Can looping get addictive/habitual?

For those who loop, I just wanted to know if it's your default shot (i.e., use it as much as the situation allows).  I'm still learning to loop.

pingponger wrote: For those who loop, I just wanted to know if it's your default shot (i.e., use it as much as the situation allows).  I'm still learning to loop. Since I learned to use topspin in tennis, my baseline shots became spinnier as time went on, even to a point that I was losing often because I couldn't hit flat, non-spin shots when the situation called for them. Can this happen in TT?  Do you find yourself looping when a flatter drive would have won you the point earlier?  Just curious.

You make a very good point. There are many players at amateur level who put themselves in a defensive situation, because they insist on looping everything. and at the pro level one of the things which separates china from europe is that the chinese players in general look to play as early as possible whereas european players use a later timing due to their emphasis on topspin.

IMO while topspin does give a useful margin for error, if you have the gift of hand-eye coordination to hit even low balls flat with success, you will gain a lot from that skill when you use it.
The amateur fh usually emphasises spin over forward weight transference partly i suppose because amateur enjoys the spin,and partly because the legs are not strong enough.
finally the higher your level the more topspin of itself does not win points, because everbody can block. Speed and power are the key qualities in a game where everybody spins.

Edited by pingpongpaddy - 12/18/2012 at 7:22am

Some very good points here... But my 2 cents.....

Smashing (or flat hitting) is the shot of choice on high balls over the table where you want to avoid spin so the ball stays aloft as long as possible.

Loop driving is the mainstay shot where the ball is basically above net height allowing for a relatively straight shot at the opponents side of the table.

Brush loops are used as a control shot allowing you to either open the point against a lower ball or topspin a chop that is low. It can also be used as a recovery shot to slow the point down when you get forced long or wide during a point.

This is just basic stuff. In the end you win points and games by tactics rather than good shots unless there is a significant level difference. Any shot that is repeated often will become less effective the longer the games goes on.

pingponger wrote: Can this happen in TT?  Do you find yourself looping when a flatter drive would have won you the point earlier?  Just curious.

The answer is no.

I do not ask myself why I selected the shot because I do not differentiate the type of the shot I am making. Rather, I evaluate how much time I have.

Even when the ball is high, you have a choice over the type of shot you can hit. If you have a lot of time and you are close to the ball, you can definitely smash the ball flat and win the point. However, you need to consider where the opponent is. Sometimes you can take more time and take the foot off the gas on the shot, but use the placement instead, which will be just as good. You don't get 3 points for a smash, its always 1 point at a time, so win it whichever way it suits you.

So, going back to the time element. If you need time to recover, you need to slow down your shot ( by producing more spin ). If you have to deal with a low ball, then you again use more spin. All other times, you do not need to focus your stroke to produce more spin, you just need to make sure that you make solid contact with the ball. Once you hit it, it will spin automatically!

Being a tennis player, you probably feel more comfortable backing off the table and spinning from a bit farther back. In this respect, you are "waiting" for the ball, instead of working with it. So the ball always falls and gets low or you have to move far to take it late, so you will need to constantly spin in order to continue the play as in the description above when you need to produce spiny shots. In this case, I urge you to avoid getting sucked into playing your shots away from the table and learn how you can be effective close and over the table.

Good luck.

I am a beginner (playing for about 5 months) and I am struggling with this aspect of the game more than ever. In my training with my coach I focus on looping or loop-driving the ball but usually off a block or underspin.   The problem is during matches I encounter more loops coming at me than blocks. I get in trouble trying to loop really spinny shots that are already loaded with spin. My opponents tell me to just drive the ball but my timing is off because I train looping the ball of a block so in a sense by overlooping the ball. I guess my goal now is to learn to drive the ball when appropriate instead of try to spin every ball that comes to my side of the table.


Just a beginners take

VladiTT wrote: why not ask your coach,its part from his job to tell you what you do wrong,and how to manipulate the ball

yes the bad habit is doing a big back swing, just go from square forward,

Thanks for all the insights, everyone.

In the interest of simplicity, I would define loop and topspin like this:


Edited by Lestat - 12/18/2012 at 6:36pm

Even loopers generally start with driving the ball as driving is the basics of looping. I don't think any fancy discussion about flat-hitting vs looping is going to help beginners, and will only confuse them. 

pingponger wrote: For those who loop, I just wanted to know if it's your default shot (i.e., use it as much as the situation allows).  I'm still learning to loop. Since I learned to use topspin in tennis, my baseline shots became spinnier as time went on, even to a point that I was losing often because I couldn't hit flat, non-spin shots when the situation called for them. Can this happen in TT?  Do you find yourself looping when a flatter drive would have won you the point earlier?  Just curious.

we all can get into good or bad habits, so a bit of practice or help from better players or coaches will help you do a better shot when the opportunity comes up

NextLevel wrote: Lestat wrote: ... Based on this, the most important stroke in the game is indeed the slow loop. Get that wrong and you won't have a chance to topspin. The bread and butter however, is your topspin. Based on the biased assumption that everyone wants to be a looper.  You can serve long and invite a topspin or you can let your opponent open if you are hitter/counterdriver.  And since the game on occasion rewards people with diverse tactics, the slow opening topspin is just one part of the diverse skilset someone can bring to the game - people can loopdrive underspin in third ball practice or push back, let the opponent loop and take it from there..

Lestat wrote: NextLevel wrote: Lestat wrote: ... Based on this, the most important stroke in the game is indeed the slow loop. Get that wrong and you won't have a chance to topspin. The bread and butter however, is your topspin. Based on the biased assumption that everyone wants to be a looper.  You can serve long and invite a topspin or you can let your opponent open if you are hitter/counterdriver.  And since the game on occasion rewards people with diverse tactics, the slow opening topspin is just one part of the diverse skilset someone can bring to the game - people can loopdrive underspin in third ball practice or push back, let the opponent loop and take it from there.. Serve long and invite a topspin? Why not picking up short pips then... Nothing inherently wrong with it but you'd better have a good reason for doing it.

Versatility - you still want to retain great looping/traditional third ball which you lose when you use pips.  Sometimes, you might want your opponent to attack first after assessing the quality of his attack - it is not a common strategy, but I find that as someone who is not going to get better just exchanging loops, understanding my strategic options helps.  So I serve no-spin long cross court and wait on attacks cross court and down the line and get into hyper ready blocking/counter mode.  I can also serve topspin short and let the opponent flick the ball and attack that with a drive.  For this style, the slow loop is not the most important shot because you introduce topspin from the start in most rallies.