How to play against "wall" player?

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Michael
can you provide the folowing info
type of penholder:
traditional
or
RPB
type of rubber(s)

is one of his rubbers ANTI or a form of pimples

Just as part of your development these bits of info are basic to devising a plan of action

you cant hope to improve if you dont approach thngs in a logical manner

He uses standard inverted rubber. I believe its a typical ESN rubber but I didn't check which one.

He is basically traditional penhold player. He has a rubber glued on the backside, but he wouldn't dare risk using it in game and I have never (literally zero) seen him use his reverse side in a game. Sometimes he tries to do opening loop with RPB in practice, but he loops like a 1100 player and blocks like a 2200 player. So its not really a part of his game technique at all.

Actually I have never seen anybody with such a bifurcated game before. I'm not exaggerating that he loops like 1100, and blocks like 2200.

 
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Here's a suggestion:
Instead of drive with your BH and he blocks, why not cut and force him to cut back. Then pivot and FH loop for a winner like below.

I can't move to the left quick enough to execute that shot well enough. And if I did, I would leave the entire table open for his famous block. Like I said earlier, I might win some impressive looking points by doing this strategy, but overall my winning points % would be lower.

 
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How do you play against a player who doesn't appear to have strong loops, but just blocks every shot back very consistently and very low? When I play him, our BH-BH rallies often can go 20 hits or more and he gives no openings to finish the point. Every shot goes to your BH corner, is very low and there is almost no margin for attack. Also he is penhold player, so not only is his ball very low, but its very short and unspinny as well.

He is almost just like a wall and gives very few openings to attack.

Either the ball goes to your BH corner or it's very short, cannot be both. Just post a video of yourself playing this guy with these 20 (or is it 30-40 🤔) hit rallies.

 
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Either the ball goes to your BH corner or it's very short, cannot be both. Just post a video of yourself playing this guy with these 20 (or is it 30-40 🤔) hit rallies.

@michael
Disciplined thinking:-
carry a notebook and record the results of the different tactics you try
when you are serving
you can choose to limit his chances to play short by serving long
you can choose to limit his opportunities to play to yr backhand by serving wide to his Forehand
therefore a long fast flat serve wide to his forehand fits the bill.
His return if its a block will have topspin
If it has topspin it can be returned with a topspin counterhit
counter hitting and killing opponents topspin should be the focus of your practice to
learn basic TT skills

When you are not serving:-
try to return deep because that makes it more difficult to play short.
If it is easy for him to play short then that is your fault for not giving him a deep ball which will be harder to play short

courage to try new tactics
dont invent reasons for failure without trying things first. That would be wasting the good suggestions from this
forum. Give each suggestion a good workout

Try the suggested serving wide and long to fh tactics for a few weeks and make notes about the success failure

in the future with problem opponents
make a list of the known facts
his racket
his age
whether he wins all the time
what did you do successfully/unsuccessfully
what tactics/ placements did you try
chopper
pusher
blocker
as you get more experienced you can do this in your head, but at the start you will find it a help to record things
good luck

 
Have you tried to chop block??? Or maybe back off and chop the ball back ??? It sounds as he wants to keep the rallies topspin as that will suit his blocking game !!! Like almost everyone else has said you have to change the pace,the amount of spin,try to use backspin and topspin!I'm sure you will break the wall down one day !!! Just don't give up !!!
 
Wow brilliant to see a crowd so in to the table tennis!!! Great to Desmond Douglas still going strong!!! A English table tennis legend!!!! That's what I love so much about this amazing sport is you can play in to your eighties if you stay fit enough!!!! Brilliant!!!!
 
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Brs

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Brs

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Judging a player's level by their loops alone will cause you to lose very many matches.

If the guy is a blocker, and his block is ~2200, he is a 2200 player. The defender in my example is 2100 (for reals usatt, not an estimate). His loop is zero, can't hit one at all. It's not like you average those out and he is 1050. He is 2100 playing his no-loop style. Looping is not the only way to play table tennis.

This gets us back to my baseline answer of how you can beat your nemesis. You can't. He is better than you.

It's a style matchup problem. Blocking is a style designed to beat loopers. You are a looper. This guy is more accomplished at his style than you are at yours. If you were a hitter I think you would give him major trouble. Hard to block a flat hit. But loopers don't know how to hit worth a crap, generally speaking.

