How to learn PERFECT Forehand Loop

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I saw a vid of UTT ( Indian League ) where Bernie is playing. I am mesmerized by her beautiful and awesome forehand loop. It is high and archy, you may say it belongs to the slow and spinny type, which I like to see.

Unfortunately, when Gozo performs the high and archy; slow and spinny loops he gets punished by blocker / counter-spinner. Why? What is different here? Help pls...
 
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Revive a dead thread.
I saw a vid of UTT ( Indian League ) where Bernie is playing. I am mesmerized by her beautiful and awesome forehand loop. It is high and archy, you may say it belongs to the slow and spinny type, which I like to see.

Unfortunately, when Gozo performs the high and archy; slow and spinny loops he gets punished by blocker / counter-spinner. Why? What is different here? Help pls...
Most likely placement. Too shallow, too much directly to forehand or backhand so they barely have to move. Land it close to the line out wide or to the playing elbow.
 
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Revive a dead thread.
I saw a vid of UTT ( Indian League ) where Bernie is playing. I am mesmerized by her beautiful and awesome forehand loop. It is high and archy, you may say it belongs to the slow and spinny type, which I like to see.

Unfortunately, when Gozo performs the high and archy; slow and spinny loops he gets punished by blocker / counter-spinner. Why? What is different here? Help pls...
Either you need H3 with its poisonous low kick to disrupt the opponent's expectation or as Dr Evil said, placement. Aim for the white line. But in general, slow loop is hardly a killer. It is usually used as a setup, so you'd expect a rally after that. You'd better get ready and jump a little back after you give one such loop.

Will we ever see Gozo use H3?
 
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Either you need H3 with its poisonous low kick to disrupt the opponent's expectation or as Dr Evil said, placement. Aim for the white line. But in general, slow loop is hardly a killer. It is usually used as a setup, so you'd expect a rally after that. You'd better get ready and jump a little back after you give one such loop.

Will we ever see Gozo use H3?
H3? Over my dead body!!!

or...

wait for Butterfly to make one.

Gozo: Certified Butterfly Fan-Boi(tm)
 
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Revive a dead thread.
I saw a vid of UTT ( Indian League ) where Bernie is playing. I am mesmerized by her beautiful and awesome forehand loop. It is high and archy, you may say it belongs to the slow and spinny type, which I like to see.

Unfortunately, when Gozo performs the high and archy; slow and spinny loops he gets punished by blocker / counter-spinner. Why? What is different here? Help pls...
My guess, not enough spin. It’s the easiest stroke to punish, much better with a hard drive if your loops are not spinny enough…

Cheers
L-zr
 
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I saw a vid of UTT ( Indian League ) where Bernie is playing. I am mesmerized by her beautiful and awesome forehand loop. It is high and archy, you may say it belongs to the slow and spinny type, which I like to see.

Unfortunately, when Gozo performs the high and archy; slow and spinny loops he gets punished by blocker / counter-spinner. Why? What is different here? Help pls...
As mentioned: placement and/or not enough spin.

Placement: anywhere near the middle of the table is much easier to react on for the opponent. Margin for error is much higher so the opponent can just place their racket against the ball or whack a counter.
In length, either drop the ball right behind the net (preferably using a powerful looking stroke) so the opponent doesn't have enough stroke length to put power on the ball, or hit the back line, making that ball drop on magnus effect.
For side placement, as mentioned above, find the elbow/armpit as it makes the table short for the opponent. This is usually more powerful than reaching for the sidelines, except when there's a big open gap and your opponent is on the opposite side.

Spin: you don't need H3 for serious spin. I would not recommend it given your rubber preference history. What you do need is some serious sponge engagement. Gotta force that ball to drop with magnus effect, that's when you know you're putting proper spin on that thang. If your arc is near symmetrical, this is where you want to improve. The sharp drop alone can surprise opponents at your level and mess up their timing.


On people playing with flatter arcs, you hardly see that drop but that doesn't mean it's not there. I guess a flat arc does help disguise the spin.

Just a quick google, what you see especially in the slow-mo on the second topspin, is how much it bounces flatly forward after hitting the table.

This one, follow the arc, you see she hits the ball slightly upward when it leaves her bat, but it still lands just over half the table length. The slow-mo shows the arc of the ball dropping sharply after it hits the highest point.
 
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I saw a vid of UTT ( Indian League ) where Bernie is playing. I am mesmerized by her beautiful and awesome forehand loop. It is high and archy, you may say it belongs to the slow and spinny type, which I like to see.

Unfortunately, when Gozo performs the high and archy; slow and spinny loops he gets punished by blocker / counter-spinner. Why? What is different here? Help pls...
Generating heavy spin is relative to one's level, you get better at it with better timing, physics and technique and by having more power to throw into the ball's rotation. So the key is more practice at taking your loop quality to the limits by looping to pips, for example. In general the faster you can swing while having thr ball come off slower is ideal. But a lot of it really begins with serve quality, the people with the heaviest spin loops also have the spinniest serves because they learn how to use the topsheet to drag the ball, not hit it. Just looking at how you serve, I can usually tell yhat spin is not your strength.
 
