Anti

 

New Hype about Anti Spin Rubbers & their   Design Parameters & Playing Characteristics Don’t use anti spin rubbers/ It is all marketing hype & gimmicks driven by ITTF politics. Anti is easier to learn to use than long pips (well , the so called long pips……….they really are not long pips but are just medium pips, a long story I won’t get into here)  but the duality principle of table tennis dictates  that any rubber that is easy for you to use is also equally easier for your opponent to play against. It is much harder to learn & frustrating (& humiliating socially) to use long pips “effectively” but once you do long pips are also harder to play against. (This is also the reason ITTF is pushing this hype for anti. They do not want you to use long pips. This is also why ITTF has passed 8 rule & regulation changes that directly or indirectly severely limit the capabilities of long pips). Regardless as we speak , ITTF is planning on passing regulations to further limit the capabilities of anti spin rubbers by limiting the top sheet friction. So in summary, anything you can do with anti spin rubbers (or short pips rubber as a weakside rubber…weakside usually is backhand for most humans) , you can do much more effectively using long pips. I won’t go into technical details as to why & how but this also why there had not been a single high level chop defender using anti spin rubbers in the entire history of the sport beginning with when anti spin rubbers arrived just a few years before long pips). In fact there had been only a few full time block defenders at the high level using anti spin rubbers. So you do your math.\ Anyway let us first look at what is an antispin rubber ?  I can explain it this way. Your grandfather left the first spinny inverted rubbers that were release in 60’s in his attic in the heat of summers. You found it & walk into a tabletennis club with the usual delusion that newbies have that you can beat the best player in the club. But most club players probably laugh at your racket. That is because the rubber on your racket is a totally dead piece of crap & cannot generate any spins. This rubber is essentially your glorious anti spin rubber & manufacturers simply use various marketing gimmicks to sell this piece of crap as the magical & easy solution to all your table tennis problems instead of the difficult to use & socially hated (& ITTF hated)  long pips. Keep also in mind as to how ITTF classifies a rubber as an anti or as a spinny inverted rubber.  As far as I know manufacturers can just request ITTF to classify their rubber as an anti. I don’t think there are elaborate tests like there are for long pips or short pips classification.  So all that said, I can’t stop you from using these anti spin rubbers. Anti spin rubbers are mostly useless for almost all of table tennis population. There is only one exception. If you are an older player who started in the sport late & never learned to top spin (aka loop) in your youth or cannot top spin at all due to medical reasons such as health limitations. In this case the only best racket design for you is to have anti spin rubber on one side (usually forehand most of the time except when you may twiddle) & a no sponge (OX) rubber on the other side (usually backhand) . Anyway, if you still insist on using anti rubbers below is an analysis of various design parameter variations used by manufacturers for product & marketing differentiation as applied to playing characteristics . 1.. How slick (frictionless) is the top sheet 10= Extremely slick 1= least slick This is probably the most important parameter. The top sheet of an anti spin rubber is quite slick & non grippy. Anti rubbers unofficially existed a few years before long pips came around. Both rubbers were originally developed for away from the table choppers. But arrival of long pips totally eclipsed anti as a chopper & as far as I know there has never been an away from the table chopper using anti in the history of the sport. All the best choppers used long pips because it was superior. But now all long pips are banned as of 1998 to exterminate choppers which has been successfully achieved by the ITTF (at least on the men’s side) with 7 more rule & regulation changes after 1998.  The so called “long” pips listed on ITTF LARC are really not “long” pips. They are actually just medium pips in the context of the 9 rule & regulation changes since 1983 to severely limit the choppers & other defenders. But my point is that anti is strictly a rubber for close to the table blockers if they want to choose anti instead of blocking type so called long pips. Blocking type so called long pips though most of them have been promptly banned by ITTF in 2008 are still far superior to anti.   2. Does ITTF measure top sheet friction ? As far as I know there is no such test for anti spin rubbers, as there strict rules & regulations for so called long pips. But it seems there are a few male blockers are beginning to have success with some so called new “frictionless” antis & of course ITTF hates that & you can expect a new regulation any time to measure anti rubber top sheet friction LOL 3. How lively or dead is the sponge ? 