🏓Glossary

Terms

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Anti-spin rubber Anti-spin rubber

A specialty rubber with a surface as smooth as inverted rubber but built with almost no friction. It absorbs an opponent's spin and returns the ball close to spinless, and because it looks like ordinary inverted rubber, it tricks opponents into misjudging spin. It is classed, along with long pips, as a deceptive-equipment surface, and is often paired with twiddling, where a player spins the paddle in hand between shots.

Backhand Backhand

A stroke played across the body on the side of the hand holding the paddle's back. It comes naturally with a shakehand grip but was long a weakness for penhold players until the reverse penhold backhand solved it. In modern table tennis, where the banana flick and backhand loop are now standard, the backhand has been promoted from a supporting shot to a primary weapon.

Backspin Backspin

Spin applied by brushing under the ball so it rotates backward, sometimes called underspin. A backspin ball doesn't bounce up after landing — it settles and almost stops, so meeting it with a flat, upright paddle sends it straight into the net. Returning it requires opening the paddle face and brushing up under the ball. It underlies the chop, the stop block, and the backspin serve.

Blade Blade

The wooden base of the paddle before rubber is attached. Ply count and materials determine its character: pure five-ply wood gives good feel and easy control, while adding carbon makes it fast and powerful but bounces an opponent's spin straight back. An all-round five-ply blade is recommended for beginners, and a finished weight with rubber attached of 175-185 grams is easiest on the wrist.

Block Block

A defensive technique that closes the paddle face to redirect an opponent's powerful loop drive rather than swinging at it. Because it uses the opponent's own power without a backswing, it steals time and disrupts their rhythm. Adding forward push turns it into a punch block; adding backspin turns it into a chop block. Club players often call a backhand block a "short" or a "chop."

Chop Chop

A stroke that opens the paddle face and cuts under the ball to apply heavy backspin, the most widely used term for this at recreational clubs. If an opponent returns it flat, the ball goes into the net, buying time to recover position and reset. There's a short chop played close to the table and a long chop played from well back, with the latter the main weapon of a defensive chopper.

Chopper Chopper

A defensive playing style that stands two to three meters back from the table and returns shot after shot with heavy backspin, waiting for the opponent to make a mistake before counterattacking with a loop. Choppers typically use inverted rubber on the forehand and long pips on the backhand to create unpredictable spin variation. The style is extremely demanding physically and technically, and has become rare at the elite level today.

Deuce Deuce

A 10-10 tie, after which a game continues until one side leads by two points. A key change once deuce begins is that serve alternates every single point instead of every two points — meaning one serve each in turn — so a player who relies on serve power gains less of an edge in deuce.

Drive Drive

An attacking stroke that brushes up the back of the ball to apply strong topspin, the primary scoring weapon in modern table tennis. Club players in some countries use "drive" without distinguishing it from the international terms loop and drive separately. Because topspin makes the ball dip sharply after clearing the net, it lands on the table even when hit hard. Learning to lift a backspin ball into a drive is the first real technical hurdle.

Edge ball Edge ball

A ball that clips the corner of the table's top surface and is ruled a legal point. Touching any part of the top edge counts as in, while hitting the vertical side of the table counts as out. Because the trajectory changes completely and there's no way to return it, this is regarded as the luckiest possible point, and by custom the player who benefits raises a hand to acknowledge the fortune.

Expedite system Expedite system

A rule that speeds up play once a game passes a certain time limit without ending: from that point, the server must win the point within 13 strokes or lose it, and serve alternates every point regardless of score. It exists specifically to prevent extremely defensive, drawn-out rallies, and its origin traces to a single rally lasting more than two hours at the 1936 World Championships in Prague.

Fault Fault

An infraction in the mechanics of the serve itself that costs the server the point. It's called when the ball is struck above 1.15 meters from the playing surface, when the racket shaft doesn't point downward, when the feet move or touch a line, or when the ball is served into the wrong service court. A fixed toss-height rule adopted in 2018 standardized how this is judged.

Flick Flick

An aggressive technique that snaps the wrist to attack a short ball that would otherwise bounce twice on the table. Instead of pushing a short serve back passively, it seizes the initiative by attacking first. There are forehand and backhand versions, and the backhand version with added sidespin is the banana flick. It's a wrist-heavy technique, so it's worth not overusing it.

