Purpose of Anti-Spin Rubbers

One advantage of the anti-spin rubber is that a non-observant opponent will think that you have a "normal" inverted rubber and that you are really good at returning heavy spinning shots until he rubs his hand across your rubber and discovers why you are so "good" at returning his/her shots. Just another part of being devious but legal.

In addition to Steve's valid point, sometimes the very lack of popularity of antispins can be an advantage because people tend to treat it with more awe and suspicion.  And while LP and antispin have similar characteristics, it is much easier to control the ball with antispin.  I used antispin for a while (I'm now using LP) and had my biggest success ever in doubles.  I found it to be the best doubles rubber for me because it is very easy to hit the ball aggressively and with good placement and consistency. 

In addition, to what ji-soo woo says, I woud like to add this. i have several blades that have anti-spin on one side and either a calibra lt spin or the the new donic m1 on the other. on the follow thru of a tomahawk serve(calibra or mi) my anti-spin is in a ready position to return and i would release a vicious bh  flick------into the net. i spoke with larry thome of newgy and he told me that you cannot  flick with (i believe he said because of the lack of "bite") on the anti-spin; instead you must push the ball. it works. however, the downside to this is that you cannot get a strong fast return but you will return (over the net too) the ball. i do not care how vicious the spin is you will return the ball but make sure  the blade is more open. a closed bade will not get it. in addition, the antispin is more effective on returning a nasty serve. i hope this will help those that  are interested in this unusual rubber

That's an interesting point Steve...a friend of mine who changed to antispin a year or so ago and has been training intensively with the best antispin player in Canberra, claimed to me that you CAN flick with the antispin with the correct technique.  He claimed it was about generating maximum racquet head speed and hitting the ball right on the tip of the racquet so that the ball sinks into the sponge...theoretically allowing you to generate some spin.  Perhaps it depends on how soft the sponge is.  At any rate, I've yet to see it being done consistently so I'm not convinced it is possible.  However, if a serve comes to you with heavy backspin it is of course possible to flick it back because of spin reversal.  This is the same for the LP.  I love playing a chopper and getting heavy backspin to my LP side because that's the only time I can loop with the LP as if it were an inverted rubber!  ;)

Ji-Soo Woo,You are probably correct but I mildly disagree on 1 point. Whether your getting topspin, backspin, l/r sidespin or a mixture of whatever I sincerely believe that a nice straight push is necessary to get a non-directional hit whereas a flick will give the ball an erratic path to follow mainly because there is nothing on the rubber for the ball to "dig" into. Also, I believe that a straight push might give the ball some serious "wobble". I believe that a person of a strong physics background could give a good straight-forward not too technical explanation as to what is happening to a antispin shot. Sincerely enjoyed your input on this subject, Thank You, Steve

I went to anti some seasons ago from frictionless pips which I really enjoyed playing with. Then they were banned. I was just starting to attack with them as well. Doh!  The frick pips offered severe wobble, and blocked very well too.for me anti was a good alternative. With anti you can hit as well as defend. They offer this game a window to slooow the pace to an otherwise super fast game. In fact they are not easy to play with. They take some mastering too. Very Good players know how to play against all rubbers. So they probably become immune to pips and anti tactics. the game is big part spin. That includes no spin too. So don't be afraid of anti. Learn to deal with all styles. ????????