Spin
continuum, Spin contrast & spin dynamics
The
dark & divine sides of smash pips
Please
note:-
Smash
pips or wide pips are referred incorrectly by ITTF as short pips
(listed as
“out”) on ITTF LARC. Slim pips are referred deceptively as
long pips
on ITTF LARC. (There is no such thing as “long” pips in ITTF
table
tennis. ITTF banned them in 1998 & confirmed it with 8 more rule
&
regulation changes but deceptively continues to call them as “long”
pips). All
this is explained in detail in another webpage below
Anyway,
before proceeding, you need to understand what does weakside mean ?
For most humans’ backhand is the weakside (in racket sport) or a
different
playing style side. Of course there are always a very few exceptions.
But the problem is that most amateurs even high-level amateurs do not
understand this weakside concept & believe they can all have equal
backhands & forehand skills.
Another problem is that the playing styles for most humans is usually
different
in terms of playing style, consistency, power, stroke mechanics etc.
etc. But
again most amateurs do not understand this & believe their weakside
(backhand) can be as good as their forehand
In the spectrum of spin continuum in tabletennis from the perspective
of
rubbers (aka racket covering) , spinny inverted (aka reverse or pips in
or
backside) rubber sits on one end of the spin scale, the top-spin side
& the
slim pips sits on the very opposite side which is the back-spin side.
Wide or
smash pips & anti sort of sit in the center & medium pips sits
sort of
towards the back-spin end.
Most
diverse spins is the element that clearly distinguishes table tennis
from other
racket sports though for good or bad it also makes table tennis one of
the most
(if not the most) complex individual sport, due the speed (in terms of
ball
travel area) of the sport & super high technology rackets further
complicating the matters.
Only area where wide or smash pips is absolute best but unfortunately
only 5%
of even the pros have the skills to be able to use wide or smash pips
at the
highest levels because the error margins are so low using wide or
smash
pips, though wide or smash pips is theoretically the
best
rubber there is for tabletennis. This is because the wide
or
shortest distance between two points is a straight line. So, if you can
deliver
the ball consistently across the net at highest speeds as is best
possible with
wide or smash pips, then we don't need spins at all and other 4 rubber
types
but this is not reality since players need spin (back or top
spin....
not side spin, though side spin makes tabletennis a lot more complex
more than
any other racket sport) in table-tennis to keep the ball on the table
lot more
than in any other racket sport due to the small size of the table.
(This
observation was actually made by former ITTF president & 2 time
World
Champion Ogimura in his 51% doctrine (smash, smash, smash , smash means
flat
hits, not loop, with emphasis on speed (flat hitting) & later
adopted by 3
time World Champions pips out hitter Zhuang Zedong) , though
interestingly if I
am not mistaken, he used a smooth sponge rubber racket & not a wide
or
smash pips out with sponge racket later used by Zhuang Zedong &
Jiang
Jiliang, He Zhewen etc.).
This is not just table tennis. If you look at tennis, the last player
who
reached the highest levels of the sport with pure flat hitting style
was Jimmy
Connors who actually pioneers the era of non-wood rackets.
Interestingly, Bjorn
Borg, the son a of top Swedish table tennis player Rune Borg pioneered
super
top spin in tennis and sort of dominated Jimmy Connors. BTW Bjorn Borg
took up
tennis because when he was a (real) kid ( Because Bord won Wimbledon
when he
was still a kid LOL) he was fascinated with a tennis racket that his
father won
as the prize for winning a local table tennis tournament. Even more
fascinating
is the fact that the Hungarian trio of super loopers Jonyer, Gergeley
&
Klampar (coached by a chopper Zoltan Beczik) totally dominated the
Chinese
during the same period.
Yes pickleball is becoming wildly popular and spreading like wildfire
in USA
& even rest of the world mostly due to the removal of spin in
racket design
in addition to many other factors. But this approach seems to have
failed
miserably in tabletennis with TTX as it seems to have been rejected by
TT
players as players stick to tabletennis if they have the stomach to
handle
& conquer the complexities of diverse spins and the rackets &
rubbers
needed to this end..... so for most tabletennis player spins are like
the
ultimate drugs & a fix & wide or smash pips really does not
provide a
lot of it for sure.
For an amateur player, the best and most practical combination racket
with
maximum possible spin contrast is a racket with spinny inverted rubber
one side
and slim pips on the other side ( You want an OX blocking type slim
pips if you
are a close to the table (amateur) player who are usually older or an
OX
chopping type slim pips if you can play away from the table or want a
slim or
medium pips with sponge rubber if you sort of play an all-around game
varying
from close to the table to mid distance to away from the table).
