Learning to play defensively.. now or later?

Thanks Jeff, I appreciate that.

Do you have any recommendations as to where I can learn to play the game in a defensive manner? Or, alternatively, just some basic guidance in terms of constructing points?

I appreciate that you wouldn't want new PingSkillers to get confused by adding defensive strokes to your repertoire of current videos, but it'd be great if a selection was available - possibly under a clear "Defensive Play" title or something.

Cheers,

Hi Duncan,

We will add Match Strategy lessons for Defensive players as well.

Some things to think about are keeping the ball low and deep.  Also using variation of spin and speed to confuse your opponent.  Also you need to develop consistency with your defensive stroke so that the attacker knows they won't get any free points from errors.  This forces the attacker to take a few more risks to win points and this will lead to more errors from them.  It also puts them under pressure more during the longer rallies.

That's great, thanks Alois. 

Do you coach (m)any defensive players?

I've already started to develop a reasonable forehand drive and topspin so I'm hoping to incorporate this in to my play a la the Modern Chopper. 

In terms of the equipment and technique, would it be advisable to start learning long pimple play now, or start without it? I'm reasonably proficient with twiddling as my early serves were done with my backhand rubber on the forehand side to incorporate more spin. 

Appreciate the guidance as ever. I'm a Web developer by trade - if you ever need voluntary work, don't hesitate to get in touch. 

Cheers, 

Hi Duncan

welcome to the wonderful world of LPs.  I made the change 5 months ago and it does make things difficult not having a lot of advice out there to guide players like us.  I mainly use youtube videos of professional players who use LP (like Joo) to try and develop my own game - but it's not easy!  Main thing is to persevere because there it can be very frustrating sometimes.

Hi Duncan,

I don't coach any at the moment.  They are a dying breed unfortunately because I love to watch a good match between a defender and an attacker.  I also played a lot of my club matches with a defender which was insightful.  Whereas it often led to a longer night the matches were often entertaining to justify it.

I would start with Long pimples now.  They are quite forgiving with the backhand chop stroke.  Keep the use of your forehand attack because this really makes a chopper hard to play.  Thanks for the offer of help with the website.  We will definitely keep it in mind.

As Ji-Soo said there is not a lot of information out there.  We will have to get to work on some of it.  Perhaps even some discussion between LP users would be useful.

Couldn't agree more. The main reason I'd like to switch play-styles is because I find the Joo Se Hyuk/Chen Weixing style of play so entertaining to watch. A good attacker vs. a good modern defender is a joy. It also appears to be a discipline of play which demands ruthless consistency and in other walks of life I'm not the most consistent type so it'll be really challenging.

Thanks for the recommendation on starting with LPs now. I was worried that it might hinder my progress but if they take a few years to learn (as seems to be the consensus on t'interwebs) then I may as well start now.

If you could start a defensive series that would be fantastic. You might even encourage some PingSkillers to switch and hopefully raise the profile of the modern defensive player.

Just to begin, do you have any suggestions on "constructing points" for a defender? Generally as an attacking player I used a combination of backspin/topspin/nospin serves to trick the opposition in to primarily hitting the ball high over the net OR in to the net.

I suspect defensive point-building requires a little more thought than that, especially in terms of placement. Am I looking to use primarily backspin and short serves to stop the opponent from being able to pace the ball past me until I can get more backspin on the ball from my first chop? Is there a type of serve I can use to encourage opponents to return the ball to my backhand?

One other last question (sorry!) regarding LPs: am I right in thinking that on a nospin ball I'll struggle to create a lot of backspin, but from a topspin ball I'll be able to generate a lot of backspin?

If you are lucky, the best resource is an experienced LP player in your local club.  Not too many of those around unfortunately...but never miss the chance to learn from others.  At the recent Australian Veterans championship, I had the opportunity to speak to a number of very advanced LP players and to learn from them.

Generally speaking, yes, it is hard to generate much spin on a no spin ball with LP (that's why so many people hit dead balls to LP players).  It is easier to generate backspin from topspin because of an LP's characteristic of reversing spin.  It is very hard to return topspin against topspin for this very reason. 

Thanks for that Ji-Soo. In that case, if I'm starting a chop from a low-spin ball, should I be looking to twiddle and use my inverted regardless of what side the ball comes to me?

Many players do this.  If you watch Ruwen Filus, for example, he handles strong loops to his BH with his LP. As soon as the opponent hits a soft push to bring him in he twiddles to his inverted and chops. Some of the top local Australian choppers do it too.  this helps not just generate heavy backspin but it is easier to control a soft shot with inverted rather than lp I find. I also practice this in my training sessions though I have a hard time pulling it off in a match. 

This is a good remedy against players who target your LP with backspin and get ready to attack whatever comes back knowing it cant have heavy backspin.