So your approach of developing your backhand loop is the way forward. You will still lose, but it's like getting a free training session for you every time you play. Like I literally pay a guy to block me to death three hours a week. You can get that for free.

If you get to the point where your loop surpasses his block, you will be a much, much better player than you are now. Reason to be happy, imo.
 
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So I play a guy like this, see if he sounds like your opponent. Steve [...] is the most Wall-like player I see at my club. Lately our matches are 50:50.

Having read the entire epic description of these matches I would genuinely love to see a game between the two of you. Please PM if you don't want all of TTD to see. 😄

 
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says Spin and more spin.
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Well he doesn't have the techniques that you would typically identify as being a good player. he really can't loop much from either wing. He never moves from his position close to the table. But he just has remarkably good hand-feeling and never misses a push or a block. That's why I called him a "wall". It's not that he never loses points ever, but statistically, he might win 55/100 points. So over the course of a match, he will eventually win. It's not just me that is frustrated against his style. I also saw a 2000 ranked player lose to him, where the blocker never hit a winner the whole match, but just relied on errors from the 2000 guy.

There are ways for me to "win" points against him, like if I changed direction, or if I do a step around loop. But these are not winnable solutions. They help me "win" some flashy points, but they also result in more missed shots, and instead of winning 45% of points, I would win 42% of points. Just the won points would look more flashy and impressive.
One thing to note, if he is frustrating and beating 2000 level loopers, he might have more that he isn't showing....he might be better than one might surmise from watching.
 
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One thing to note, if he is frustrating and beating 2000 level loopers, he might have more that he isn't showing....he might be better than one might surmise from watching.

If you're suggesting he's hiding his skills to save for the game, then I would say that just isn't true. He just is what he is.

But it absolutely is true that he has extremely subtle skills that don't look flashy or impressive, but are very effective. He has remarkably good push. He doesn't push the way most people do, which is sorta when the ball is on the rise or at the peak. He waits until the ball is coming down and generally well off the end of the table to push. He subtly turns his body into the push so it usually has a pretty tricky spin. And he has incredibly good control, putting the push at a good angle every time.

His block is unusually good that you wouldn't notice watching him play. You notice it more from playing him. It's not fast or flashy or spinny, he just push-blocks the ball in a very control way every time.

The 2000 guy is genuinely a good player, with very powerful loops from both sides, a strong serve, and everything else. Most games he will win the blocker guy, but every few matches the blocker will have the 2000 guys frustrated and making errors left and right.

 
says Spin and more spin.
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If you're suggesting he's hiding his skills to save for the game, then I would say that just isn't true. He just is what he is.

But it absolutely is true that he has extremely subtle skills that don't look flashy or impressive, but are very effective. He has remarkably good push. He doesn't push the way most people do, which is sorta when the ball is on the rise or at the peak. He waits until the ball is coming down and generally well off the end of the table to push. He subtly turns his body into the push so it usually has a pretty tricky spin. And he has incredibly good control, putting the push at a good angle every time.

His block is unusually good that you wouldn't notice watching him play. You notice it more from playing him. It's not fast or flashy or spinny, he just push-blocks the ball in a very control way every time.

The 2000 guy is genuinely a good player, with very powerful loops from both sides, a strong serve, and everything else. Most games he will win the blocker guy, but every few matches the blocker will have the 2000 guys frustrated and making errors left and right.

Not that he is hiding skills. That he is quite good at what he does.

If he gets matches from players at the 2000 level (USATT), even if it is once in a while, he is pretty good. So, if a 2000 level player who sees him, plays him, knows his game, loses every so often, i am not sure people on the forum can really give you advice about what to do against him without footage.

 
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Kind of reminding me to one player i see him playing in the club with all, even i played against him, he is using anti power to his backhand and he is gluing himself to the table, he is just returning back the balls in all directions with his backhand and few times he can attack with his forehand, i never saw him getting far from table entire games, so he is kind of blocker pusher too, not even chopping, i always lose to him because i wasn't at good level back to attack hit effectively and mostly all my loop or chops or drives end up like into his advantage, i tried that right left right left tactic against him and it didn't work, he just push/block the balls back no matter how low high fast slow it is, he always lose to higher level players because they are consistent in attack and loop and drive.
 
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Anyway I tried these tips on the coach of the school team at my new school. I got whacked and he didn’t even flinch during the entire game. He plays penhold as well. He is an active member of the Shandong Provincial team but that probably isn’t important😉.
What can I do?🤣
 
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