Spin continuum, Spin contrast & Spin Dynamics (sort of...Say NO to weakside short pips)

[Picklball]

The dark & divine sides of short pips

Before proceeding, you need to understand what does weakside mean ?
For most humans backhand is the weakside (in racket sport). 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 long pips sits on the very opposite side which is the back-spin side.

Short 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 short pips is absolute best but unfortunately only 5% of even the pros have the skills to be able to use short pips at the highest levels because the error margins are so low using short pips, though short pips is theoretically the best rubber there is for tabletennis. This is because the 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 short 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 short 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 tha 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 Jonyesr, Gergley & Klampar (coached by a chopper Zoltan Beczik) totally dominated the Chinese during the same peiod.
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 & short 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 long pips on the other side ( You want an OX blocking type long pips if you are a close to the table (amateur) player who are usually older or an OX chopping type long pips if you can play away from the table or want a long 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 short pips (or anti) are the worst possible rubber on a combination racket. Some amateur players who are from hardbat era or short pips with sponge players who are mostly penholders may be able to play with short pips on forehand as primary rubber. Other than that short pips (or anti) is the worst possible rubber as a weakside rubber (usually backhand) because short 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 ( short 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 short 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 short pips (with sponge) & long pips OX combination racket (from my previous spinny inverted / long 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 + long 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- short 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

[Amaia Nadal Penelope]

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 longs 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. Short pips rubbers (with live sponge and or frictionful or illegally speed glued or illegally boosted type)
5. Anti spin rubbers (with dead sponge)
6. Short 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 short pips traits
8. Medium pips rubbers with dominant long pips traits
9. Low length low aspect ratio frictionless close to the table blocking type long pips on ITTF LARC with low looper torture index
10. Low length low aspect ratio frictionful away from the table chopping type long pips on ITTF LARC with low looper torture index
11. Long length High aspect ratio frictionless close to the table blocking type long pips NOT listed on ITTF LARC with high looper torture index
12. Long length High aspect ratio frictionful away from the table chopping type long pips NOT listed on ITTF LARC with high looper torture index

[Bibiana]

To get a full picture of why short pips is pure garbage as weakside rubber
please goto this webpage

[Sanfordz]

Remember that as far as weakside pips (& back spin & versatility& overall effectiveness) goes
chickens (short pips) can fly a little, doves (medium pips) can fly a little higher and bar-headed geese (LARC long pips) can fly much higher but Ruppell’s vulture (High Aspect Ratio Super Long Pips) can soar the highest

[Gullermo L M]

Another huge problem is that manufacturers keep players confused about what rubber is best for what playing style & why certain rubbers were invented & the chronological order of arrival of various rubber types upon the table tennis scene.

Biggest problem in this regard is short pips. Short pips was the first table tennis rubber in the form of hardbat. Hardbat refers to short with no sponge.

As someone point out earlier, though short pips with spong is theoretically the best table tennis rubber, it is only good if you are equally talented, which most amateurs clearly are not.

If you look at even the pros, only one shakehand player, Mattias Falck is using short pips on forehand. for most other it just does not work evn on the strong side (forehand). Yes there had been many penholder world champions with short pips but none on men's side.

Johnny Huang, the Chinese born Canadian is probably the last male shakehands player with short pips on backhand.

The biggest problem now is Mima Ito. She a huge underachiever because of her short pips on backhand & she is the worst role model because short pips is the absolute worst rubber for weakside (backhand)

So manufacturers are depecrately hanging on to Mima Ito to sell short pips, whose time has come & long gone, most especially as a weakside (backhand) rubber

Yes there are some non-pro players who are much better off using short pips on forehand. These are players who picked up the sport as an adult & never learned to loop properly with spinny inverted rubbers. Then there are also some players who cannot loop at all due to various physical limitations. These players absolutely should be using only short pips on forehand & definitely not spinny inverted.

[Le0 Mess1]

Most of the problems related to these issues comes from the follwing crucial facts

1. Most players are clueless about the chronology of arrival of various rubbers in table tennis.
2. Manufacturers expolit this by trying to sell anti & shot pips rubbers with marketing gimmicks