One-Winged Loopers: Strengths & How to Beat

Last Updated on April 24, 2024 by Alex Horscroft

A one-winged looper is characterized by a player with an exceptionally strong forehand loop and a comparatively poor backhand loop.

One-winged loopers are very common from an intermediate level. As these players improve, many shift to become a little more balanced by improving their backhand attack. However, the overwhelming preference for forehand often remains.

You can find one-winged loopers sporting any grip. Many penholders loopers exhibit one-winged tendencies as penhold strongly favors the forehand side.

Banner image — credit: XIAOYU TANG | CC BY_SA 2.0 | unedited

The One-Winged Looper in Action

When I think of the one-winged looping style, the first player that comes to mind is Ma Lin. Now retired, Ma Lin used a traditional penhold grip and had arguably one of the strongest forehand loops ever.

He covered the table better than any player I’ve ever seen. And he had to, given how his grip placed him at a major disadvantage when playing a backhand attack (traditional penhold uses the forehand rubber on the backhand side).

Playing Distance

Most one-winged loopers stick within around 3 feet of the table. This is because taking just a step or two back means they have significantly more sideways ground to cover, which ultimately hurts their style of play.

Strengths of the One-Winged Looper

1. Super Footwork

The main issue with the one-winged looping style is the demand it places on the body. It is a very tiring style as these players have to cover almost the entirety of the table with their forehand. As such, one-winged loopers have adapted to be very fit and have superb footwork.

They can’t afford to miss opportunities when they come as their game plan is obvious — attack any long ball with their forehand.

2. Strong Forehand Loop Kill and Opener

As a forehand loop specialist, these players are very skilled on the forehand side. While forehand loop kills are their most desired shot, they also usually have a very strong forehand loop opener and forehand smash too. This means you have to be very careful about which balls you feed to their forehand. Their versatility on this side is dangerous.
Strong Backhand Push, Block, and Drive

As one-winged loopers are so strong on their forehand, any player with decent match IQ will pin them on their backhand side. Consequently, one-winged loopers often have a strong backhand defense game, especially for pushes and blocks.

However, many are also fairly skilled at backhand driving, and some may even have a slow spinny backhand loop opener. They develop this for when they can’t get around for their forehand loop. The saving grace here is one-winged loopers do not have a backhand loop kill.

3. Exceptional Serves

Everything about the one-winged looper’s strategy is to open up an opportunity for the forehand loop kill. And nothing makes this easier than a high-quality serve. You can expect these players to have a diverse arsenal of serves — a few of which will probably give you trouble.

You will likely have to deal with a combination of backspin, sidespin and topspin serves with a lot of spin and placement variations.

How to Beat the One-Winged Looper

1. Keep the Ball Short

The ultimate weakness of relying on powerful forehand attacking shots is that the ball needs to be long. Therefore the clear counter is to keep the ball short as much as possible.

It’s a good idea to vary your pushing depth to disrupt rhythm. Medium-short balls are a sure-fire way to make them second guess their decisions. And these may even force long push returns which you can punish with your own attack.

2. Pin Them on Their Backhand

Moving on from keeping the ball short, make sure you keep most of the balls fairly wide on their backhand side. This makes it very difficult for them to move over to play a forehand loop.

You can even occasionally push balls long here every now and again. Some one-winged loopers can play backhand loop openers, but many cannot. For those that can, you can avoid long backhand pushes, or counter-loop/smash their loop openers.

And for those that can’t, you can expect a long push return which gives you plenty of time to employ a strong loop opener of your own.

3. Play Wide

While one-winged loopers have excellent footwork, they are not gods.

Even professionals cannot cover the whole table with their forehand all the time. It’s simply too much space to cover. Therefore you should seek to move them around to tire them out and disrupt their rhythm.

Just remember to be extra careful to not let your pushes drift deep too often on their forehand side. A sloppy push on your part may well result in a blistering forehand loop return. Most pushes should still be to their backhand side.

4. Be Unpredictable

One-winged loopers rely heavily on reading body language to determine where the ball is going to go. They have often decided to move before you have even struck the ball! This gives them more time to get into position and increases the likelihood that they can play an effective loop.

So by being unpredictable, you shut this habit down straightaway. After a few misreads on their part, they’ll be forced to wait longer before moving. To be unpredictable, vary your pushing placement and do not telegraph where the ball is going to go.

I like to look one way and push the other, or twist my wrist around for more of a sidespin push. Shots like these work wonders.

5. Make the Rallies Last

In my experience, I’ve found that most one-winged loopers are impatient by nature. They’re so set on executing a forehand loop that they will commit to balls that just aren’t there for them to hit. Resulting in easy points for you.

All you need to do is frustrate them by extending rallies. The longer the rally goes, the higher the likelihood of you securing the point.

6. Be the First to Attack

If you’re an attacking player, you should always seek to be the first to attack, and this is no different against the one-winged looper. Loop long balls wherever possible, and try to keep most of these attacks on their backhand side.

If you have a strong backhand loop of your own, you can force topspin rallies deep on the backhand side, and keep them there. The odds are highly in your favor in this scenario.

Closing Thoughts

While the incredible forehand offensive ability of the one-winged looper is rather menacing, they have clear counters. And there’s no point to having the best shots in the world if you can’t use them, so just don’t let them!

For me, pinning one-winged loopers wide on the backhand side is usually enough for me to secure the win, but the other tips I’ve listed here really help me out too.

I’ve found that only very skilled advanced players can effectively cover the table with their forehand. Many weaker players have this awesome stroke, but ultimately their footwork just isn’t up to scratch, so it’s the clear area to exploit.