good video of Joo Se Hyuk with English subtitles where he explains his technique. It helped me a lot.

Yeah, I don't disagree with his reasoning; however, there are still a few top choppers who do chop (Kang Dongsoo, Wang Yang, Muramatsu, and Ma Te immediately come to mind). My guess is that what your coach told you is probably Ma Te's thought process when he decides whether or not to chop against a given opponent. So, if someone's loop is less dangerous, and he likes to loop over and over again, Ma Te then goes for an all-out chopping game.

Again, I am speculating, but I don't think I am that far off from the truth.

Thanks for your suggestion, but no, we're not discussing 'chopping 101' or chopping basics here. The conversation revolves around something like this: Okay, clearly, Ma Te knows how to chop. Why does he FH chop against person A and fish against person B?

Sorry, then I misunderstood your first question.
For me the decision between chop and lob has a lot to do with chopping basics and (of course on a different level) it is also visible in the videos of the pro defenders who use the forehand chop. If you take Ma Te for example you can see that he uses his forehand chop when he has the time to get into the right position to execute a good quality stroke. He sometimes even twiddles and plays the forehand chop with his pips. He lobs when he gets a fast topspin to his forehand or when he is not in a good position to play a stable forehand chop. Because on that level a weak forehand chop is an easy point for the opponent. At least that’s what I notice when watching him or other pro choppers play.

For us casual players... I think the bigger problem is that FH chopping leads to extra movement, and not a whole lot of benefit!

Say you do a good FH chop at the proper distance (farther back) with a good stroke -- what happens? The opponent pushes... So, now you've got to run forward and push back or try to step around, going for a FH shot. Maybe you try to twiddle for a BH loop, but probably not. After you push, a good player will reloop to drive you back! Now, you're running in and out each shot playing a game of mental attrition and physical endurance.

Compare that scenario to one where you just fish the ball back! Most will not try to dropshot this ball, as it's kind of risky if you do a decent fish. So, you're able to maintain your distance from the table, waiting for a turn to fire your own attack if they play a return a bit too soft.

So, for me, at the amateur level (not high end 2200+ either)... your question should be, HOW MUCH DO I WANT TO MOVE?!

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

I could be wrong, but I think another reason some of the top pros choose to FH chop is because it actually is a safer shot to do based on their feeling of rhythm/control over the rally, and in some sense, trying to react to a fast shot with a chop compared to just attempting to fish the ball in some scenarios is "easier"... not really sure how to explain it, its just what i felt
I kinda got this feeling when i was watching Joo and Yuto
and I was also watching Gionis who generally fishes well on the FH, but sometimes trying to fish some shots, it *looked* like it was risky, and maybe a bit of a struggle
could be wrong because what do i know

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Blade: Victas Koji Matsushita Offensive FL
FH: Victas VS > 401 2.0
BH: Victas Spectol S1 1.5

Rating: Recreational Player