Hey Alex, playing choppers can be an art in itself that’s for sure! Ok so I would definitely recommend on a heavy backspin ball that lands deep in the table to not take the ball too early, if you do that it becomes very hard to get the acceleration at the right time and lift the backspin too. You ideally need to allow the ball to bounce up to the peak and time it just as it begins to drop, this allows you the time as you mentioned above to use the legs and get the bat below the ball to counteract the heavy spin. It does also mean that there will be very slightly less backspin on the shot from the opponent, this is quite minimal however and the most key part is using the legs, getting a fine touch on the ball are really accelerating through the contact point.
If the ball lands more in the middle of the table you need to move towards it and use the momentum of your legs and body slightly more. It also usually means you have a chance to play a bit harder or faster on these mid-table balls, of course still making sure to brush through well to counter the backspin. When you o have a chance to play stronger on these higher shots the best position to aim at against a defender like this is straight into the body to avoid a quick counter attack or a more comfortable chop for them from the wings, if you can tie them up in the body it is much more difficult for them. In fact this applies on most shots against defenders.
Lastly against defenders variation of you shots is soo important to not allow them to find an easy rhythm, try to vary your placement, speed and spin. Sometimes using slow heavy spins to bring them in then faster attacks into the body, mixed in with good quality pushes when you feel you need to is fine as well. All this makes it harder for the defender!
Hope that all makes sense. Cheers, Tom
