Here are my thoughts on the term corkscrew.
First off, NextLevel has given such good information that the information was worth it.
Second off, our only disagreement is a semantic one. If we are just using the word to mean slightly different things, I am not going to worry about it.
But here is how I would parse things out myself.
A vertical axis is one kind of side spin. It is rare for this to occur in a pure form in table tennis just as it is rare to have any axis of spin be geometrically squared to 90 degrees in any plane. A front to back axis is also a side spin and the effects of this kind of sidespin are very different from the vertical axis version.
In the flight of a ball, there is only one axis of spin and it can be at any angle.
A loop with sidespin will curve and dip. Regardless of which version of sidespin or what the exact angle of axis is, a loop with sidespin will curve and dip (in referring to a ball curving down I usually use the ter: arc). Most loops with sidespin will curve to some extent and also kick to the side to some extent.
For me to consider the term corkscrew as a useful term, it would have to be close enough to that front to back axis to display the major characteristics of that axis of spin. And if it displayed those characteristics I wouldn't consider the shot a loop because part of the characteristics of the forward to back axis of spin is that the spin will not pull it up or down, and the spin will not cause the ball to curve in the air much. The arc on this kind of ball is caused by gravity not the Magnus effect. So the main feature of this shot would be that the ball would fly fairly straight and kick to the side in an exaggerated manner. The video with the lob that really kicks to the side, that is what I would call a corkscrew ball.
But a loop that curves a bit, arcs and kicks to the side a bit....I would just call that a loop or a sidespin loop.
Further characteristics of a corkscrew ball: the term spin avoidance has been used. And I know that NextLevel knows what he means by spin avoidance. But I get the sense that Archo may not entirely understand it.
On a backspin ball, contact on the side of the ball, near either point of the axis of spin, would be useful spin avoidance. On a sidespin loop that has a lot of curve, spin avoidance would mean covering the topspin enough while hitting the INSIDE of the ball for a fade shot. Because that is the easier side of the axis to get your racket on.
Often when someone hooks to me, instead of spin avoidance I go right to where the spin is strongest and hook back the incoming hook which actually gets me massive hook. When I do this shot I will direct the ball towards the BH side but it will still end up leaving the FH side of the table before the end-line.
What am I trying to say: spin avoidance obviously ends up relying on a fairly accurate read of spin.
Spin avoidance for a true corkscrew, that would be to just contact the back of the ball. But if you misread corkscrew and read it as the other kind of side spin or as topspin you are going to be in a world of trouble.
If you misread a corkscrew as a sidespin loop and try to do a fade loop and are compensating for side and top, and trying for spin avoidance, your ball will go straight down as if the ball was massive backspin. This is because of the fact that the inside of the ball on a corkscrew ball IS ACTUALLY heavy backspin. Now, to that same ball that I will often just go right at the sidespin, the outside of the ball will be pure top. And the ball will go straight up.
As I understand the kind of spin I am talking about, the main value of it would be in serving. If you can do a good corkscrew serve, and a good regular sidespin serve and make them look somewhat similar, if you mix these well, you can drive your opponent crazy. If you give him the corkscrew serve and he reads it as the other side, and touches the the inside of the spin for spin avoidance, the ball will go straight down because that is the backspin side. If he starts reading the ball as corkscrew and then you switch it to the other side/top, the ball will shoot up and to the side because it was the other kind of side/top. But the corkscrew really bounces like a topspin ball. And the kick to the side at the pace of a serve really looks like curve in the air. So, the few people who can make a REAL corkscrew serve have a real powerful weapon as long as their opponent is high enough level to read it as side top. [emoji2]
Michael Landers taught me all that I just explained when he taught me his corkscrew serve.
That corkscrew serve, when I use it against my sister who is maybe 1100, she has no trouble returning it if she can adjust to the lateral curve and put her racket on the ball.
But serving that same serve to a guy who is 2500-2600, after he missed the second one, I asked if he knew what spin it was. He acted like it was a stupid question and said it was side top. And I just said, "okay." Two more and he figured it out and asked how come I could do that. [emoji2]
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