The Chop

The Chop

The chop is the mainstay of advanced defensive players. Essentially an extreme backspin shot, the ball tends to travel in a very flat trajectory and bounce low. Chops are always taken when the ball is dropping, often below the table-up to 15 feet away! Anything higher and the stroke becomes a push. Defensive players who chop do so to force the other player into an error, and to do so one may vary the amount of backspin or change the direction of the shots. Matches against two equally skilled choppers used to be an affair of many hours until the introduction of the expedite rule.

Last modified: Wednesday, 21 July 2010, 11:01 AM