I'm getting better against LP: some learnings

[TensorBackhand]

Today I played a 2100 (in our local club rating) LP chopper. Actually this guy used to be #3 in America in his younger days and played against Seemiller and that generation when Seemiller was #1. He told me he would beat everybody else except Seemiller.

I lost to him 1-3, but it was tight. 2 games I lost went to deuce, like 15-15. So it felt like we were playing pretty evenly. Here is what I have learned against playing LP that I didn't know before.

1) you can and should push the ball coming off their LP. I used to think that if I push to their LP, the ball coming back could not be pushed without popping it up. This is actually not true at all! If you just close your racket face and push with a thicker stroke, you can stay in a neutral push rally and wait for an easier opportunity. Additionally, I somehow sense that the LP player doesn't like pushing with his LP, like there's a bit of risk on his side.

2) If you push to their LP and they push back, the ball is not actually topspin and you can't just punch it. Somebody long ago told me this ball is topspin and I should just punch-kill it. But after some practice, I have found that it really isn't topspin, it's more like a no-spin ball. So you can't punch it, you need to loop it with a more forward motion. Once I discovered this, I could be much more consistent.

3) Never go for a 2nd consecutive loop after looping to their LP. If you loop to their LP and they chop back, it will be insanely spinny. It's not worth the risk of trying to loop this ball, its just too spinny and dangerous. Push it back and try to loop the following one. The only area where I have trouble is sometimes I loop to his LP and it comes back really high. It seems like I should be able to smash or kill this high ball, but it is soooo spinny that I hit it into the net every time. What should I do if his chop comes back really high?

4) Don't over think the type of spin on their ball. I used to try to think what kind of spin is from the LP based on my own shot, and it would make me very hesitant. It's better to just to do a solid push or solid loop. LP players thrive on your indecision, so you have to just be confident.

 

[blahness]

Tbh when I was double inverted i never liked playing with defensive chopper. The amount of spin variation coming back at me would be way too much, i hated having to deal with the spin variation. But now with antispin on my BH, i can use their chops against them by directly sideswiping them to attack it to a nasty placement and then follow it up by heavy FH loops .

On 2nd consecutive loops, you can deal with it easily by lifting the ball with open angle and looping them only when you feel comfortable. This can be even more destructive than pushing because if you push, it is their opportunity to attack you.