LP world champion
Equipment
Ji-Soo Woo Asked 12 years ago
Hi Alois
Since I'm now using LP, I wanted to get your take on this oft asked question.
With almost all the top players using double inverted, can a LP player (or antispin player for that matter) ever become world champion? And if so, what kind of style are they likely to have?
A traditional defender (a la Evgueni) seems hopelessly outgunned and increasingly outdated in today's game where the top players seem to be able to unleash fierce attacks against the chop with accuracy and consistency.
A modern defender has more weapons, but while Joo reached the finals of the world championship, the Chinese have since brought in all their own LP players to train up their squad and they very rarely are troubled by his style any more - so it appears perhaps the window of opportunity has closed for this style as well?
How about a hard hitting LP player (a la Carl Prean)? It seems a very low percentage style but if someone could do it consistently, who knows. Or a more versatile kind of modern defender like Ruwen Filus who twiddles much more than Joo and can loop with his inverted BH? Perhaps a FH dominant LP player like Liu Song who mainly uses his LP close to the table to change the pace and set up his lethal FH loop drives?
Cheers
Ji-Soo
Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago
Hi Ji-Soo,
I think it is unlikely unless the Chinese train up someone to play with long pimples.
I think the style would be an aggressive style with a lot of twiddling to be able to attack well with the inverted rubber on both sides. I think the base of the game would need to be hitting with inverted and putting in variations of long pimples. Joo is the closest but his lack of ability to attack with the backhand will always be picked off.
Having said that I think it can be useful at all other levels.
Thoughts on this question
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D K Posted 9 years ago
Ruwen filus,in my opinion,is totally lost when you attack his forehand.
He always starts to lob.
I have never seen him to chop or counterattack at his forehand.
And Alois-the what is your opinion on the style of the Masterchopper Matsushita in these terms,compared to Joo?
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago
I think Joo has a better forehand counter attack but Matsushita’s defense is fantastic.
D K Posted 9 years ago
And Matsushita as an attacker?
I myself showed you videos where Matsushita launches a sudden counterattacks no matter of the distance,the side of the table or how his bat is twiddled.
What do you think of this,compared to Joo?:
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago
I still think Joo’s attack is stronger.
D K Posted 9 years ago
In terms of power and consistency surely is.
But Joo is mostly limited to his forehand and soft rubber.
Matsushita can attack with less power,but is equally powerful with both inverted and longpips rubber,both at forehand and backhand.
What do you think,who would win if they were at their prime speeds today?
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago
Joo Se Hyuk.
D K Posted 9 years ago
I agree but I think it would be difficult for him.
Joo Sae Hyuk is the most powerful modern defender who has defense on both sides.
(I do not count the players like Chen Weixing,Wang Xi,Ruwen Filus etc. as they are "half",they ALWAYS loop at forehand so they have either no or unknown defensive abilities,I have only seen Joo chopping consistently at forehand)
But Joo,although he has powerful forehand attack,has shown that he has problems against the long pimples.
I think Joo would win,but.....Koji has overdefended much more powerful attackers.