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Generating heavy spin is relative to one's level, you get better at it with better timing, physics and technique and by having more power to throw into the ball's rotation. So the key is more practice at taking your loop quality to the limits by looping to pips, for example. In general the faster you can swing while having thr ball come off slower is ideal. But a lot of it really begins with serve quality, the people with the heaviest spin loops also have the spinniest serves because they learn how to use the topsheet to drag the ball, not hit it. Just looking at how you serve, I can usually tell yhat spin is not your strength.
Sigh NL, not that I did not try... Guess hitting style comes more naturally to me. Gozo speed >>> spin!
 
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Sigh NL, not that I did not try... Guess hitting style comes more naturally to me. Gozo speed >>> spin!
It's not a one size fits all equation to be honest - a lot of it is really in *SHOT SELECTION*. Speed can be more important that spin but it is all about consistency ultimately in producing that speed or spin and whether you can hit all the shots you need to hit to win points vs various opponents.

A former Iranian national team member (I played him when he was much older and slower) told me I didn't spin, and I told him I do spin, and he said everyone spins, even the hitters, so that's not my point. Of course ultimately, I still disagreed with his assessment, but don't see it as speed vs spin as a fundamental problem. See it more as spin being able to keep you consistent in a variety of situations when you have to hit shots that you cannot drive consistently and win points - this often depends on the opponent.

In fact for me, there was a particular opponent I used to play that I almost always lost the first game to despite outrating him by about 400 pts. This was because I always felt I had reach the point where I should be able to loop drive him off the table, and then I would get blocked down and miss points while rushing myself and lose the first game. Then I would slow down and spin consistently and win the next game and then eventually, start mixing in better shot selection of spins and drives (usually spin the first one, get a higher or loaded ball, then drive that to a precise point on the table, not to somewhere he can block easily). But if one wants to get points of spin ball quality, one has to hit a certain threshold and that threshold is usually higher depending on the level of the opponent you are playing.
 
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I saw a vid of UTT ( Indian League ) where Bernie is playing. I am mesmerized by her beautiful and awesome forehand loop. It is high and archy, you may say it belongs to the slow and spinny type, which I like to see.

Unfortunately, when Gozo performs the high and archy; slow and spinny loops he gets punished by blocker / counter-spinner. Why? What is different here? Help pls...

Do you have video of yourself to share?
 
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Revive a dead thread.
I saw a vid of UTT ( Indian League ) where Bernie is playing. I am mesmerized by her beautiful and awesome forehand loop. It is high and archy, you may say it belongs to the slow and spinny type, which I like to see.

Unfortunately, when Gozo performs the high and archy; slow and spinny loops he gets punished by blocker / counter-spinner. Why? What is different here? Help pls...
Specifically for slow and spinny loops, brushing upwards when the ball is on the way down will give you that effect, similar to this video (obviously a pro's slow loop is a hobbyist's quality loop, but the concept remains the same):


I play with a guy who opens up every rally with this slow loop (with Hurricane 3 Provincial), and he hits the ball when it's well below table level... there are some players that can't deal with his spin well at all, but even with his loaded spin, some other players can murder these balls (or take these off the bounce to redirect the spin with speed)... so while it's a nice shot to have in your bag, I would save it for those that can't deal with it well.
 
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Problem 1: You served long and then stayed close.

If you serve long, you should expect a long return back.
Solution: If you serve long, step back.

Problem 2: You served long and then reached in to push.

If you expected to push and then suddenly switched to a loop, of course the loop won't be the best.
But honestly at this level, it is better to do the opposite.
Solution: Expect to loop, switch to push when you have to.

Problem 3: Feet and body don't move with the backswing and swing.

Obvious problem that internet comments always comment about. There are million comments and videos online about what to do with those body parts. But a lot of the time, the habit doesn't stick.
I don't know if you have a bad knee or not, but in case your knees are fine:
Solution: Be an actor and role play as someone who does. Try acting for 1 point. Then try acting for 1 game. Then try acting for multiple games.
 
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Problem 1: You served long and then stayed close.

If you serve long, you should expect a long return back.
Solution: If you serve long, step back.

Problem 2: You served long and then reached in to push.

If you expected to push and then suddenly switched to a loop, of course the loop won't be the best.
But honestly at this level, it is better to do the opposite.
Solution: Expect to loop, switch to push when you have to.

Problem 3: Feet and body don't move with the backswing and swing.

Obvious problem that internet comments always comment about. There are million comments and videos online about what to do with those body parts. But a lot of the time, the habit doesn't stick.
I don't know if you have a bad knee or not, but in case your knees are fine:
Solution: Be an actor and role play as someone who does. Try acting for 1 point. Then try acting for 1 game. Then try acting for multiple games.
Tried your advise. Step back a little ( half a step or slightly more ) after looping the open up. The result was much much better. I had more time to fully swing & more time to prepare my counter-drive resulting is less unforced error of hitting long.

Tq friend!
 
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