What I want to know is which long pimple rubber produces the most spin reversal that will not be banned next year? I realize the least flexible no sponge will do this - but which is it?
And if it is going to be the hardest rubber so it doesn't bend and touch the sides, why bother with long pimple at all why not use a short hard pimple, since it won't bend at all...
And last if not least I imagine the more the pips are spread out, the less contact area. The thinner the pips the less contact area, but the thinner the more flexible too..... am I mad?
Sincerely
John
This is not an easy question to answer, mainly because I think that there are actually two answers to your question.
Pure Spin Reversal
If you are looking for pure spin reversal in terms of maintaining the spin that your opponent has already put on the ball, then the frictionless type long pips with stiff pimples spaced wide apart are going to do the best job, since they will interfere with the current spin on the ball much less than a grippy long pips.So if this is what you are after, I'd suggest trying to find a rubber that is just over the minimum friction level set by the ITTF. I can't say that I know precisely the best rubber for this, but some of the rubbers I've read about that other players have recommended for this purpose include Double Happiness Cloud and Fog III, Tibhar Grass Devil, and Hallmark Super Nova. Although I'd personally recommend waiting to see what new rubbers Dr Neubauer, Hallmark and other manufacturers come up with to deal with the ITTF's friction ruling - I'm sure that they'll be working hard to develop something legal but with similar effects.
And yes, you could theoretically use a short pip rubber to get the same effect (try using a plain wooden bat with no rubbers for fun sometime and you'll see the same effect), but the long pips bend a little more, allowing for more variation in the return, which makes things more difficult for an opponent then having the more predictable return of a short pips rubber.
Ability to Increase the Spin
If you are looking for a rubber that can increase the amount of spin on the ball, (e.g. by chopping your opponent's topspin, and increasing the amount of backspin that he has to deal with), then the softer, grippy long pips are going to do the best job of this, since you can bend the pimples and use a brushing motion to further increase the amount of spin on the ball. It's not true spin reversal as such, but more like spin incrementation. In this case, the more contact with the ball, the better, so a grippier, bendier pips that are closer together should increase the spin more.
Regards,
Greg
