How to Play Against Long Pips in Table Tennis
Long pips have a reputation for being confusing to play against. Racket Insight, Killerspin and Table Tennis Teacher all describe them as predictable once you know what the rubber does to the ball, and this guide summarizes the tactics those three sources recommend.
Short answer: Long pips don’t actually reverse a ball’s spin, they maintain the ball’s rotation while reversing its direction of travel, which looks like a spin reversal from the receiving side. Once you understand this, the effect becomes predictable rather than confusing. Stay patient, alternate a topspin with a push, and aim wide to both corners against a long-pips blocker who stands in the middle of the table.
Table of Contents
How Long Pips Change the Ball’s Spin
Racket Insight puts it this way: “Long pips are said to reverse the spin on the ball, but they actually maintain it. It’s just that the ball travels in the opposite direction with the same spin.” Killerspin describes the same effect: long pips bend under the pressure of the spin and do not offer enough resistance to stop or even invert it, so the ball keeps its spin but travels the other way, and topspin becomes underspin and vice versa.
📊 Note: Many players say long pips “reverse” spin. The sources above explain that the rotation is kept and the ball simply travels the opposite way, so the shorthand describes what you see coming back while the second explanation describes what the rubber does.
Why Understanding This Actually Helps
Killerspin opens its guide with the line that playing against a long-pips player “can be incredibly frustrating, or it can be really quite simple,” and says that understanding the effect makes the spin predictable. Its examples: if you loop a topspin ball and it is blocked back with long pips, expect a very heavy underspin ball; if you drive an underspin ball into long pips, expect a slightly topspin ball back.
Tactic 1: Stay Patient, Don’t Over-Attack
Table Tennis Teacher notes that long-pips players tend to be very consistent and that many opponents grow frustrated as the rally extends and try finishing shots that are not there. Racket Insight adds that players with long pips rarely attack to win points, so an opponent who keeps the ball on the table keeps getting chances to win the rally.
Tactic 2: Alternate a Topspin With a Push
Racket Insight calls alternating one topspin with one push the basic strategy against long pips: the topspin comes back with a lot of backspin, which is hard to attack, so you push it, and the next ball returns with no spin or slight topspin, which you can attack. Table Tennis Teacher gives the same push-one-loop-one advice and warns against slow, heavy topspin, because the long-pips return can carry a lot of backspin that is easy to put into the net. Racket Insight also advises against sidespin, since it comes back as sidespin the other way and confuses the player who hit it.
⚠️ Watch out: Both sources above favor a simple, repeatable pattern over heavy spin variation against long pips: alternate a topspin with a push, and avoid heavy sidespin.
Tactic 3: Target the Corners Against a Central Blocker
Racket Insight advises aiming wide to both corners against a long-pips blocker who stands in the middle of the table, because it is very difficult for that player to cover the corners from the middle. Table Tennis Teacher distinguishes by distance: hits to the crossover work especially well against players who stand very close to the table, while wide shots work against players who stand further back.
Tactic 4: Mix In Drop Shots Against Choppers
Against a long-pips player who chops from further back, Racket Insight suggests playing one deep ball and one short ball, such as a push or a drop shot, so the chopper has to move in and out and rarely settles. It also warns that a slightly mistimed drop shot gives the opponent time to step in and attack a high ball.
💡 Pro tip: Wide placement moves an opponent from side to side and a short ball pulls them forward. Racket Insight says this in-and-out movement keeps a chopper uncomfortable and prone to mistakes.
What Long Pips Actually Struggle With
Racket Insight states that long pips cannot produce their own spin, so a long-pips player is limited to returning the spin you put on the ball. That is why the tactics on this page focus on placement and a repeatable pattern rather than on out-spinning the rubber. The same ideas appear in this site’s guide to beating a blocker.
How Long Pips Differ From Other Defensive Rubbers
Table Tennis Teacher lists four rubber types: inverted, short pips, long pips and anti-spin. It says long pips face outward, are not particularly grippy, and in that respect behave rather like anti-spin. The two are still different rubbers, so it is worth checking which one an opponent is using.
Reading a Long-Pips Player’s Specific Style
Table Tennis Teacher notes that some long-pips players stand close to the table and block while others take a few steps back and chop, and that many use a combination racket with long pips on one side and inverted rubber on the other, sometimes twiddling the racket to switch. Treating the opening points of a match as information gathering about which style you are facing is more useful than assuming one playbook fits every long-pips opponent.
