How To Play Against Long Pips - What Happens When You Topspin the Ball?

Written by Greg

Published on 09 March 2009

The Short Version

As Carl Danner was nice enough to point out in my article on anti-spin rubbers, the short version for both topspin and backspin with anti-spin is as follows - "Basically, anti-spin continues the spin already on the ball, so you get (effectively) back the opposite of what you have hit -- only slightly less intense, as you noted." This still holds true for long pimples, but with a couple of important points to be aware of.

Long Pimples vs Anti-spin - What's the Difference?

"Anti-spin, long pimples, whatever! They're both funny rubbers - how different can they be?" Very different, young Jedi. Now pay attention and I'll explain why you can't always treat anti-spin and long pimples in exactly the same way. Note that the stiffer the pimples, and the less friction on the pimple tops and sides, the more the long-pimples will tend to act like anti-spin. But as the grip of the pimple tops and sides increases, and the more the pimples tend to bend, the more important the two factors mentioned below become.

Reason 1: Long Pimples CAN kill the spin on the ball.

OK, so the purists will argue that this is not exactly true. But take it from me, an experienced long pimples player can take your spinny loop drive and float it back with very little spin, or at the very least much less spin than you think will be on the ball. How does this work? Imagine the table tennis ball that you have looped going spinning into the long pimples of your opponent. (See Figure 1) If he meets the ball with a relatively flat stroke, the pimples on his bat will tend to bend in all sorts of directions, and then spring back. (See Figure 2) If the tops and sides of the pimples are grippy enough, and if the pimples are flexible enough, they can greatly reduce the amount of spin on the ball, as all the pimple tops and sides will grip the ball and attempt to give it different spins, which will tend to cancel each other out, as well as helping to reduce the original spin on the ball. (See Figure 3)

Many players don't think that this is really possible. But keep in mind that with normal rubber, part of the reason you can spin the ball is because there is plenty of grippy contact between the table tennis ball and the topsheet of the rubber. So if the long pimples have grippy pimple tops and pimple sides, then when the pimples bend there can actually be a lot of rubber contacting the ball. Borrow a friend's pimpled rubber sometime and press the ball into the surface, and watch how the pimples bend and how the amount of contact with the ball dramatically increases.

Figure 1 Picture Before Flat Contact

Figure 2 Picture During Flat Contact

Figure 3 Picture After Flat Contact

Reason 2: Long Pimples can dramatically INCREASE the spin on the ball.

Picture before brush contact Figure 1

"What? You just said that the pimples can kill the spin on the ball! How can they increase the spin as well? It doesn't make sense!" Rest assured, dear reader, it does make sense and it can happen. Here's why:

Imagine, once again, that you have looped the ball to your opponent. Your opponent hits the ball with his long pimples, and at the moment of contact, he brushes the ball in the same direction as the spin (ie the ball is spinning forward down towards the floor, and the opponent is also hitting from high to low, down towards the floor). So the pimples are now going in the same direction as the spin on the ball. (I'll try to add a suitable picture for this explanation later, for the moment your imagination will have to do)(Note: Pictures added. GL 2nd March 2005). If the pimple tops and sides are grippy enough, and the pimples are flexible enough, they will have a lot of contact with the ball and thus will be able to add to the spin on the ball, making your opponent's reply a very heavy backspin ball.

Picture during brush contact Figure 2

Picture after brush contact Figure 3

These are the main two reasons long pimples cannot be treated in the same manner as anti-spin. Ignore them at your peril.

What happens when I topspin? - The Long Version

The examples shown below are assuming that your opponent is using a long pimpled rubber with medium speed, and reasonably flexible pimples that have some grip. As the pimples get stiffer and their grip becomes less, the more they will play like anti-spin, which I have already explained. The grippier and more flexible the pimples are, the more pronounced their effects mentioned below will be. Again, this will vary for each type of long pimples, as they all have slightly different characteristics.

(A) Your topspin to your opponent's topspin style stroke.

You hit a heavy topspin ball. Your opponent hits the ball with a topspin style stroke and with flat, non-brushing contact. The long pimples will bend in many directions and grip the ball, thus tending to kill the spin as they all spring back into position. The ball will come back to you fairly quickly and with float or a little backspin. Why you will hit a bad stroke next - with a conventional rubber his return would have no spin or a little topspin. Your bat angle will be incorrect, and the ball will go into the net.
You hit a heavy topspin ball. Your opponent hits the ball with a topspin style stroke and brushes the ball rather than flat hitting it. The pimples will tend to bend in the opposite direction to the way your opponent's bat is moving, which means that as they spring back they will work to decrease the amount of spin on the ball. The ball should come back to you as a light backspin to a very light topspin, depending on the amount of grip and bend of the pimples. Why you will hit a bad stroke next - with a conventional rubber his return would have medium to heavy topspin. Your bat angle will be incorrect, and the ball will bounce on your side of the table.

(B) Your topspin to your opponent's chop style stroke

You hit a heavy topspin stroke. Your opponent hits the ball with a backspin style stroke and with flat, non-brushing contact. The long pimples will tend to bend in all directions, gripping the ball in a pincer-like effect, before rebounding to their original positions. This will tend to kill the spin on the ball, so the ball should come back to you fairly quickly and with little or no backspin. Why you will hit a bad stroke next - with a conventional rubber his return would have little or no backspin. So in theory, you actually should hit a good shot. We'll come back to this point later.
You hit a heavy topspin ball. Your opponent hits the ball with a backspin style stroke and brushes the ball rather than flat hitting it. Now the pimples will tend to bend in the same direction (the opposite to the direction the bat is moving), so when they spring back they will increase the spin on the ball. The ball should come back with a very heavy backspin. Why you will hit a bad stroke next - with a conventional rubber his return will have medium backspin. Your bat angle will be incorrect, and the ball will go into the net.

Advanced Tactics

You probably noticed that in B1 above, you were actually lucky enough to pick the right spin, even though your reasons may have been incorrect. This leads into a discussion of some of the advanced tactics used by combination bat players. As you improve, you will learn how the anti-spin or long pimpled rubbers behave. However, the quality of your opposition is likely to improve as well, and this means that their tactics will change too. At the advanced level, players can figure out very quickly how a particular anti-spin or long pimpled rubber behaves, and will not lose points by misjudging the spin from the funny rubber or by not noticing which side of the bat has been used to strike the ball. So the combination bat player will try to hide the type of contact from his opponent, so the opponent does not know whether the ball has been brushed or hit with solid contact. I'll go into this topic in more detail when I write about how to use anti-spin and long pimples, but for now, here are a couple of sample scenarios:

1. Imagine that you are an advanced player who knows how long pimples work. You loop the ball, and your opponent returns it using his long pimples. You think he has brushed the ball, but in fact he has made solid contact. Since you know how long pimples work, you think he has increased the spin, but in fact he has reduced it. Your next shot is likely to fly over the end of the table.

2. Again, imagine that you are an advanced player who knows how long pimples work. You loop the ball, and your opponent returns it using his long pimples. You think he has hit the ball solidly, but in fact he has brushed it. Since you know how long pimples work, you think he has reduced the spin, but in fact he has increased it. Your next shot is likely to hit the bottom of the net.

Ok, so much for returns from your topspin strokes. But what happens when you backspin the ball to your opponent? For all the information that matters, go to Part VI - What Happens when I Backspin?

Next: What Happens When I Backspin the Ball?