There's a whole style of play called hard bat that people use, in which they only use hard rubber (or pips out). The fact that they cannot spin effectively can

There's a whole style of play called hard bat that people use, in which they only use hard rubber (or pips out). The fact that they cannot spin effectively can be an advantage -- they aren't affected by their opponents spin! Given the right technique, they can be deadly, since basically, any spin that you give to the ball is reversed when it comes back (very low friction on their paddle, so essentially their hit does NOT change the direction of the spin. So, for example, if you give them topspin, it will come back at you with underspin).