Rule of thumb for choppers?

[speedplay]

I know, this question should be asked at OOAK, but it's sometimes difficult to get an ubiased answer there ;)

Now, it is common knowledge that you should use grippy LP with as thick sponge as you can handle to chop with. The thick sponge will make it easier to generate spin, thus creating a bigger difference between heavy chop and float.

Now, knowing all this, isn't it obvious that the best rubber suited for chopping would be regular inverted, if we were able to handle them? This is at least my view, but we pick to use LP/Anti since this gives us the control we would lack with inverted. This is not the same as saying that our bh's are weak, but we prefer control for our bh, over the ability to create maximum amount of spin/variation.

[supachop]

The reason that we dont use a regular inverted rubber to chop with is,  it is to hard to consistently control the incoming spin and speed and keep the ball down.  The long pips,  either with or without sponge,  helps to control the spin and speed.

[JKC]

The best rubber for varying spin yourself when chopping is a reverse rubber. The best rubber for sticking your bat on the ball and hoping something strange will happen all on its own to confuse an inexperienced opponent would be an OX LP. Most players at a reasonable level opt for LP with sponge which can give a little bit of both + extra control over both OX LP and reverse.

[pingpongrob]

Now, it is common knowledge that you should use grippy LP with as thick sponge as you can handle to chop with. The thick sponge will make it easier to generate spin, thus creating a bigger difference between heavy chop and float.

Thicker Sponge is always better for hitting in the case of long pips. I also find that the thicker the sponge the greater variation in the spin. (of course a good chopper can vary it a bit). The trade off is that thicker sponge is also harder to control.

Now, knowing all this, isn't it obvious that the best rubber suited for chopping would be regular inverted, if we were able to handle them?

The easy answer is No. Not many would be able to handle the Topspin that is generated these days.

This is not the same as saying that our bh's are weak, but we prefer control for our bh, over the ability to create maximum amount of spin/variation.

Well its simple - I have control on my backhand and I dont use Anti. I dont want flames - but my opinion is that you simply dont have really good control and mask it by using Anti. (this is not the case with Pips as they are harder to use). At one stage my backhand was lousy (lost all my games with it - Long Long Time ago), but I persisted and learnt to control regular rubber.

I think its the deception that you like. I have thought about using anti - but never for the control aspect - it would be to confuse and kill.

[speedplay]

Rob, I can use inverted rubber on my bh and have control, but not for the defensive kind of game I play. Now you try to use your bh only to block and chop with it and see what you think about your control on it.

This isn't about flaming people, not at all, but as I've written on OOAK, I recently made a go with LP again and I must say, it wasn't harder to use then anti, it was simple different. I used the TSP Curl P1-R and boy, it was easy to hit against back spin with this, a lot easier then it is with anti! But the deception is better with the anti, that's why I stick to it.

I agree with Supachop, not many (if any) would be able to chop with regular inverted at the top level, but if we could control it, then surely inverted would bring us the best options to actually confuse our opponent?

[big ears]

What LP's brought to the game for choppers was the ability to return a heavy loop with consistency and heavy backspin converted from the topspin. previous to that and still the case today it is very inconsistent for a chopper to return a loop with anything other than float, once you know that, things become easier when trying to read them. I would love to have made that statement on OOAK, just to read the bullshit that would have appeared.

[Der Echte]

Joo S H from good ole Korea uses Tenergy (64?) and can chop a speeding train in half. I wish I had 1/10 his skillz.

[pingpongrob]

Joo S H from good ole Korea uses Tenergy (64?) and can chop a speeding train in half. I wish I had 1/10 his skillz.

Are you sure he's using Tenergy, or does the advertising train make it out. It could have regular sponge instead of Spring Sponge.