10= very dead 1= very lively A dead sponge has the dampening effect of mostly taking away the speed of incoming loops. Some anti rubbers may have a lively sponge & a slick top sheet. These may not be as good for blocking because the ball may shoot off reacting to incoming loops. But this may be good rubber for chopping but given that anti is not a chopping rubber (so called long pips are superior for chopping as ai explained earlier)  this is probably a bad design for an anti rubber but manufacturers cab sell any rubber with marketing gimmicks anyway. This could be decent all around anti and not a specialized anti for blocking (or chopping, though useless as I explained above) 4. How hard is the sponge 10=very hard 1= very soft A softer sponge may give more dwell time and possibly more spin reversal 5. How long are the pips 10= Max long 1=Min long This is a hard question for any inverted rubber as you can’t see the pips but if you take the wasted part of the rubber after you cut the rubber once it is glued to the blade , you can at least get a visual estimate If not actual measurement. I may be wrong but I think rubbers like Tenergy 05 etc (I know they are not anti by definition but defensive spinny inverted rubbers Butterfly Tackiness or Donic Slice may have short pips. 6. How stiff or flexible are the pips (Again you can tell only by examining cut sheets) More flexible pips probably give more spin reversal but again this is a guessing game unless you have the manufacturer’s specification data since you cannot see the pips    7. Is the top sheets factory treated with some chemical ? Again I may be wrong but I think some are and some aren’t 8. What is the pip density (an estimate) ? 10 for highest allowed (30 pips / sq.cm) 1 for lowest density of 10 pips / sq.cm Another guessing game since you cannot see the pips 9. Pip orientation Vertical or Horizontal You probably can take a look from the cut rejected pieces by taking them apart. I assume horizontal orientation probably gives more spin reversal 10. Lowest & highest sponge thickness your brands come in. A thicker but dead sponge will probably have the most dampening effect. A  thicker but lively sponge may give more spin reversal A thinner sponge may not have the highest speed dampening effect 11. Spin reversal A lively sponge will probably give the most spin reversal. Theoretically the top sheet should not be  a factor since the top sheet is what primarily defines whether a rubber is classified as an anti (or a spinny inverted rubber) on ITTF LARC 12. Deception Given that anti is almost ONLY a blocking rubber, design trend always seems to be maximize deception which also upsets the ITTF , which is somewhat justified but not entirely in the context of a fair & level playing field. Deception is why ITTF repeatedly has cracked down on so called long pips though the original long pips for choppers were designed for maximizing back spin and not for maximizing deception. Nevertheless even a current not so frictionless so called long pips (frictionless pips were banned in 2008) are still far superior to so called frictionless anti.  Anti still seems to hang around as manufacturers keep pushing it & of course ITTF wants everyone to use anti & not so called long pips , until of course they will start limiting anti as well next LOL.   13. Do you classify this rubber as a traditional anti or frictionless anti Earliest released antis such as Butterfly Super Anti or Yasaka Anti Power etc are classified as traditional antis to create a marketing  product differentiation for anti rubbers released in the past few years. These new antis are known as frictionless antis and probably will get limited and banned as soon as ITTF notices any popularity of these rubbers LOL  Almost all traditional antis are Japanese & almost all new frictionless antis are European & very few if any Chinese brands exist (maybe because Chines know anti is useless compared to so called long pips ?  I do not know LOL)    14. Rubber on other side of your racket If you are using a non sticky spinny inverted rubber (mostly European or Japanese)  on other side of your racket, anti rubbers are even more useless  because the spin contrast between both sides is minimal 15.  Let me know if I missed anything ======================== In summary , IMO  anti rubbers are completely useless as secondary (or weakside)  rubbers (on backhand) compared to so called long pips mostly because, for a given racket , on the spin continuum,  the spin contrast between a spinny inverted rubber & an anti rubber is minimal compared to the spin contrast between a spinny inverted rubber & a so called long pips rubber.  ITTF of course prefers that you rather use an anti rather than a so called long pips because it is less of a nuisance to two winged loopers.