Hello from the UK

[Loose Bottom]

Hello - I love table tennis. I play ~3x per week. Inverted on both sides - still figuring out my "style" as I am more focused on building my fundamentals.

I also watch quite a bit of table tennis. Honoka Hashimoto is my favorite active player. (But I don't think I could be a chopper).

 

[Tinykin]

Welcome to TTD.

 

[J-fed]

Hello - I love table tennis. I play ~3x per week. Inverted on both sides - still figuring out my "style" as I am more focused on building my fundamentals.

I also watch quite a bit of table tennis. Honoka Hashimoto is my favorite active player. (But I don't think I could be a chopper).

Hello there. Great that you found this place too. I’m English newb too and a Hashimoto fan. She’s excellent. Love that cut sweep she does so consistently. It’s easy to miss that. Someone mentioned recently that she’s also kinda hot. I hadn’t noticed.
And you never know about being a chopper. I’ve always admired them but never tried until about 2020 when I bought some LPs and gave it a go. I’ll admit that playing a slice on my tennis backhand is a bit of a cheat code though.
It’s super fun to chop away from the table. Mainly in practice but integrating it into the match play just a little bit lately. Never too late to learn eh.

 

[ZSQ]

Chopping is just as entertaining a skill as topspin looping. My favorite chopper is Joo Sae-hyuk. Since the changes to the ball material and size, the men’s chopping style has become increasingly unsuited to world-class competition, while women’s choppers have shone.

 

[Loose Bottom]

Hello there. Great that you found this place too. I’m English newb too and a Hashimoto fan. She’s excellent. Love that cut sweep she does so consistently. It’s easy to miss that. Someone mentioned recently that she’s also kinda hot. I hadn’t noticed.
And you never know about being a chopper. I’ve always admired them but never tried until about 2020 when I bought some LPs and gave it a go. I’ll admit that playing a slice on my tennis backhand is a bit of a cheat code though.
It’s super fun to chop away from the table. Mainly in practice but integrating it into the match play just a little bit lately. Never too late to learn eh.

I told myself I want to spend the next year focusing on being an attacker first; then if I still have the desire to try chopping I can do so. I figure this way I can be more of a hybrid like Honoka et al, rather than a pure defender waiting for the opponent to make mistakes.

I do also quite enjoy hitting winners

 

[J-fed]

I told myself I want to spend the next year focusing on being an attacker first; then if I still have the desire to try chopping I can do so. I figure this way I can be more of a hybrid like Honoka et al, rather than a pure defender waiting for the opponent to make mistakes.

I do also quite enjoy hitting winners

Oh yeah. No way I’m gonna do that full time. Modern defenders are all about attack too. Even back in the 90s they would hit the windmill FH at any opportunity.

 

[J-fed]

Chopping is just as entertaining a skill as topspin looping. My favorite chopper is Joo Sae-hyuk. Since the changes to the ball material and size, the men’s chopping style has become increasingly unsuited to world-class competition, while women’s choppers have shone.

Oh yeah. The guy in the Asian championship last week only chopped on backhand right. Zero intent to chop on FH. Was very interesting to see.

 

[ZSQ]

Oh yeah. The guy in the Asian championship last week only chopped on backhand right. Zero intent to chop on FH. Was very interesting to see.

I think you mean Li Tianyang. We feel his attacking intent is too strong—he doesn’t really play like a traditional chopper. Still, given that he came from amateur/commercial tournaments, doing this well at the Asian Championships is already quite good. There’s still a big gap between him and Tomokazu Harimoto—you could see Harimoto adapted to his style in just two games.

 

[conangray]

Hello - I love table tennis. I play ~3x per week. Inverted on both sides - still figuring out my "style" as I am more focused on building my fundamentals.

doodle baseball​

I also watch quite a bit of table tennis. Honoka Hashimoto is my favorite active player. (But I don't think I could be a chopper).

Welcome to the forum! Playing three times a week sounds like a great way to improve. I think focusing on your fundamentals before settling on a specific style is a smart approach. Having inverted rubber on both sides gives you plenty of options to experiment with too. Just curious, do you enjoy playing close to the table with quick attacks, or do you prefer longer rallies from mid-distance?

 

[Loose Bottom]

Welcome to the forum! Playing three times a week sounds like a great way to improve. I think focusing on your fundamentals before settling on a specific style is a smart approach. Having inverted rubber on both sides gives you plenty of options to experiment with too. Just curious, do you enjoy playing close to the table with quick attacks, or do you prefer longer rallies from mid-distance?

I mostly stay close to the table but think that's more a product of not having the best footwork yet. I'm working on it though so that I can eventually try to incorporate more loops beyond just the backspin ones.

WBU?