playing against antispin

sure, low underspin balls against antispin can set up a good attack otherwise if you play fast low and long with no spin you can also set-up an easy attack...most anti spin shots should be fairly easy to attack if you can read spin well, slightly modify your strokes to a flatter and more open face approach to the ball...thread should be moved to General though...hope that helps

I would serve heavy underspin to the antispin, wait for the return then loop kill the ball. you can do this because the ball comes back without any spin or a bit of topspin. Hope this helps.

The first thing you have to realise is that you aren t playing against a rubber, but against a player who uses it. So the question is, how does he use it? Close to the table blocking, away chopping or is he hitting with it?

Serving heavy backspin is a great way to give away the initiative, as these serves are very easy to attack with anti. Topspin serves are far harder to deal with, but if he twiddles, you might get in trouble with those as well.

So, there is no "right" way to play against anti rubbers, it s all about the player, just remember that anti gives very weak reversal and often gives you a no spin ball back. Also make sure to follow the ball at all times, cause the trajectory is different and often when people miss against anti, is isn t so much because of the spin as it is because they have taken their eyes of the ball and anticipated where it will come. Since the trajectory and speed is different to what they are used to, they miss-time their hit and miss the table.

Speedplay wrote: The first thing you have to realise is that you aren t playing against a rubber, but against a player who uses it. So the question is, how does he use it? Close to the table blocking, away chopping or is he hitting with it? Serving heavy backspin is a great way to give away the initiative, as these serves are very easy to attack with anti. Topspin serves are far harder to deal with, but if he twiddles, you might get in trouble with those as well.

One of my regular opponents, another player at my relatively low level, is a close to the table blocker that uses an anti BH and an attacking inverted FH.

He likes to move you around the table until you can t safely return a ball, commit an unforced error against a knuckle or "reversed" spin or simply pop something up. If you popup, he likes to smash with the inverted FH.

Unlike higher level anti players, he lacks a FH loop and an BH (anti) smash.

A few weeks ago, we went 5 games and I lost (he was playing well).
This past week, I shut him out 3-0.

What was different?

alexito wrote: I would serve heavy underspin to the antispin, wait for the return then loop kill the ball. you can do this because the ball comes back without any spin or a bit of topspin. Hope this helps.

I did this intermittently. I also was much more conscious of using my spin (heavy push) in rallies to get a topspin ball from the anti that I could place.

I also made sure to push weak balls to him that were difficult to attack (placement, angle). When I did pop up, I made sure it was wide or to the elbow so his movement was stretched or jammed to reduce either his accuracy or power on attack.

I made sure to both push to and attack his FH, as I could frequently force him to use his BH anti on the wrong side of the table, opening up a lane past the unprotected BH side (for my crosscourt BH topspin or down the line FH).


Edited by icontek - 10/10/2010 at 12:58pm

it is actually nice to develop light spin game by keeping ball low, and light spin attacks to his anti side, since it can be used with both pips and anti. no big surprises because neither LP no anti can much change light spin, ball returns either with light spin, either flat. such game can give you tactical advantage. however, against skilled twidler...forget it ;)

Speedplay wrote: If there is a given tactic on how to beat player s who use a certain rubber, then I doubt that rubber would be popular.

To beat an anti user you usually just need to watch the ball rotation and how the opponent returns it. So concentration is key to defeating an anti player. Also it is easy to lose your footwork against anti players since your so concentrated on the ball. :)

ozzy wrote: I am having trouble playing against antispin rubber- any suggestions

 

i may sound a little show off  ... but truely i have more success beating higher level anti and long pip players (and losing to lower level consistant 2 winged loopers ). 

Edited by debraj - 10/12/2010 at 3:15am

I played against a opponent who used anti on his forehand and he would roll the ball back, usually high, at first I was smacking them long (as the ball wasn t comming to me so it affected my timing so kept reminding myself to go forward ie get closer to the ball before attacking

Speedplay,

I agree that one should understand how anti works.
I agree that one should play the opponent.

Many intermediate anti players use the rubber on BH for serve return and for blocking defense against loops. As Debraj pointed out, the former can be exploited.

I d also argue that if you possess a smash against underspin or smash against deadball (from mid table) that one should "encourage" the anti player to give you the balls that you can finish.

Suggestions for getting the anti player to produce dead and light underspin balls to mid table are welcome, currently I use smashes, but the problem is that they are frequently returned deep.

I suspect you re right and we do agree on most things, and this is a potentially awkward ball.

Edited by Chopin - 10/14/2010 at 5:34pm

If you can serve deceptively, try serving short, sometimes very short. If you can sell a slight bottomspin as topspin or float, you will get a ball netted, even with Anti or OX LP. Those rubber still react some to spin and trhe receiver still has to get teh bat angle right (at least right enough) These surfaces do not automatically return every serve on there on just by contacting it with the alternate surface. This is also effective because it causes the player to move close to the net. If the player is caught too far out and doesn t step in all the way, they have to reach, which makes them lose some control over their bat angle. Only the arm and shoulder control that shot when reaching. Why not take advantage of that occasionally? Making the receiver wonder what is going is an art. It is even more effective when you can get points on serve from what should be a receiving strength. A medium cut, which looks like a light cut, works for this as well. This is even good against some inverted players, like J-Penners who stand deep in the BH corner.

BH-MAN wrote: You can also serve deep/fast into the Anti/LP changing the spins with the same service motion.

i m thinking i ll use my hardbat against the anti players next time. Is it legal to change rackets mid-match, in between games?