[pibach]

I am also experimenting with defensive style play, coming from offensive, forehand oriented topspin. You can chop a lot but if the opponent really does heavy topspin you would need a very slow rubber to chop it back low enough. That slow rubber will then limit your counter attack. So for me it works better to firstly chop, then counterloop with my forehand.

Even Shiono does it this way, so he is a "modern defender" in my opinion. The successful defenders of the 90's and 2000's (Matsushita, Ding Song, Jang Song Man, ...) sometimes are called classic defenders but also do have a massive counter topspin if needed. In contrast to "classic defenders" such as Eberhardt Schöler and the previous hard bat era.

Then, you'll face players who don't attack that much but instead try to outchop you. There I need my forehand offense.

For my def racket I use feint long II 1.3mm on my backhand and Vega Pro max on my forehand on a Keyshot light. I also played with BTY Def Alpha, makes more stable defense but offense is lacking.