Table Tennis Spin: The Ultimate Guide

Last Updated on April 24, 2024 by Alex Horscroft

Want to devastate your opponents in table tennis? Then you my friend, need to learn the mechanics of table tennis spin.

When equipped with a half-decent bat, a player well-versed in spin will destroy anyone who is not — spin is just that powerful of a tool. I credit much of my table tennis success to my mastery of spin. Hopefully, this guide can provide a solid foundation to get you started.

Why Use Spin in Table Tennis? What Purpose Does It Serve?

To me, spin is hands down the most important facet of table tennis.

This is because each type of spin serves a very specific purpose. And without it, your shots would be nowhere near as effective.

Let me explain.

The most popular shot at an advanced level is the forehand loop. This is because it is the most diverse attacking shot in the game. But this shot is only made possible through imparting spin.

The forehand loop has very heavy topspin on it which encourages the ball to travel downward. This means players can hit the ball harder without the ball going over the end of the table. As such, the forehand loop is far more useful than a flat smash for example.

Each type of spin is useful in specific situations, and they not only increase the chances of you winning a point outright, but they also limit your opponent’s options to make a return.

In simple terms spin will:

• Alter the flight path of the ball
• Alter the bounce of the ball
• Alter the direction the ball needs to be struck

How to Spin a Ping Pong Ball

Before we get into the specifics of the different spins in table tennis, I first want to touch on the fundamental concept of producing spin — you should apply this to every spin-based shot you make.

The key to producing spin relies on two things: a brushing motion and speed.

Your strokes should be fluid and smooth with light contact. If you hit the ball too hard it will likely go over the end of the table. Faint contact allows you to focus more on generating spin while keeping the speed of the ball in check.

Now I can see how me saying that you need speed may be confusing. But I am referring to your racket as opposed to the ball. The faster your brush the ball, the more it will rotate so exercise good arm speed.

A fellow player once compared the spin of table tennis to the throw of a frisbee.

It is an excellent analogy and one I always use when coaching beginners. As you well know, you need a lot of pace to fling a frisbee to get distance. However, you also need to produce a lot of spin by engaging a smooth flick of the wrist. Keep this visualized in your head when learning spin.

A Look at the 4 Types of Spin in Table Tennis

No Spin

While no spin may not technically be a type of spin, I still feel that it needs discussion when it comes to understanding spin.

No spin shots are the easiest type of shot to return as for one, the absence of spin broadens the type of shot that one can play. And secondly, there is no spin to account for. This means you only need to focus on the direction and speed of the ball.

To produce no spin shots, you have to make flat contact with the ball with no brushing motion. In reality, it is very difficult to hit a completely dead ball. Most shots that we consider to have no spin actually have very light topspin.

Backspin

To produce backspin you strike downwards on the ball using a brushing motion. If the ball already has backspin you strike underneath the ball using a push. Conversely, if the ball has topspin or even sidespin, you strike more toward the back of the ball. This is called a chop.

Topspin

For topspin ping pong shots, you need to brush the ball in an upwards motion. You can either use a fairly controlled forward stroke for light topspin, known as a drive, or a more explosive brushing stroke for heavy topspin called a loop.

Sidespin

For sidespin table tennis strokes, you should strike the ball sideways. Unlike the other types of spin covered thus far, sidespin gives you two spin options.

When you hit the ball from left to right you cause the ball to rotate anticlockwise, on the other hand, if you strike the ball from right to left you instead rotate the ball clockwise.

The Effects of Spin

Backspin

This type of spin minimizes the downward trajectory of the ball, causing it to float in the air somewhat. As a general rule, when the ball makes contact with the table it bounces high. However, you can keep the ball low with a push.

When your opponent attempts to return a backspin ball, the backspin will force the ball downward, increasing the chances of a shot going into the net. If you want to keep yourself safe, backspin is one of the best options.

Topspin

Topspin ping pong strokes increase the downward trajectory of the ball, meaning these kinds of shots travel low over the net. On contact with the table’s surface, they kick forward and stay fairly low.

When your opponent tries returning your topspin stroke, the topspin will incline the ball to kick upwards off of their bat, potentially leaving you with a high ball that you can put away.

Sidespin

Sidespin shots bounce normally on along the vertical plane, instead, they alter the course of the ball laterally.

Balls loaded with anticlockwise spin swerve from right to left, whereas balls with clockwise spin swerve from left to right.

Sidespin balls can be particularly hard to return, especially from serves. When your opponent attempts to return anticlockwise spin, the ball will want to kick off to their left (your right). The opposite is true for clockwise spin.

A Full Table Tennis Spin Break-Down of Every Shot

If you’re interested in learning about each type of shot click the associated link (I’ll get to them all in due time!)

No Spin

• Float

Backspin

• Push
• Chop
• Chop serve
• Ghost serve

Topspin

• Drive
• Loop
• Hook
• Fade
• Banana flick
• Strawberry flick
• Punch
• Smash
• Block

Sidespin

• Tomahawk serve
• Reverse Tomahawk serve
• Backhand tomahawk serve
• Backhand/corkscrew serve (Like Ovtcharov’s)
• Pendulum Serve
• Reverse pendulum serve
• Shovel serve

Returning Each Type of Spin

Now that we know the effect of each type of spin, we can easily counter their effects to make a solid return.

How to Return Topspin in Table Tennis

Knowing that topspin balls want to kick upwards you have a few different options to make a return.

The main passive shot will be a block, and your main offensive shot is a drive or a loop depending on your skill level. For these strokes, it’s simply a matter of closing your racket angle to account for the topspin. The more topspin that is on the ball, the more you close your angle.

Another option you have is to play a backspin shot. A push won’t work so you’ll have to play a chop instead. To chop the ball you open your racket angle and strike the ball fast in a downwards brushing motion.

