Tactics against a mid-court looper

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There are several players I play whose type of play is to take a step or two back and just loop the ball off both wings. They're really good at it, and once they get going, it's hard to win the point. They're also excellent lobbers and retrievers, so it's very difficult to hit through them. I thought I would hit one short, then long, then short, etc, but they seem to anticipate this pretty well and I haven't been too successful with that tactic.

Any suggestions would be welcome.
 
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Good points. I suppose I could also pin them to one side, then hit far to the other corner and force them to run. Or open my points up with hard pushes, making it harder for them to get into their comfortable looping rhythm.
 
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There are a few things one can do. The main thing is to make 'em feel uncomfortable.
Give them balls they don't like, like keepin it short (at least double bounce). Play to the ellbow or into their body and then change to wide angles so they are forced to stay on their toes.
All that being said is still no guarantee, especially when loopers are warmed up, so try to not let them reach that point.
When someone gets comfortable and loops everything there's not much you can do except counterloop and block better than he/she loops.
 
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There are a few things one can do. The main thing is to make 'em feel uncomfortable.
Give them balls they don't like, like keepin it short (at least double bounce). Play to the ellbow or into their body and then change to wide angles so they are forced to stay on their toes.
All that being said is still no guarantee, especially when loopers are warmed up, so try to not let them reach that point.
When someone gets comfortable and loops everything there's not much you can do except counterloop and block better than he/she loops.

Nice input - thanks. I also considered instead of hitting fast loops deep to them, which they feed off of like a shark in bloody water, I could hit them slow spinny loops - something that they can't stand back and plow into. I saw Waldner do this once to the chopper Li Gun Sang, and he was totally taken by surprise by it.
 
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The first question to answer is: do they threaten you with their loops? If they don't, relax... you have a ton of options. Let them loop and construct the rally patiently. If they do, and it's not something you can fix easily (like: you systematically anticipate cross-court but they actually go down the line 80% of the time), you need to 'close' the game so that they can't start the loop fest confidently.

Random things to mix together:
* Keep your second ball (/ third ball if you can't attack) short so that they have to attack it out of their comfort zone.
* Keep them guessing: dig deep to the wide forehand / elbow / wide backhand
* Try fast paced/slow, tight/loose, spinny/floaty push variations.
The idea is to force mistakes by making it tough for them to anticipate (so that they feel rushed when looping). It's unlikely for them to be comfortable with all of the above at a given time, unless they are way better than you. Whenever they start adjusting, try out new variations.

If you're comfortable blocking and you are a control player, just keep the ball on the table and move them around until they miss. Again, find variations of aggressiveness, placement, pace, height, spin of the block that trigger mistakes. If they can't get the ball past you, you are free to pick the ball that you attack. Attack the easier one.

Keep in mind that what they don't like could be the thing furthest away from what you have in mind. Maybe a float half-long semi-high ball =P

Sometimes loopers fancy balls loaded with backspin. The ones that come with just enough pace and weigh a lot, so that they can really feel it on their blade, and return all of that backspin to you with interest in their loop (which only makes blocking more painful). If you don't give them spin, firstly it might disrupt their timing, secondly the ball will be much lighter so that they have to work more and put some weight of their own, and lastly the ball will come back to you with much less spin.

Another option: play very aggressive/positive, take everything off the bounce and counter.
 
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Loopers in general are not as good at defending themselfes like blocking. You say that they are good at lobbing but i still think you have a big chance to win here. So maybe you can try to loop yourself, and then many will block again and you can try to loop harder or with good placement so you keep them under pressure. If they go back at once maybe you can try to return short to make them move forward, then loop wide to the corners or the pocket so they need to move in and out. You can also try looping the first loop soft and if they move out at once, they maybe are not so fast to go in again, so they will let the ball drop down and lob it in so you an attack. And if they start to lobbing and you can not hit through them you can try a dropshot or smash at the bounce. Also here, good placement and variation in tempo is important to make it hard for them. So try attack yourself with good placemnt and moving them alot in and out.

