I feel like I make up a lot of terms, or use some strange words, especially when I’m trying to describe equipment. So, I’m going to create this ongoing list of terms I use, and their meanings. It might not be the same as other people’s definitions!
Hard/Soft (blade): This is actually really hard to explain, but has more or less to do with dwell time. Hard blades tend to have less dwell. Basically, with harder blades, you feel the ball hit the blade harder. For reference, I would consider my MJ to be hard, and something like BTY Viscaria to be soft. If referring to rubbers, I think hard and soft are pretty self-explanatory.
Flexible/Stiff: This has more to do with vibrations and is related to blade thickness. Thinner blades are usually more flexible (you can feel more vibrations). Thicker blades are usually stiffer (more “solid” feeling). Although it seems similar, this is independent from hardness of a blade. For example, the Viscaria is soft, but is also very stiff. Something like the Sardius would be hard and stiff. Traditional defensive blades (Matsushita Pro) tend to be soft and flexible.
Spin Continuation: This is what long pips do on passive shots (or what frictionless pips do on basically every shot). Normally people say that long pips have spin reversal, but to me, it makes much more sense to call it spin continuation. The direction of the ball movement changes, but the direction of rotation remains the same. Looping against underspin or chopping against topspin are examples of spin continuation.
Spin Reversal: I rarely use this term because most people think long pips. This is what inverted rubbers do naturally. The spin bites the rubber, and bounces with with the opposite direction of rotation. The reason why a blocked topspin (with inverted) comes back as topspin.
Pippiness: When talking about (short) pips, I’ll often say how “pippy” it is. What I mean is, how close is it to a traditional hard, dead short pip. For reference, a very pippy pip is BTY Speedy P.O. Very unpippy pips are 802-40, Clippa, or BTY Radical (so I hear… I don’t have any experience with it). Basically, the more pippy a rubber, the less you can use inverted strokes with it.
Floating: I usually say something about a floating effect due to pips. Against heavier topspins, many short pips exhibit this behavior, especially when blocking passively off the bounce. The pips aren’t grippy enough to absorb all the incoming topspin, resulting in a mild (to severe) spin continuation effect. As you know, underspin causes balls to float, so this floating effect is one reason why pips tend to be less predictable than inverted. There’s a threshold where the incoming spin is too strong which leads to this, but before that level of spin, the pips may act very predictably.
Dome: This is what happens to rubbers when you speed glue them. The sponge expands, so that the rubber curls (topsheet on the inside, sponge on the outside). A reverse dome is the other way around, when the sponge seems to be smaller than the topsheet. I suspect it’s because the sponge was slightly stretched or expanded when the topsheet was glued on at the factory, so it ends up shrinking by the time you put the rubbers on. Reverse domes seem to be found in tensioned rubbers, or previously speed glued rubbers if you don’t let the sponge shrink back before cutting.
