• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Greg's Table Tennis Pages

Hitting the Net since 2005...

  • Home
  • Beginner’s Guide
  • Coaching Program
  • Lab League

backspin

Definition: In table tennis, backspin occurs when the top of the ball is moving in the opposite direction to the movement of the ball, and the bottom of the ball is going in the same direction as the motion of the ball.

Backspin imparts a lifting force on the ball, causing it to drop slower than by gravity alone. It is used by defensive players to return an opponent’s topspin strokes from a distance.

Also Known As: underspin, chop, downspin, slice, cut

Related Pages:

  1. How Long Pips Really Work
  2. sidespin
  3. push

Primary Sidebar

Guide to Table Tennis

  • Guide to Table Tennis
    • Beginners Guide
    • Basic Concepts
    • Equipment
    • Strokes
    • Training
    • Competition
    • Laws / Rules
    • FAQs / Glossary
    • Musings, Moans & Misc.
    • Basement / Family Ping-Pong

GTTP Archives

  • Guides
    • How to Win at Table Tennis – eBook
  • Equipment
    • Choosing a Table Tennis Table
    • Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit Blade – A Review
    • Rubbers
      • How Long Pips Really Work
  • General Articles
  • Match Play Articles
  • Training Articles
  • Table Tennis – Where to Play in Western Australia

Copyright © 2025