Why do some defenders chop on the forehand and some don't.

I think the FH chop is quite easy to do with inverted. You get a larger swing and more control over the ball. That is why pips are used on the backhand side, because you have a harder time controlling heavy speed/spin coming to your BH.

It comes down to preference and training, I believe. Masato Shiono, Matsushita, Joo, Koudai to name a few all FH chop with the "fast" rubbers. On the women's side, there are many more using tenergy that chop FH the majority of the time.

LordPippington said:

I think the FH chop is quite easy to do with inverted. You get a larger swing and more control over the ball. That is why pips are used on the backhand side, because you have a harder time controlling heavy speed/spin coming to your BH.

It comes down to preference and training, I believe. Masato Shiono, Matsushita, Joo, Koudai to name a few all FH chop with the "fast" rubbers. On the women's side, there are many more using tenergy that chop FH the majority of the time.

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This misses my point completely while making it - my point is that if you want to compare apples to apples, use the same material to chop on both sides. Saying one stroke is more natural without adjusting for all the variables is mostly a version of supporting the conclusion you already had in mind.

NextLevel said:

The forehand chop actually gets more racket head speed than the backchop. There is little point in comparing a chop performed consistently with inverted rubber with a chop performed with long pips.

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Agreed about the comparison being misguided in cases like JSH, where different rubbers are used on the two sides. So my example isn't so helpful.

Didn't mean to deny the FH chop has advantages too. I think there's an interesting question about whether there is some area of the game, if any, in which the bh chop has advantages that outweigh its overall disadvantages (vs forehand chop). I'd be glad to hear your take on that.

Also curious to hear your take about why lp BH + inv FH is much more common than inv BH +
LP FH. (To be clear, I take it that the answer there might also have nothing to do with bh vs fh chop - e.g. could turn out to be about bh vs fh offensive shots, or serves, or something else entirely.)

Because it's easier to chop heavy loops with long pips. If your goal is to send back under spin, then the long pips help in converting top spin to under spin. With inverted rubber, you have to overcome the top spin and then add your back spin. Not easy to do against pro level loops!

So long pips' job is to work with the heavy top spin and return it as under spin, borrowing the top instead of trying to defeat it.

They use long pips because that rubber is designed to meet that function. Especially on the backhand where you have a smaller motion and are less able to use the body compared to the fh.

Sure you can use inverted or sp on the backhand, but it's harder to be consistent at the top levels. Doable, but more difficult to control than with LP. That's why the majority, even classic defenders, will use long pips. The consistency is vastly improved and the forgiveness of LP helps out a lot when moving around.