Game style

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I was a top Junior 35 years ago and am 48 now. I am really struggling to get my F/H topspin consistent due to my Tennis stroke (I am a Tennis coach)
I am extremely good at hard bat defending and nearly qualified for Ally Pally in the Irish qualifier (lost semis) and actually quite enjoy defending. My ideal game style would be to attack and defend. I am in a quandary as to whether I practice my attacking strokes or change my game style. If I do this then I would need advice on tactics and rubbers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I have a robot and really want to play Tournaments next year but I still can't make my mind up what to do. I realise defending is difficult against the good players.
 
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Pretty good. I played my lad earlier and messed about a bit with attack and defence and found the F/H chop easy with smooth rubber but not so easy with my B/H chop. What rubber would you recommend for this type of game? I didn't realise these guys played with normal rubber, I assumed short pips.
 
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The real defenders play often with long pips and sometimes with short.

But I have a friend who was a tennis pro who plays table tennis also and if he can get back to mid distance after serve and receive he is a lot better than most people 1-2 levels higher than him.

So he returns serve any way he can, backs up and will do a combination of lobbing, chopping and counterlooping just using T05fx.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus
 
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That makes a lot of sense as most my two boys were Tennis players before Table Tennis and they are really good when away from the table. Thanks for your advice and I reckon I could be effective with this style with lots of practice.
Thanks again!
 
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What about playing with short pimples..is that an option? I defend really well in hard bat and quite enjoy it..I also chop quite well on the F/H side with normal rubber..
 
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What about playing with short pimples..is that an option? I defend really well in hard bat and quite enjoy it..I also chop quite well on the F/H side with normal rubber..

Hi,
IMO smooth rubber on the forehand would be the best as it's the easiest way to attack from mid distance and as you sa you can defend with it. For defense, pips are the most common on the backhand. With short pips you can hit and generate your own spin just like with a normal rubber (only smaller amount of spin). It's disadvantage is defend against fast loops. The most common short pips for defense are RITC 802, TSP Spectol and TSP Spinpips. With long pips, you can reverse the spin of the opponent and it can generate the heaviest backspin among these rubbers (against a heavy topspin). It's disadvantage is that you can't generate your own spin and can't really attack.
Buy or borrow a long pip an try it. If you don't like, go for short pip. If you are used to smooth rubber, the change for short pips can be easier.
 
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I have heard a lot about the short pips and I actually tried it but didn't like the fact that I couldn't create backspin like normal rubber. I really like the idea of chopping then coming in and hitting a topspin B/H winner. Are there any players who defend and attack with inverted rubber? I realise I will need to practice my B/H chop for hours and hours as I played today and the F/H chop was much better. Any suggestions on this style and rubbers that would be the best for this?
 
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I have heard a lot about the short pips and I actually tried it but didn't like the fact that I couldn't create backspin like normal rubber. I really like the idea of chopping then coming in and hitting a topspin B/H winner. Are there any players who defend and attack with inverted rubber? I realise I will need to practice my B/H chop for hours and hours as I played today and the F/H chop was much better. Any suggestions on this style and rubbers that would be the best for this?

Thin rubbers sucks in chopping, I think. I would go for commercial Hurricane 3 and similar dead sponged rubber but double sided inverted choppers usually plays with Tenergy in max thickness :) Joanna Parker these days use Tenergy on both sides, in the past she used some short pip (Raystorm if I remember correctly).
 
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Good to know that some successful players can defend with inverted rubber. I'm surprised she doesn't attack a little more though. I suppose you play a certain style and you stick to it. I'll have a look at the Hurricane 3 but I reckon max thickness Tenergy is the most likely to work for me. Cheers for your help.
 
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I was a top Junior 35 years ago and am 48 now. I am really struggling to get my F/H topspin consistent due to my Tennis stroke (I am a Tennis coach)
I am extremely good at hard bat defending and nearly qualified for Ally Pally in the Irish qualifier (lost semis) and actually quite enjoy defending. My ideal game style would be to attack and defend. I am in a quandary as to whether I practice my attacking strokes or change my game style. If I do this then I would need advice on tactics and rubbers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I have a robot and really want to play Tournaments next year but I still can't make my mind up what to do. I realise defending is difficult against the good players.
i have played tennis for 12yrs and play for the mens vets team.i know exactly what you mean about the f/h stroke.i have a weird grip for my f/h which is actually a grip used for serving.this allows me to play more wristy shots.i also use a very low thickness rubber 1.5,i also like to chop on my b/h and use tackiness chop in a 1.5.you must keep the chop low though as better players just attack if it pops up.i can also drive on the backhand.my game is coming on but its taken me 2yrs to find my equipment lol.i went with fast stuff initially and this hindered me.with the slower set up i can drive through the ball using the correct technique.
 
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Yeah the F/H chop with inverted is natural for me, I think its because I'm a coach and I have fed tens of thousands of balls. The tackiness chop might just be the answer as maybe the Tenergy might just be too fast. The main thing is that I can still play B/H topspin. As you say, the technique is the important thing. Cheers for input
 
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