Ethics of knocking up before match

After many years of being frustrated while playing against long pimples I now got ot the age where I realise that I am not going to master them and so, just for the benefit of pimple players I have now purchased an antiloop rubber which I plan to pull out every time I play one of these characters. I understand that long pimples are legal but the reality is that at the level I play, all of the pimple players pick their rubbers because they cannot be bovered to learn how to play the sport with high friction rubbers. This allows them to tell themselves that they are good players and move up their league table with good averages without putting in the time and effort required by other players. I know players who have told me that they changed to long pimples because, after playing me, they found couldn't handle the spin I put on the ball and now they beat me every time. So, I plan to bore my opponents silly by just pushing and blocking the back ball so they can enjoy the game the way they allows their opponents to enjoy it ! Not too concerned if I win or lose as I consider a defeat to these players as a defeat to the rubber, not the player. Have not had the oppotunity yet to use it but looking forward to the first oppotunity...

You can see that many long pips defenders (like Filus, Gionis, Hashimoto, Sato etc) ALWAYS do their warmup with the inverted rubber and not with the pips. Check so many videos in youtube. Beside this, any player even if he uses ONLY inverted rubbers, twiddle their bats in some cases, check the smashes on high balls of Chinese players, twiddling is absolutely ok with the rules and ethical! So this is a silly question; nothing unethical or against the rules!

I thought that if you're playing in an ITTF event you must use the racket that you showed your opponent prior to the warmup - the same racket that the referee took out of the packet after they had approved it. You cannot change to a non-approved racket. I presumed that was an ITTF rule that applied to all events. 

Sometimes an opponent refuses to play ball in the warm up which means that he hits the ball to all parts, willy nilly, without pattern, rather than just doing some FH and then some BH.  I always regard this as a sign of weakness on their part.  The warm up is just about hitting the ball to get used to it.  My opponent can use whatever rubbers he prefers.  It doesn't bother me.  All of the alternative rubbers, long pimples, antispin, are difficult to face if you aren't used to them.  Its easy to purchase a set and put them on a spare blade.  If you haven't already done this, maybe you should.  Maybe you'll discover that they are right for you or that there's nothing to fear from them because they are only as good as your opponent.

First, it's important to understand that the 2 minutes before a match is for "warm-up", not "practice".  Players should "practice" with a partner before going to the match table.  The idea behind the warm up is to allow the players (who may have to sit for a few minutes before the match starts) to warm up their muscles so they can move correctly during the match.  During this time, you can also adjust to the environment, the table, the ball, the bounce, etc before the match.  If you are warming up against an inverted player, you can feel his loop - how spinny, how fast, etc.  This is of course, if he decides to loop.  He is not obligated to loop. 

I play SP on BH.  When I play a tournament match, I always warm up with inverted, for different reasons.  I warm up with inverted so my opponent can get a "regular" warm-up.  Again, the idea behind warm up is to get used to the ball, the table, the floor, etc.  Most players find it easier to adjust if the ball is coming off of inverted.  It is a different stroke that I have to use to hit BHs with inverted, instead of SP.  So because of this, I dont actually get a proper warm-up.  During a practice match I usually warm up with the SP because I want to be able to practice my SP technique during the match.

The warm-up is also not to play "points".  I saw it was mentioned to hit the ball to different locations so your opponent has to hit the ball with the rubber during warm-up.  To me, this is very disrepectful.  You can also cause a player an injury by suddenly hitting the ball somewhere he is not prepared for, since he is not in match mode during warm-up.  When players hit it suddenly to my FH so they can force me to use my SP during warm-up, I just let the ball go!

Second, there are a few defensive players on WTT - choppers.  Most use long pips.  Are you saying if they dont back up and chop some balls during warm up they are not showing good sportsmanship?  No, of course not right?  Again, the 2 mins is not for you to practice against their chops, it's to warm up your muscles.  In fact it is the opposite.  The LP change the trajectory, spin, and speed of the ball.  Have you ever tried warming-up with someone who uses the LP?  It's pretty hard to get a decent warm up against the LP.  I would rather they play with the inverted during warm-up, however, not all players can, so you just have to let them warm-up however they choose to do so. 

What about a player who lobs?  Should they be required to lob 10 balls to you during warm-up?  What about twiddlers?  Should they be required to twiddle during warm-up?

Anyways, I hope this helps.

I have to disagree strongly with "Paul Murphy Posted 3 hours ago    Sometimes an opponent refuses to play ball in the warm up which means that he hits the ball to all parts, willy nilly, without pattern, rather than just doing some FH and then some BH.  I always regard this as a sign of weakness on their part.  The warm up is just about hitting the ball to get used to it..."    A "warm up" means to warm up.  That means to warm up all muscles used when playing.   Sure, just hitting FH to FH then BH to BH  warms up houlders and arms.  But it does almost nothing for legs, and very little for torso.   To warm thos muscles one needs to move around and to twist.   So when I "warm up", and what I advise our juniors (which they then ignore) is that they warm up by including legs and torso: one way is to alternate FH and BH and moving body and twisting through the ball trajectory of whatever the opponent is doing.  I just aim to land the ball near the center line, warming up directional control.  What the opponent does at the other end of the table is their business, they can FH-FH-... and then BH-BH-... I do not care.