Watching the Racket, Not Just the Ball
Table Tennis Teacher notes that long pips face outward, while inverted rubber has its pimples pointing into the sponge. Before a match starts, and whenever a racket is changed during a match, the Laws require a player to show the opponent and the umpire the racket about to be used and to allow them to examine it (ITTF Statutes 2026, Law 2.4.8), so that check is a chance to see what you will be facing before the first point.
If You Keep Struggling Against Long Pips
Table Tennis Teacher says modern table tennis is dominated by attackers using inverted rubber, so there are not many long-pips players and it is hard to gain experience against the style, and it describes facing long pips as almost like learning spin again from scratch. Practice time against a long-pips player, even briefly, is one way to get those repetitions.
💡 Pro tip: If you do not have access to a long-pips practice partner, ask at your club whether anyone uses pips rubber and arrange a few practice sessions.
A Realistic Expectation for Your First Few Points
Table Tennis Teacher describes facing long pips as almost like learning spin again from scratch, so expect the first exchanges against an unfamiliar long-pips opponent to feel awkward. Treat them as calibration, and apply the patience principle covered above from the first point.
- ✓Stay patient and let rallies develop rather than forcing an early winner
- ✓Alternate a topspin with a push against pips
- ✓Target wide corners against a central, blocking-style long-pips opponent
- ✓Mix in drop shots to force forward movement alongside side-to-side placement
- ✕Assume long pips physically reverses a ball’s actual spin rotation
- ✕Use heavy sidespin against long pips, since it comes back as sidespin the other way
- ✕Keep attacking the same central area a blocking long-pips player already covers comfortably
- ✕Expect immediate comfort against an unfamiliar long-pips opponent in the first few points
Serving Against a Long-Pips Opponent
Serve strategy is a separate question from rally tactics, and the two sources give related advice. Table Tennis Teacher recommends a long backspin serve to the long-pips side: most long-pips players are passive and push backspin balls, which returns a light topspin ball that is easy to attack, and a deep serve raises the chance of a deep return, which is easier to attack. It also advises against heavy sidespin serves, because they can confuse the server and long pips are less reactive to spin.
Racket Insight says most coaches recommend serving backspin, that no-spin serves can also work against beginner and intermediate long-pips players, and that topspin serves are an option against an opponent who attacks backspin well. For placement it suggests serving 80 to 90 percent long to the opponent’s backhand and 10 to 20 percent short to the forehand so the serves are not predictable.
💡 Pro tip: The serve advice above comes from two coaching articles and depends on the opponent, so treat it as a starting point and see which serve gives you more attackable third balls.
Reading and Returning a Long-Pips Serve
Racket Insight’s receiving advice is to return the ball to the long pips with as little spin of your own as possible. If the serve has backspin, push it to the long pips and attack the next ball. If it has topspin, drive the ball to the long pips and push the next one.
Racket Insight also warns against sidespin shots against long pips, because the sidespin comes back reversed and confuses the player who hit it, with no real benefit.
The Short Version, Restated
Long pips don’t literally reverse a ball’s spin, they maintain the ball’s rotation while reversing its direction of travel, which produces the same practical effect as a reversal without being one physically. Once that’s understood, the tactics are straightforward: stay patient, alternate a topspin with a push, aim wide to both corners against a central blocker, and mix in drop shots against choppers.
Common Questions
Do long pips actually reverse a ball’s spin?
Not literally, the ball’s rotation is maintained, but its direction of travel reverses, which produces the same practical effect as a spin reversal without the rotation itself inverting.
What’s the best spin strategy against long pips?
Racket Insight’s basic strategy is to alternate one topspin with one push: the topspin returns with backspin, you push it, and the next ball comes back attackable.
Where should you place the ball against a long-pips blocker?
Wide to the corners, especially against a central, blocking-style player who struggles to cover both sides from one position.
Why do drop shots help against long pips?
Against a long-pips player who chops from further back, Racket Insight suggests mixing a deep ball with a short one, such as a drop shot, to make them move in and out.
Why does staying patient matter against long pips?
Table Tennis Teacher notes that long-pips players tend to be very consistent and many opponents get frustrated and try finishing shots that are not there.
The Short Version
- →Long pips maintain the ball’s rotation but reverse its direction of travel.
- →That direction change looks like a spin reversal without actually being one.
- →Stay patient rather than over-attacking out of frustration.
- →Alternate a topspin with a push.
- →Target wide corners against a central, blocking-style long-pips opponent.
- →Mix in drop shots against choppers.
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