loop vs drive

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well okay...so im always watching table tennis videos and i noticed...zhang jike is always driving the ball..he usually only loops when he his already a bit far from the table...meanwhile other players i watch always loop (unless the player is a girl) and my dad tells me i should just drive (thats his playing style) because i tend to miss more when i loop (because of brushing the ball with a closed racket angle) and he says the drives are faster...so i was wondering...should i try be like zhang jike? likke when im close to the table ill drive but when i get back alittle ill loop? if anyone can give me some tips i would really appreciate it! Thanks in Advance! Godbless!
 
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Hi
Its quite an interesting topic here. Loop or drive
The first thing i thought of was, does Jike actually drives all the time? or is it a little bit of counter topspin? IMO, i think the chinese players are always looping wheneva there is a chance.
Anyway, when it comes down to stroke selection in game, I think its best to do what ur most comfortable with, and, depends on the situation.
Let say, as the point is playing out, u got control of the rhythm, ur opponent is pushed back to mid/far table, but still looping. At this point, since u got the control, u might want to just stick close to the table, and just drive/counter the loop as it comes. Not much point of forcing a counter loop, cuz its risky.
Another scenario, after a few points of u looping, it doesnt seem to be effective for scoring points, the opponent is able to block, or even counter it, then maybe u wannt switch to driving. Since the speed and spin of drives are very different from loops.
In terms of personal development in the game, of cuz u would want to be able to do both strokes with certain confidence. And that, of cuz, comes with painful practise.
 
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Zhang Jike doesn't necessarily 'drive' up close at the table. He often takes the ball a little earlier in the bounce and shortens his swing, but there is no shortage of topspin on the ball, it always pay to have variation in your game. Every ball is different and should be judged so, learning to loop or to drive in different situations will be much more advantageous for your game than just restricting yourself to one shot.
 
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I separate the drive from the loop by the ratio of the spin to speed. A loop should have so much top spin that is jumps out faster off the bounce whereas the drive just has top spin and the ball doesn't bounce off the table faster. For a loop to occur the spin, ω, must be be greater than v/r where v is the velocity of the ball and r is the radius of the ball or 20mm. ω is the spin in radians per second but this can be divided by 2π to get revolutions per second or Hz. If ω is approximately equal to v/r then it will be hard to tell the difference between a drive and loop.
 
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I separate the drive from the loop by the ratio of the spin to speed. A loop should have so much top spin that is jumps out faster off the bounce whereas the drive just has top spin and the ball doesn't bounce off the table faster. For a loop to occur the spin, ω, must be be greater than v/r where v is the velocity of the ball and r is the radius of the ball or 20mm. ω is the spin in radians per second but this can be divided by 2π to get revolutions per second or Hz. If ω is approximately equal to v/r then it will be hard to tell the difference between a drive and loop.

You're trying to make it too complicated and this doesn't make any sense.
Would you like to tell me what do you get by dividing velocity of the ball with the radius of the ball?
You're doing it just to get the same unit used with angular velocity?
By this equasion a ball that moves at 10m/s ~ 36km/h (not very fast) would have to spin 500 revolutions per second in order to have been looped?
The maximum spin a pro player can produce when looping was around 9000rpm I guess, which is 150rps.
 
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yes i know zhang jike has some topspin on his balls as that is impossible to avoid (unless ur chopping) but if u watch him he is allways playing close to the table drive/block (although if u watch him in slow motion he is not blocking because he does his own short swing)

and Loop is when the ball is super spinny and it has a curve and it gets pulled toward the table
while drive is more like a "drilling ball" where u hit it flat with not much spin just sheer speed
 
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