Footwork Footwork

The system of steps that positions the body for each stroke, built around side steps, cross steps and pivots. Because table tennis is played at close range and high speed, arriving in position half a step late means the whole stroke breaks down regardless of technique. Multiball training is used specifically to drill footwork patterns in repetition, since it removes the need to keep a rally going and lets a player rack up far more reps in less time.

Forehand Forehand

A stroke played to the side of the body on the palm side of the hand holding the paddle, the strongest weapon for most players. It draws fully on torso rotation and generates more power than the backhand, but needs more preparation space and time. That's why the pivot — turning the body to play a ball hit to the backhand corner with the forehand instead — becomes a core advanced skill.

Game Game

The unit of play in table tennis won by reaching 11 points first, equivalent to a set in other sports. It replaced the old 21-point system in 2001. Matches are usually decided best-of-five or best-of-seven games, and if the score reaches 10-10 it continues until one side leads by two. Players switch ends of the table after each game.

Grip Grip

How a player holds the paddle, split broadly into the shakehand and penhold traditions. Because the grip choice shapes the entire stroke structure, serve mechanics and even footwork, choosing a grip in table tennis carries more weight than in most other racket sports. Shakehand, which makes the backhand easier to learn, is effectively the standard recommendation for adult beginners.

Hardbat Hardbat

The style of racket, covered with a thin layer of pimpled rubber and no sponge, that was standard before the 1952 introduction of the sponge racket. It produces less spin and speed than a modern sponge racket, prioritizing placement and consistency instead, and is still used today in dedicated hardbat divisions and tournaments as something close to a living-history format.

Hidden serve Hidden serve

An illegal serve that uses the body or the free arm to block the moment of contact so the opponent can't read the spin. It violates the rule requiring the receiver to be able to see the contact between ball and paddle. Since strict enforcement began in the 2000s, clearing the free arm immediately after serving has become mandatory. Umpires typically issue a warning first and rule a point loss on repeat offenses.

Inverted rubber Inverted rubber

The standard rubber, with the pimples facing inward and a smooth surface facing outward. Its strong surface friction grips the ball and allows maximum spin generation, making it the default choice for attacking players. Most commercially sold rubber falls into this category; entry-level sheets run about $20-35 a sheet and upper-tier tensor sheets $40-70.

Let Let

A situation in which a point is replayed with no score change. The most common case is a serve that clips the top of the net but still lands legally in the receiver's court. A let is also called if the receiver wasn't ready, if the ball is damaged, or if there's outside interference. Unlike a fault, a let carries no penalty, and the same player serves again at the same score.

Long pips Long pips

Rubber with long, soft, outward-facing pips that reverses an opponent's spin back at them rather than generating spin of its own. Since the topspin an opponent applies comes back as backspin, the ball's behavior is completely unpredictable the first time you face it. Defensive choppers and experienced club players often attach it to the backhand, scoring more through the opponent's confusion than through raw power.

Loop Loop

A drive hit with maximum spin to produce a high, arcing trajectory. The classic example is the slow, heavily spun opening loop used to convert an opponent's backspin ball into the first attacking shot. It scores through spin rather than speed, so if an opponent simply blocks it, the ball pops upward. A fast, flat loop hit during a rally is called a counter-loop.

Middle Middle

The point where an opponent's forehand and backhand zones meet, roughly the elbow of the paddle arm, also called the crossover point. A ball sent there forces an instant, freezing decision about which stroke to use, and power drops off whichever way it's handled. A beginner who has only ever targeted the corners sees their win rate rise noticeably once they learn to attack the middle.

Multiball training Multiball training

A training method in which a coach or partner feeds balls continuously from a basket so a player can repeat one technique without needing to sustain a rally. Because a mistake doesn't end the drill, it packs far more swings into a short time. It's central to Chinese-style training and is the most efficient way to groove a loop drive or footwork pattern into muscle memory. It requires well over 100 balls.

Penhold grip Penhold grip

A grip that pinches the handle between thumb and index finger as if holding a pen, an Asian tradition. It gives excellent wrist freedom for serve spin and forehand power, but structurally weakens the backhand — a limitation only overcome with the reverse penhold backhand. Ryu Seung-min and Ma Lin both won Olympic gold with this grip, but shakehand is now the mainstream choice.

Push Push

The basic return of a backspin ball, made by opening the paddle face and pushing the ball forward, sometimes just called a push shot. It's safe but passive, and any push that pops up even slightly invites an immediate loop attack. A short, low push becomes a stop that shuts down an attack, while a long, fast push becomes an aggressive push that drives the opponent back. Controlling length is everything.