Therefore wide or smash pips (or anti) are the worst possible rubber on
a
combination racket. Some amateur players who are from hardbat era or
wide or
smash pips with sponge players who are mostly penholders may be able to
play
with wide or smash pips on forehand as primary rubber. Other than that,
wide or
smash pips (or anti) is the worst possible rubber as a weakside rubber
(usually
backhand) because wide or smash pips and anti sit towards the middle of
the
spin continuum & does not provide the maximum possible spin
contrast on
your racket.
Now why do you need maximum possible spin contrast ? A professional
tabletennis
athlete though needs spin contrast, does not need spin contrast as much
as an
amateur hacker. Why ? Because, a pro athlete has reached that level
mostly due
to the high level of consistency that they can execute a smaller range
of
strokes, such as jus loop & block (inverted both sides of racket)
or just
as just block & smash ( wide or smash pips , usually penholder) or
just
loop & lob (inverted both sides of racket).
But unfortunately consistency is not a viable practical solution for an
amateur
hacker though 99% of players & even coaches sadly believe (or more
like
delude) it is. Because amateur can never ever reach the consistency (in
executing a specific stroke, most especially the loop) anywhere close
to that
of a pro athlete.(The amateur's consistency level reaches a saturation
point
much lower than that of a pro and will never get any better however
hard the
amateur tries & this is reality) So the only other practical &
best
alternative for an amateur hacker is widening the diversity of stroke
production across the entire spin continuum. You definitely cannot
achieve this
diversity of stroke production the best using a weakside wide or smash
pips (or
anti). Maximizing the Waldnersque diversity of
strokes in
one's arsenal is therefore the ONLY salvation (and also more fun) for
an
amateur & NOT an exercise in futility of trying to reach the
realistically
unattainable consistency (like a pro has) in a limited number
of
strokes (such as just the straight (no side-spins) loop)
PS :- Due to aging & loss of foot speed etc., I personally am
trying to
switch more & more to a wide or smash pips (with sponge) & slim
pips OX
combination racket (from my previous spinny inverted / slim pips OX
combination
racket) but with little success, but I will keep trying LOL This is
actually an
attempt to maximize my "no spin forehand fake chopping -backhand max
backspin chopping" moving away from my 30 year top-spin / backspin
model
due to difficulties with top spin (loop / fish) style of play as one
ages. But
yet (spinny inverted + slim pips) is the best racket for most younger
combination racket players if they choose this style which is a more
realistic
style instead of the pro fantasy style of two-side inverted boosted up
style or
spinny inverted- wide or smash pips combi racket (Mima Ito-Hou
Yingchao)
fantasyland.
My usual disclaimer :- People can talk all logical rationalizations
&
complex analytics all they want but all table-tennis players, most
amateurs
& even pros will always go with what they feel & imagine what
the best
racket design is for them based on other factors such as peer &
social
pressures or pro player worship fantasies etc. One has to accept it
The
spin Continuum needs proper definition
On the
top spin end sits not just spinny inverted rubbers but illegally
speed-glued or
illegally boosted spinny inverted rubbers
On the
opposite back spin end of the spin spectrum sits high aspect ratio
super slim
pips
So,
the proper list for spin continuum is , from top spin to back spin
1. illegally
speed-glued or illegally boosted spinny inverted rubbers
2. Legal
spinny inverted rubbers
3. Anti
spin rubbers (with live sponge)
4. Wide
or smash pips rubbers (with live sponge and or high friction or
illegally speed
glued or illegally boosted type)
5. Anti
spin rubbers (with dead sponge)
6. Wide
or smash pips rubbers (with dead sponge and or with frictionless type
pips)
> This is sort of dead center of the spin continuum
7. Medium
pips rubbers with dominant wide or smash pips traits
8. Medium
pips rubbers with dominant slim pips traits
9. Low
length low aspect ratio frictionless close to the table blocking
type slim pips on
ITTF
LARC with low looper torture index
10.
Low length low aspect ratio high friction away from the table
chopping type slim pips
on ITTF LARC with low looper torture index
11.
Longer length High aspect ratio frictionless close to the table
blocking type
slim pips NOT listed on ITTF LARC with high looper torture index
12.
Longer length High aspect ratio high friction away from the table
chopping type
slim pips NOT listed on ITTF LARC with high looper torture index
OK
now that you have a good grasp of what weakside & strongside
is as
well as what spin continuum & spin contrast is, now you can look at
the
table that explains why wide or smash pips & anti are the worst of
all
weakside (usually backhand) rubbers.
Here is
the link below. It is a spreadsheet type presentation
Why wide pips is the worst backhand rubber
Keep this page open & open home page in a new browser tab