How to play against Short pimple rubber ( especially killer )

hamesh · Oct 5, 2022

I am a forehand oriented player and i have no problem playing against inverted rubber players ( I give tough fight to players stronger than me ) but when I play matches against Short pimple players i struggle alot although they are lower ranked then me. I don't understand how to play against such players . Please tell me some useful tips.

Dominikk85 · Oct 5, 2022

How are they beating you? Are you making mistakes? Or are they smashing your loops?

vvk1 · Oct 5, 2022

https://www.samsondubina.com/coaching/devastate-short-pips-attacker

All one needs to know. Samson Dubina's website is a real treasure trove.

hamesh · Oct 6, 2022

I want to know that how to play a rally against someone with short pips . I can play very powerful shot on first ball basically no problem in playing one or two balls but if the rally extends I feel uncomfortable playing against them as I don't know what to do from which distance I should play or which stroke I should go for or at what point I should play the ball . Basically no problem in playing one or two balls but If rally extend I struggle. I try to tap Or counter it will stuck in the net , If I will loop it will have so much height and they will counter attack it..... Not talking about just one player but talking about every short pips player I have played against the problem is same .I feel confused and uncomfortable.
Thank you

Takkyu_wa_inochi · Oct 6, 2022

I don't think there is a "unique" way to play short-pips player - or any style.
it depends also on what you are able to do, your own style, your strengths and weaknesses.

generally speaking, with the same stroke, short pips players ball have less spin. if we don't pay attention our brain is conditioned "that kind of stroke = that kind of ball" but with this rubber its a different ball, less spin, the timing will be different too.

Personally i think what most short pips player LIKE = fast balls, high balls, not very spinny balls, not very deep.
so if you give them slower balls, deep, spinny, EVEN if its its with high arc (provided its spinny and deep) it will negate the advantages of the short pips.

because they like fast balls, unless you're very good or the ball is super easy, i think its easier to step back a little bit more than with your usual opponent, and take the ball a little bit after the top of the bounce instead of the top of the bounce. Let the ball go down a bit. I think its easier to generate the kind of balls above, and playing in a controlled way will give you more time to get back in position

if you follow this tactic, then when the rally continues, they may give you an easier ball that you can attack harder.

As for the choice of serves, i think its not a good idea to serve short to the pimples because their rubbers make flicking easy. serve long or half long. heavy underspin is good if you know how to do it because its more difficult for them to spin back the ball with their pips so either they will make a weak loop, or push back or take the risk of playing with the other side of the racket.

Short_Pimple · Oct 6, 2022

Here are my 2 cents:

It depends on the skill of the short pips player.

If someone plays long, soft topspins on my backhand short pips, I'm gonna do a little victory dance. There is no other ball I like better.

If I counter hard, the ball will get really good speed. If I touch it with almost no power, the ball will be slow and usually produce a knuckle ball that has absolutly no spin.
If I chop block that ball, there will be underspin.

What I as a short pips player usually struggle with is flat and long no spin pushes or counters. Of course we can play a pips topspin style stroke or roll the ball, but it will never be dangerous. Also the no spin ball, if flat and long, has a really tight margin for error.

If we get spin from our opponents, we can work with it. If there is no spin, it's hard to controll the ball.

You might as well try to hit the middle, the point where you should transition from bh to fh. That's where I hat balls, because I have to move or play a low quality ball because I'm late after deciding what to do.

One other short pips player at my club is a lot more secure with it than I am and is a lot higher rated then me, but he hates balls that will go out the bh side of him (drifting away from the table., mostly with sidespin) because he has to move a lot to get behind that ball. The follow up ball to his deep fh is a 80% point for his opponents.

Like all players, any has different skills. What works against me won't work against anybody.

pingpongpaddy · Oct 16, 2022

hamesh said:
I want to know that how to play a rally against someone with short pips . I can play very powerful shot on first ball basically no problem in playing one or two balls but if the rally extends I feel uncomfortable playing against them as I don't know what to do from which distance I should play or which stroke I should go for or at what point I should play the ball . Basically no problem in playing one or two balls but If rally extend I struggle. I try to tap Or counter it will stuck in the net , If I will loop it will have so much height and they will counter attack it..... Not talking about just one player but talking about every short pips player I have played against the problem is same .I feel confused and uncomfortable.
Thank you

Hi Hamesh
the thing is that if you try to play big topspin all the time against good sp players they will send you blocks that sink so that you are playing from too near the floor while the sp guy is hitting you all over the place, playing off the bounce or peak.
Professionals tend not to have this problem, because they are able to counter hit when they need to. They dont loop for the sake of it and they are not afraid to play some counterhitting when required.
The counterhit is the basic fh style and those amateurs who spend all their practice time swapping long range big topspin are failing to develop the basic tool which would enable them to go toe to toe with the sp player. There is a particular player I find very difficult. He is a big topspinner which normally i like, but when my blocks and hits are working he has evolved a method of just counter driving with light top to a very good length consistently. He aims to wear me down and he is good enough to do it. The very first time we played I hit him off the table in no time, but ever since he showed his counter hit skills I have’nt been able to repeat it.
curses**
hamesh learn to counterhit!!

ttQuwerky123 · Oct 17, 2022

my coach has told me that when you play against any kind of pimple player you need to change your game style to one push one topspin. so basically you need to watch and remember what spin you gave to the opposing player and what rubber they hit it with. so if you do a topspin and they hit it back with their short pimples you should push. but if you hit a topspin and they play it back with their inverted rubber, you can just hit another topspin like you normally would. remember when you push to play it to the side with pimples as it might be harder for them to attack from that side. eg most players that use pimples have it on their backhand. so hit a topspin to their forehand then follow it up with one deep to their backhand. if the ball does come back. hit as short of a push as you can, if its to hard to hit a short push try to hit a deep one to the backhand side. if the opponent is close to the table and you hit a deep push to the backhand, there is a high chance that they will struggle to get out of the way fast enough because they would most likely try to hit a backhand topspin because its a long ball. this should result in a bad receive coming back to you and the point should be yours for the taking as you can topspin the ball wherever you want to after that

Lula · Oct 17, 2022

- Short pimple stroke often have a bit of underspin in it --> loop a bit more upward
- short pimple is alot about timing and can only hit at the highest point so need to move more --> play with more variation
- less spin with short pimple, so open against backspin is difficult --> serve and push long

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How to play against Short pimple rubber ( especially killer )

hamesh

hamesh

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Dominikk85

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vvk1

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hamesh

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Takkyu_wa_inochi

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Short_Pimple

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pingpongpaddy

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