Rating Rating

A numerical ranking that USA Table Tennis, the English Table Tennis Association and similar bodies assign to competitive players based on match results, used to seed tournaments and group players by division. A win against a higher-rated player raises your number more; a loss to a lower-rated player drops it more. Checking a tournament's rating brackets before entering determines who you'll actually be playing.

Receive Receive

Returning an opponent's serve, widely considered harder in table tennis than serving itself. Within roughly 0.3 seconds, a player has to judge the type and length of spin and choose among a stop, a chop, a flick or a loop. A weak receive invites an immediate third-ball attack, which is why advanced players spend a large share of their training time specifically on receive practice.

Reverse penhold backhand Reverse penhold backhand

A technique in which a penhold player also attaches rubber to the back of the blade to play a backhand loop. It solved the traditional penhold grip's biggest weakness and revived the grip's competitiveness; Wang Hao is its most famous practitioner. It requires a large wrist turn and is difficult to learn, but once mastered it allows attacking from both wings while keeping full forehand power.

Serve Serve

The one stroke played with zero interference from the opponent, and the single best weapon a player can perfect entirely alone. Rules require the ball to be tossed nearly vertically at least 16cm from an open palm and struck from behind the end line, in full view of the receiver. Serve alternates every two points, switching every single point once the game reaches deuce.

Shakehand grip Shakehand grip

A grip that wraps the hand around the handle as if shaking hands, the standard in modern table tennis. It gives balanced power on both forehand and backhand, enabling attacks from either wing, and the backhand is far easier to learn than with penhold. Its weakness is a relatively vulnerable middle, where forehand and backhand zones meet. It is effectively the default recommendation for adult beginners.

Sidespin Sidespin

Spin that rotates the ball sideways. The ball curves left or right in flight and continues breaking sideways after the bounce, so meeting it with a square paddle face sends it skidding off at an angle. It's used most often on serves and typically appears mixed with backspin or topspin as combination sidespin-backspin or sidespin-topspin.

Smash Smash

A finishing stroke that drives a high, floating ball down at maximum speed with almost no spin. Unlike the drive, which relies on spin for safety margin, the smash depends purely on raw speed, so it only works when the ball is high enough and the spin on it is weak. Failing to finish a floated ball decisively invites a counterattack, so it's an essential closing skill to learn early.

Stop Stop

A technique that drops a short backspin serve or ball just barely over the net rather than driving it forward, equivalent to the international short push. Its purpose is to deny the opponent the space needed to loop, shutting down their attack before it starts. It requires absorbing the ball's energy rather than pushing forward; if it runs even slightly long, it invites an immediate third-ball attack.

Tensor rubber Tensor rubber

Modern rubber with built-in tension in the sponge and top sheet to maximize bounce and spin. It became the standard after speed glue was banned in 2008, taking over that role, with top-tier sheets running $40-70. High spin performance, however, means it also returns an opponent's spin just as strongly, which can actually increase errors for a beginner still learning to read spin.

Third-ball attack Third-ball attack

The serve is the first ball, the opponent's receive the second, and the server's own follow-up shot the third. This pattern — inducing a weak return with a spin serve, then finishing with a drive on the very next ball — is table tennis's most basic attacking formula. Because the server already knows their own spin, they can anticipate how the receive will come back and set up in advance.

Three-star ball Three-star ball

The top quality grade for balls, with consistent roundness, bounce and weight, used in sanctioned tournaments. The current standard is a 40mm, seamless plastic ball marked 40+. A six-pack costs $8-15, which is too pricey for daily practice, so lower-grade training balls are usually bought in bulk of 100 or more instead.

Topspin Topspin

Spin applied by brushing up the back of the ball so it rotates forward. A topspin ball dips sharply through the air, letting it land on the table, and after the bounce it shoots forward and stays low. Simply blocking it sends it flying upward, so it must be met with a closing paddle face. It is the underlying principle of the drive itself.

USATT/Club membership Membership

Registration with a national governing body such as USA Table Tennis or the English Table Tennis Association, which assigns a player a rating and makes them eligible for sanctioned tournaments. Requirements and fees vary by country and are usually processed in bulk through a club. Skipping membership doesn't affect club play, but without a rating, tournament eligibility is limited to house events and some open novice divisions.

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