I’ve started exploring the dark side (LP on BH) after playing as a 2 wing looper my whole life. I am coming back after a lengthy hiatus (20 years) and have been slowly climbing up the ladder. Officially I am in mid 1500s but recently had several close matches and took 1-2 games from players in the 1800-2100 range which is where I was when I was competing as a junior. I usually don’t have issues against lower ranked folks who can’t read spin nor have consistent attack.

While I had some awesome matches, there were a couple folks in the 1800-2100 range to whom I lost badly without any real chance due to their 3rd ball attack.

It would go like this: a mild spin/no spin serve to my LP (away from my FH), I push, then they loop with consistency ( either to BH or FH) and with mad spin. So, deep BH, push, then deep FH which I often can’t even touch.

What is the best LP strategy against people who have a very strong 3rd ball game?

 keep your returns tight.

vary your returns

try to take the serve ball quicker and do proactive return.

try taking it longer and chop the ball

roll with your backhand

twiddle and backhand loop

pivot to your forehand

I find going to the ball and then variations are the best ways

At the 1500 level, giving the ball back to the player to attack is okay because of inconsistency of the attack and the generally low quality of attacks.  But as the level of attacker gets higher, you have to at worst give them an attack that you can defend against.  Anything worse than that is going to cost you the point.  Putting the ball in the middle of the table above 1800 is asking for heavy topspin or a loopkill.

Fast dead 3rd balls are another story:(

After some time I might need to start looking into tensors like Evolution, Rasant Grip, etc.

I totally agree. If there is a serve that is giving you trouble to the LPs, invite it, step around and whack the shi££te out of it. They will then think twice about it. Ergo, your pips have again done their work in making the opponent  think, think, think...

Of course, if that doesn't work you can always, ummmm, step around and whack the ever living sh**te out of the ball and if that doesn't work...Ummmm...(see above!)

For serves that are played short - this is very effective and very much doable. If a serve is BH-BH and is long, the angle is such that it makes it very difficult to return back to their FH.

Recently lost a match to a player 200 league-rating points below me. He gave me a no-spin fast serve, I blocked it (sometimes fly off the table) he then attacked and got the point most of the time.

Next time I'll try to use inverted to receive his serves and give him some strong back-spin balls.

Using LP to block a no-spin serve, the ball goes back to my opponent that is much easier for him to attack.

It's a simple tactic that works well up to a certain point, I guess. You may be passed that level though.

When I play against long pips, I try to mix long fast serves with light top, light chop and dead (and even a long fast sidespin  ).  Depends on the type of  long pips and the style/abilities of the player as to how I mix these serves up.