Chopping underspin

I am an intermediate player with fairly decent strokes (thanks to your wonderful instructions )  and play about 3 times per week. I am practicing forehand topspin against underspin with some but limited sucess. My friend, who is much higher rated, and  wins most of his matches against higher intermediates and some more advanced club players by consistently chopping both topspin and underspin. He is also capable of good hits against topspin on softer returns. He claims I will never be able to overcome heavy underspin considering I am older, lack speed and footwork and cannot practice enough to have a high percentage of successful returns. He advocates learning to chop better and give back what spin you get. What are your thoughts?