What motivates someone to use short pips?

Apologies in advance if this question is too elementary.

Recently I've been playing more opponents with short pips on their backhands.

Why do some play with short pips? More specifically, what advantages and disadvantages do short pips have?

One guy in particular just seemed to flat hit a bh counter drive and didn't seem all that interested in returning top spin for top spin. Is there a reason for that?

What was he hoping to accomplish? (other than to beat me, which he did)

Is there a resource somewhere where I can read more about short pips? I'm not going to run out and buy any, I'm just interested to know more about them.

Thank you.

This why I think that the rules should specify the same model rubber on each side.

 

It's a skillset he has not learned yet, or perhaps never will to the 'closed minded'.

Literally? How would you return a push? Or a ball lower than the net?

Obviously my knowledge is limited. But how would you do that safely or aggressively?

Nor would you add even a little topspin to a counter drive?

I'm truly interested in this. The guy I played wan't a dynamic hitter, he was just solid. Some of his balls did seem to "float" back. Nothing hit with his back hand had  much spin....but I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention to realize what was going on.

Thanks for the info so far...

 

Using it to hide weakness is the last reason Korean club players use SP.

 

One thing not yet discussed in detail is the ability to control the spin. It is way easier to put the brakes on a loop using SP. You can do it in a number of ways, some are very subtle and difficult to determine the ammount of spin returned. Blocking isn't the only option in this, you also have a "roll" and a counter that has less spin on it than it would appear, yet land.

 

Disruption of timing has been touched upon. that is also a good thing about an SP rubber, especially if the opponent sees only loop/powerloop crazy opponents all the time. To this opponent, changing up the speeds, keeping it short, and countering the ball can really wreck havoc.

 

Our club No 1 is a J-Pen single sided SP player, and he by coincidence is right about the same size and fast footwork as Ryu Seung Min. He can do just about every trick in the book with SP. He prefers to be a control player who keeps it short, or places it in the place where the attack is about the lowest percentage. If you give him the chance, he will do a warp speed step-around FH and blast a 40 mm hole right through you or your racket that will also leave an exit hole through 3 layers of concrete wall. He can do loop to loop rally from distance, but the spin is tricky, sometimes medium, often lighter than you think. Control by placement and consistancy are his point winners 80% of the time though. This dude is around USATT2300 level minimum.

 

In our area, the is also a TT club owner (female) who has SP on BH and she is very frustrating to play. She can take any loop off the bounce and give it back to you with a lot of different spins. If you cannot precisely read the spins or setup a finish away from her, you will have a long day. you try pushing the ball back, she can finsih on BH, or step around on FH to pulverize and victimize you. She is too good for the area women, she plays men's div 2 city and is prolly around USATT 2200.

 

These are two examples of players who use SP and are not "chumps". There are many others with different styles as well.

 

I am not skilled to use SP, do not posess the motivation for it, nor have an interest in operating it. I say this as someone who desires to grow and suceed using 2x inverted attacking style. However, I value its (SP) existance and appreciate the sport of TT this and other styles that persist. This is a good point that I believe Round Robin advocates often.

what pips is that jpen using?