Playing a chopper

playing a chopper.... there are many ways how to play a chopper....

I can't remember ever losing to a chopper that used inverted pimples on both sides in my whole life, I love playing those guys, side spin to the left, step left, loop. If they get one back hit another one untill they are too far from the table to impart any decent amount of spin on the ball and hit the kill shot, you can't lose. If you watch the ball for a dead push that has no spin (most choppers will try and trick you with variations in spin) you should be able to get a backhand flick in on the spinless balls they throw at you).

U R right. I have played with many players whose attacks are really powerful. I like chopping wih flat rubbers (bad performed movements means passing the ball in a really high basis). When getting the right touch to chop the ball...I assure you it is quite difficult to my opponenet to win the point (sometimes smashing the ball is not enough)

Depending on how much spin you get and how good you are on both wings, you can either hit through a chopper or hit around a chopper. Someone with a big forehand but not much of a backhand wants to get every single ball to his forehand, so he'll hit into the body and try to draw errors and weak balls to tee off on. Ryu Seung Min and Ma Lin have crazy good forehands so they want to use this option.

A two-winged player has the option of hitting around a chopper and attempting clean winners (ie Kreanga). You'll find that people with strong backhands will invariably tear most choppers apart thanks to their superior positioning (as long as their forehands aren't pathetic). Kong Linghui and Samsonov have pretty much never lost to a chopper since turning pro. Likewise Wang Hao has torn through the choppers he's faced since his rookie years.

You can angle your pushes short into the corners of the table. He will be forced to move around and occasionally play a no spin push.

zerowings007 wrote: All good ideas. Watch J.O. Waldner video and see how he beats a chopper. I hope I have spelled his name correctly.

Yes, you have...

Hasham wrote: im an all round player who loves to chop, that is to say that even though chopping is not my only style of play it is the style which is most annoying and it often leads to tedious rallies which frustrates the attackers/loopers if a choppers gets into a rhythm then its best to keep a cool head and keep pushing the ball. I use smooth offensive rubber for my all-round game and i try to smash any incoming loops, if the loop is too spinny then i have to counter-loop. Choppers will usually throw chops with lots of backspin, the best way to deal with these is to angle your bat accordingly so that merely touching them will cause the ball to spin off your bat real quick, in theory use the incoming backspin to launch the ball onto the other side of the table, this might startle your opponent as the ball will have more speed than a normal push.

Easier said than done. Takes a lot of practice and every chopper is different.

thethinker wrote: I have been watching a lot of matches of choppers recently and I heard this over and over again from the commentators: 1. Don't get into a long rally of loops and chops. Get the points over fast and make the attack as surprising as possible (i.e. when the chopper is not looking for the kill). 2. Move the chopper in and out instead of side 2 side. and/or attack the middle of the table. and 3. Don't try to over power the chopper (but you do need a flat kill). I repeat them in summary so that this might help someone by refreshing their memory. Good luck.

I totally agree

i try to loop it so it will back them off the table then just go short with it to the sides the trick is going "in and out" you could say

There are not many quality choppers left in the UK, probably 4/5 in the top 100, more in the vets. One of the best I've played was Mark brown from Kent, he uses friendship both sides (no pips) which makes him incredibly hard to read. I prefer to play choppers who have LP's, I can play to the Pips and dictate the spin. One of the basic tricks to use when playing a LP chopper is to push long and heavy to the pips, when they push ot back there will be nothing on the ball so you can loopdrive the ball easily and get them on the back foot.

There is no cookie cutter rule for playing choppers. It depends on the particular player's and the opponent's strengths and weaknesses. What works for me may not at all work for you. And also, what worked against one player may not at all work against a different chopper.

Personally, I don't try to go loop after loop. My goal usually is to keep the chopper move in and out constantly. So, I try to mix short slow loops, hard long loops and short pushes. I try to win the point by placing it properly as opposed to trying to overpower the chopper. Unlike the most common tactics, I don't try to hit down the middle on to the body and instead try down the sides.

one of the most important things against a chopper is when he chops a high ball,dont smash,do a hard drive but dont smash!!!

against a chopper using pips (short or long): vary between pins and dead balls (and try to camouflage wether you give spin or not).

great tip, larry!  i am a chopper, and the toughest opponents for me are the ones willing and able to confidently step in and smash the chops when i leave them too high. 

too many opponents have great loops but hesitate and let these high chops drop and loop them.  i hit a weak shot, but now i am back on even footing in the point!  when i play a fellow chopper, i usually take the offensive, and i practice this on a newgy all the time.  just tilt the head as far up as possible, dial down the speed, and you get a reasonable approximation of a high chop with medium level of backspin.  take the ball at its apex, open up the blade angle and smash away with confidence.  decelerating or hesitating will dump the ball into the net.

another tip:  if you have any kind of pips on your racquet, you are at an incredible advantage vs. an equally rated chopper.  when a double inverted receives a juicy chop, they are faced with a difficult shot whichever they pick.  when a pips player receives such a ball, they have a slow "roll" type of shot in their arsenal (watch he zhi wen play a chopper to see this in action).  give slow, low spin balls to reduce the amount of chop that the chopper can put on the ball, then be ready for a floater to kill.

If the ball is high enough, kill it and put it away before he sets up his chop again but not to his stronger side. Move him around. If the ball is low you have 2 choices. Give up the attack and do a short 2 bounce underspin or side underspin when you don't like the spin that he has generated. If you can read the amount of spin right and your BH/FH Loop is near consistent, use it mostly on his BH side so that he can't get his forehand started.

Also, if he plays what Joo Se Hyuk plays, start with mixing a side-under or plain underspin if you want him to back off the table and chop. Otherwise mix them up and throw him a side top or plain topspin to his weaker side to throw him off immediately enabling you to control the point fast before he tries to figure out if he should chop it or not.

Try this and see how this works for yourself and come back and tell me if this advice works for that.