And if they always loop first and you start blocking you need to vary the pace and the placement to make it harder for them. The same pace and placement and they can loop forever and also hard. Same thing here, if you play harder maybe they will move further back and if you play shorter soft, and they do not move in well you will get an easy ball to attack. If they in general are to far back they maybe hit tha ball under the highest point, and then they can not loop hard and are forced to loop softer with a high arc to get the ball over the net, if you are ready for this you can counterattack this and get the advantage.

You also need to notice if they are Bh players or Fh players. If they are bh players you want to return and play alot in their pocket. If they are fh players you want to return and play in the corners.

Against every player i think you should try to play your playing style, but also try to find their weakness, tro different serves, see if they are good against short returns, opening with backhand or forehand, are they better with bh or fh, better to attack themselfes or when they get speed against them and so on. You get the point. I also think it is important to see the patterns, many people return and play the same way over and over. And also to try to see how you play when you win and keep doing that, and if you are loosing, try to change the play and try something different. So if you play these kind of players alot, try different things to see what works.

Another idea is that try to look how other players that win over them, how they play and try to do the same. Or maybe watch the pros, how they play against this kind of playing style.

Maybe you also can try to film a match, and see how you are playing against them. Easier to analyze when you look at it, harder when you play.
 
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Being able to vary what the spin, speed and depth without opponent recognizing it is going to be important.

This could mean block slow and dead, could mean block soft... could mean loop with less spin or heavy slow.

Also important to find the middle.

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Angles and changing the speed are the keys if they back off the table. You also want a really strong block on both sides so you can stay at the table to maximise your angle advantage.
TTD member erm makes a killing from loopers doing just this. He makes a player run all over the place so easily.

He holds the table and can block wide, soft block, or fast block.

At a 2000 to 2100 rated play level, he runs many 2300 players into the ground.

I have seen matches where he blocks down WR 200-300ish players for 8 to 9 points to lose 0-3 or 1-3 vs them.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
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TTD member erm makes a killing from loopers doing just this. He makes a player run all over the place so easily.

He holds the table and can block wide, soft block, or fast block.

At a 2000 to 2100 rated play level, he runs many 2300 players into the ground.

I have seen matches where he blocks down WR 200-300ish players for 8 to 9 points to lose 0-3 or 1-3 vs them.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

What kind of rubber does he use, inverted, anti, long pips ?
 
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Everything the other guys said

I would add some other tactics and tricks

-serve and receive short to close the game, so you either have a strong first attack for a winner, or a good counter

- if the looper can only loop FH then serve/attack on his FH first to get a FH/FH rally and wait when the ball comes to your BH or middle block (with BH) in the diagonal, if you do it well he should be very far from the ball...

- if you can block easily his loops because he is far from the table, just be patient until he misses or you have an easy ball

- the most difficult block is against FH played straight to your BH. Try to cover this side well by being in a good posture, and to block this ball it is easier to hit the left side of the ball and go for the diagonal. a good balance and reaction is needed because those balls can be very fast.

- it can be fun to play these guys because you can have a lot of spectacular FH / FH rallies. Enjoy !!
 
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What kind of rubber does he use, inverted, anti, long pips ?

erm normally uses dynamic modern Offensive rubbers.

erm used to be a national junior in Europe, an ex-pro tennis player, and could be counted as among those in one or two hands of fingers of top knowledge/experience of the sport and the equipment.

The number of blades he keeps on hand constantly changes and runs from 400-2000 if that is any indicator of his EJ prowess... but make no mistake, he doesn't EJ because of being clueless and searching for a perfect pill. He already knows every possible pro/con of an equipment or combination of equipment. He has the touch in his hands to make many of them work without a drop off.

erm is no longer a slim and trim dude, so he evolved his TT match play to reflect that and take advantage. He wins so many points from touch, consistency, placement, variation, and angles it is silly...
 
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