What Is 'Absorbing Short'? How to Handle Pimples Rubber Players
What Is “Absorbing Short”? How to Handle Pimples Rubber Players
This is a brand-new, technique-focused Q&A column. The mystery advisors are two former national team players — now veteran coaches — who prefer to stay anonymous. They just want a quiet life and a good night’s sleep.
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How do you absorb a ball short when the opponent lobs it high?
Absorbing short is typically used when your opponent floats a high ball back from deep. The incoming ball should have relatively weak spin and land around mid-table or close to the net — that’s when you set up a short return.
The key technique: you must borrow energy from the ball. Borrow it during the rising phase. Because the arc is high, the rebound force is strong. Generally, you borrow the force when the ball is around 30 cm above the net. At that height the ball has already rebounded 30 cm and is no longer rising as powerfully.
If the ball bounces in the middle of your side, you can borrow force when it’s around 15 cm off the bounce. Trying to absorb short right at the bounce point is something most players can’t pull off — the rebound force is still very strong at that moment and errors are likely.
- Adjust the height at which you borrow force according to the elasticity of your own blade and rubber.
- Adjust the blade angle accordingly.
- Bring your bodyweight forward. Your upper arm and elbow point straight down; your forearm, wrist, and fingers stay relaxed. You absorb short by leaning your whole body into it — not by reaching with just your hand.
- Use your bodyweight to borrow force, with your fingers making fine adjustments.
If the opponent’s lob has heavy topspin, the contact height stays roughly the same, but you should tilt your bodyweight toward your paddle hand as you make contact — this helps shed both force and spin, and shortens the return distance.
What serves work best against pimples rubber players?
For most average-level short pimples and hard pimples players, a long heavy backspin serve is the toughest to deal with. If you serve long backspin, a weaker player will just push it; a stronger one will try to lift or loop it. Either way the return spin is relatively weak — you can counter-attack.
If you serve mostly topspin or sidespin, a pimples player can just flat-hit through it. That’s a real threat.
Short serves are tricky too: pimples rubber isn’t very sensitive to short backspin near the net, and if your opponent pushes or blocks that backspin back fast, you’ll be in trouble. My basic recommendation is to serve long, fast backspin as your main weapon. Force them to drop back and loop or hang it back, then you counter-loop. Keep the serve low, spinny, and fast — when a pimples player has to receive it, the return is almost always a chance ball. Step in and attack; don’t wait for the ball to drop. If you wait until it descends you’ll be forced into a passive lob, and the next shot they’ll just flat-hit it through you.
After you’ve served several fast backspin balls, they’ll notice and consciously step back. That’s when you mix in some short serves to the forehand and backhand. Now they can’t get to the right contact point and have no choice but to push — your opportunity arrives.
I play penhold with short pimples on the backhand. Backhand high balls feel difficult — I always wait until the ball drops to a comfortable spot and then try to smash it hard.
Short pimples need to borrow energy — borrow it from the ball’s rising phase. If the ball is high on your backhand side, trying to kill it is actually harder. Instead, at the rising phase when the ball is above net height, snap a quick flat hit for angle. No need to rely on pure power to put it away. This approach has lower difficulty but still plenty of punch — because the return is fast, your opponent has less time to prepare. Add in the natural weight and pace of pimples rubber, and when they’re under-prepared they’ll just float it back high.