Choosing between being a looper or a driver

Hi Alois and Hello Jeff,

I understand that there are two fundamental categories of attackers (pardon my knowledge, but there can be more) i.e. loopers and drivers.

I request you to please explain (possibly with a video session) that how can one pursue being each one of them. What should we focus on if, for example I want to excel in being a driver rather than a looper. Also who should choose what? What is the criteria?

Fundamentally, I understand that during the execution of the topspin, if I meet the ball late then I will give more spin and less speed, so in essence this is a loop. Whereas, meeting the ball on top of the bounce in forward direction means more speed and thus a drive. But how can this (driving or looping) be implemented against different types of spins, like underspin, sidespin and no-spin. 

One of biggest challenges which I face while meeting the ball on top of the bounce is that I feel that my bat would hit the table or worse I might injure myself. Also, no matter how fast I move my hand, I always tend to guide a backspin ball to the net while executing a drive. But I have played against players who I feel are superb drivers of the ball and can execute a forehand drive in any situation no matter if the ball is coming out or is on the table, it doesn't seems to matter for them. 

It would be a big favor if you can answer this question in as much detail as possible.

Kind regards,

Mudit 

Hi Mudit,

There are not great differences between the two styles.  The only real difference is the amount of spin you are putting on the ball and even then it is marginal.

Even the best drivers of the ball are still putting topspin on the ball.  At the top level none of the men will play without any topspin on their strokes.  The top women come closer to not having topspin but even they put topspin on their strokes.  They tend to hit more forward on the ball with less spin than the men but still they generate topspin.

For the ball that is over the able you can brush over the top of the ball rather than brushing up the back of the ball.  Again though there is topspin on the ball.

So in summary, try to play with topspin even when you are playing faster.  Then use a variation of slow and faster topspins by the trajectory of your stroke.  More forward for more speed and more vertical for more spin.