How to Return Backspin in Table Tennis

Backspin table tennis balls want to kick downwards after you make contact with them, so you either need to get under the ball or open your racket angle for a topspin shot.

Let’s start with backspin. As there is already backspin on the ball you can’t really chop. Instead, you need to push. This involves generating your own backspin by brushing underneath the ball.

As for your topspin options, you can flick or loop. For the loop, you simply open your racket angle more than you usually wood against topspin and brush the ball to counteract the backspin.

How to Return Sidespin in Table Tennis

As we know, sidespin causes the ball to swerve to either the left or right and to kick harshly off your bat sideways upon contact.

In terms of your shot selection, this is dependent on what other spin is on the ball. As mentioned earlier, sidespin in isolation is very rare. Rather, you’ll find sidespin paired with either topspin or backspin. That’s your cue as to what shot to choose.

Refer to the above sections for backspin and topspin and choose the most appropriate shot given the circumstances. Once you’ve done this you need to alter your racket angle to account for the sidespin.

Say, for example, my opponent has just done a backspin pendulum serve. I know that there is backspin and clockwise rotation on the ball. A push seems a reasonable shot to play.

This means firstly, I need to get underneath the ball to prevent it from going into the net. And secondly, I need to strike the ball with a sideways-angled racket. I do this by showing most of my racket face away from the direction the ball wants to go. This prevents it from pinging off the side of the table.

How to Read Spin

Understanding how spin works is one thing, producing the right shot to account for spin is another, but reading it can be one of the most difficult parts of table tennis.

Even us seasoned players struggle to read spin on a frequent basis. This is because players are very good at being deceptive with the spin they impart. It’s a strategy that wins a lot of points with little risk of punishment.

While you’ll likely struggle with reading spin in all elements of the game to begin with, its returning serves that pose the most difficult challenge. This is because every player’s serve looks different and most are loaded with heavy spin and it can be any kind: topspin, sidespin, backspin, or a combination.

Now, of course, this is a pretty scary thought, but by making two quick assessments you should be able to get the ball back onto the table.

Step 1: Assess the Type of Spin

The first step is to identify the type of spin. If they strike downward it’s backspin, upwards it’s topspin, and sideways, it’s sidespin. In a rally this shouldn’t be too hard, but for serving it’s much more difficult. The way I do it is by watching only the moment of contact on the ball.

Ignore other movements your opponents use to throw you off, and believe me, a lot of players will do whatever they can to deceive you. Simply read the direction their bat travels on contact with the ball.

Below is a graph I produced to help you visualize racket motions. It’s not perfect, but it should help you out. For these strokes, the point of contact is the back of the ball.

Step 2: Assess the Magnitude of Spin

Once you know the type of spin on the ball you need to determine how much of it there is. The way to identify this is to study how your opponent brushes the ball. For maximum spin, one must brush the ball well in a very fast motion.

Without adequate speed, the spin is not very high.

Similarly, with a lot of speed but a poor brushing motion, the spin is also a little lacking.

Once you become more familiar with spin, you can also use the ball’s movement to help you analyze the spin on the ball. As discussed earlier, each type of spin causes the ball to travel differently, therefore the absence or lack of a given movement shows there is little or no spin on the ball. Of course, it takes a lot of time to be able to read the ball this way, but from an intermediate level and up you can use the ball’s flight path to estimate spin

How to Be Deceptive With Spin

Onto one of my favorite areas of spin, and that’s being deceptive yourself.

The amount of points you can win if you become a spin wizard is straight ridiculous. They are free points you need to start taking advantage of asap.

While I love messing up my opponents with a snake or two, it’s an advanced shot that most of you are miles away from being able to perform. Therefore I suggest you instead focus your efforts on becoming a proficient server.

The whole idea of being deceptive with serving, is having a strong idea of the serve you want your opponent to see while instead performing something different.

1. Fake Backspin for Topspin (And Vice-Versa)

The easiest way to mess up your opponent is by mixing up your backspin and topspin on sidespin serves. Exaggerate the downward motion of your stroke and throw in a light upwards motion at the point of contact.

2. Fake Clockwise Sidespin for Anticlockwise Sidespin (And Vice-Versa)

If you’re skilled with spin in table tennis, you can try and fake one type of sidespin for another. A popular way to do this is to fake a pendulum serve for a reverse pendulum or vice versa. For beginners and intermediate players though, this one is a hard avoid most of the time. It takes a long time to learn and you will get far more success from the other strategies.

3. Fake Heavy Spin for Light Spin

I would also recommend throwing in float serves regularly. For these serves, you should try and strike the ball fairly fast with little brushing contact. This will fool many opponents into thinking the ball is loaded with spin when it is not.

This should cause the ball to pop up high following floats which you fake for chop serves. And on the flip side, the ball will likely go into the net when you perform a float but fake a topspin serve.

An Example of Elite Serving in Action

Below is one of my favorite videos demonstrating the deadliness of serving. In the video is Werner Schlager, an Austrian player who won the World Championships in 2003. He is well known for having high-quality serves, and I love seeing him serve in this setting.

Try not to get too overwhelmed by how hard his serves look to perform. Instead, appreciate his technique and deceptiveness. Watch his wrist and his striking motion. You can see that after making contact with the ball, he changes his racket motion to fake other types of spin.

Closing Thoughts

If you want to start beating your friends and colleagues at table tennis, spin is the difference maker. It helps keep you safe when you need to be (backspin), and assists with kickstarting your offense when you want to put your opponent on the ropes (topspin)!

Besides practicing spin during rallies, I highly recommend that you start to become familiar with table tennis spin for serving. This is the only time in a game that you have complete control of the ball, and an effective spinny serve will win you a lot of easy points.