Watch two long pips players compete

The "bald" guy is Olivier Mader AKA PushBlocker. He is well known in the US. He was Florida state champ in 2010.
I have seen this video before. I have seen most if not all of PushBlocker's videos
PushBlocker plays a mental game. It is all about winning percentages.
PushBlocker's FH sucks but he tries to hit most balls with his LP 0X.
I have two paddles similar to what PushBlocker uses.
PushBlocker uses Dr Neubauer Firewall Plus with Giant Dragon Talon on the BH.
I don't know what PushBlocker is using on the FH but in the past it was some cheap Chinese rubber.
I use N2 Neo on the FH and otherwise I have the same paddles.
Right now my pushblocking paddles are stored away some place because I can't play the same cautious games that PushBlocker plays. It isn't simply aggressive enough and counts on the other guys screwing up.
Everyone says I play better with double inverted anyway. I don't know if they are truthful or just don't like playing against my LP 0X.

I don't see how PushBlocker gets away with hitting the ball back as slow and high as he does. My practice partners know how to play against push blocking LP and will flat kill anything that is high enough about the net where there is a line of sight to my side of the table.

Look at the game. There are high balls everywhere! No one steps around to hit with their FH or twiddles.

Only looked at the guy in black.

I would play him from corner to corner so he can not use his long pimple all the time. So he is forced to use the forehand more.

I decide what happens all the time, so i would use and do backspin then play the next nospin ball harder.

He obviously wants to use his long pimple, so he wants others to loop and he do not seem to be able to play very hard with his forehand so i would play the ball very soft to his backhand so nothing happens when he uses his long pimple.

Fast and long/fast and long backspin to the LP.

Loopadoop said:

How would you serve to the bald guy ?

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Loopadoop said:

How would you serve to the bald guy ?

Click to expand...

I would serve only topspin/nospin or backspin serve because then i know what return i will get if i serve against the long pimple. No sidespin, because then the return will be wobbly and strange.

I proably would try to serve as wide as possible to the corners, because he wants to push with backhand against every ball almost so we want to force him to use forehand. If we serve to the corners he can not run around with bh everywhere, because the ball can come to the other corner. If i see that he goes in with the backhand in the forehandcorner i would serve more against his backhand, because then he will have a hard time to go in with backhand in the forehandcorner. I would also proably serve very short or long so he either need to move forward or almost move back.

I proably would serve more backspin so i know a no spin ball will come and maybe it is a little bit high and i can attack it hard.

So my tactics would basically be to try to vary the serve so he do not know what is coming, get him to move, force him to play forehand which is proably his weakest shot and it is better for me since my short pimple forehand is bad against backspin. Since i am bad against backspin with my forehand i would proably try to serve alot of backspin, and se if i have a possibility to smash the no spin return.

Since I have the same LP 0X and paddle as PushBlocker, I know it is difficult to block fast serves to the BH without the balls bouncing fast off the table. If would be better to servo fast top spins if you want to win the point quickly because the ball will come back with back spin and may float off the table. A fast under spin serve could allow an aggressive push where the income back spin us used as the LP players top spin to land the ball. Fast dead ball serves are effective. The LP player must always be thinking about complementary energy. That is if the looper serves fast, the LP blocker must cushion the impact like a catcher does when catching fast balls. High dead balls will work if the blocker will not attack them. I twiddle and attack high dead balls.

A key thing to notice, one of Pushblocker's favorite shots is to use his LP to attack the opponents FH. The percentage of winning a point is good. So avoid serving or hitting to Pushblocker's FH side where he can hit the ball back with his BH to your FH. Pushblocker is very good a crabbing sideways quickly and using the chicken wing.

In the video below you can see that PushBlocker can cover the whole table with his BH if given time. He didn't do well with high balls. The blocker must hit the ball back at about net height or it will bounce too high on the other side. Much depends on how the ball bounces off the table. If it bounce up high it will bounce high off the LP unless the LP paddle is closed a bit. This is another way to create opportunities for LP blocking mistakes.

https://youtu.be/VZvZvUchfwU

This Guy would get destroyed if he play a little better player. His game is to limited and push way to high. A better player would kill those sometimes high pushes. The video also show that it is either or both his footwork and forehand that is bad when the other Guy can Do that kind if serves and the other Guy Do not try to move around and play forehand.

I think if you play like this you need to have a very good forehand to be able to compete at a higher level.

He has a similar strategy as amir ahmed the anti spin bh and sp fh player.

https://youtu.be/J0L1wozacgQ

Amir has a better forehand smash, but still not great for his overall level. It works well enough to keep the pressure on. Though he still covers nearly as much of the table with his backhand as pushblocker does. The difference is he will attack the dinky shots instead of pushing them back. So they dont need to be super lethal, just enough to keep the opponents honest. Amir has beaten pro players also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyFHh73i2yE

You can see there against Barney Reed (2400 usatt), PB makes him play quite tentatively. It's not as easy you might imagine to force the shots you want on him. He is good at predicting the angles/placement and being there to meet the ball. I know PB catches a lot of flak for his game, but I quite like his style. He makes good players look like they are 500 points lower than their rating!

I have played my share deal of these players. Have two that i play regularly. They proably can win against better players. But many Times i think it is about that the better player is not used to the style.

Do not want ro be rude to the Guy. Considering he is almost only playing backhand i think he is playing very well. And i think you can play well with this style But very very hard if you not have a pretty good forehand. Now the opponent can play very easy and soft because they know he can not kill the ball. If the Guy have a great forehand We are forced to play much harder.

I know that some of you Do not agree with me. But in the past it proably would ho well to use bh over the whole table like this But now they really need to be more aggressive with the inverted because of less spin. Should have kept the rubbers. Less diversity now. Not good for the sport and less fun.

I am still surprised that no one try to emulate the Carl prean style and play offensive with long pimple. Think it would be a good alternative now if you get less spin. Any reason why?