Reviews by DragonOwen

I played Nexxus EL PRO 48 on BH, and it's great, but for FH it's too slow and "bouncy" for me, so tried XT version... And for me XT Pro 48 is almost ideal for FH, it feels much harder than EL version, dwell time is much less on XT, it's have much more max speed and power potential compared to EL, the arc of XT is much lower than EL, so XT is great for powerful topspins and flat smashes, also nice on the short play because it's not bouncy and topsheet is very spinny (I even maked a few successesful backspins on topspins far away from the table, and they were deadly for my opponents)... For me XT on BH is not a option, because it's too speedy for me, but mosly because it's lacks of dwell time and have a low arc, so it's too hard for me to start topspin on backspin close to the table (or on table), for me EL is much better on BH...

So, for me EL PRO 48 on BH and XT PRO 48 on FH is just awesome combination, at least on my current blade (Tibhar Cedric Nuytinck), actually I like it so much, that I maked second setup, which is the same as my main, will be using one on trainings and second on tournaments.

Use it on BH of my Tibhar Cedric Nuytinck blade for about 1.5 month now... It's really great with 40+ ABS balls, with which is overall not easy to create much spin, but somehow with this rubber it really becomes easier to generate spin with this balls, also the trajectory is tends to be quite low, espessially close to the table, so it's really not comfortable for your opponent... It's show it's best qualities close to the table, "bananas", flicks are just amazing, blocks are also fantastic and precise. Far from a table it's alo plays quite nice, but you have to have at least OFF blade and put quite some power to your shot so that your topspin will be dangerous for your opponent...

All above is about BH, for me this rubber is too soft for FH, but it maybe only my own issues, I just like quite hard rubbers on FH, so I tried GEWO Nexxus XT PRO 48 on my FH about a week ago and so far like it very much, reaaly great for my FH (for BH for me it's a bit too hard, but main issue it's too fast for my BH, IMHO it's much faster than it's EL "brother") maybe write a small review for it a bit later...

I really like Tenergy 05 on my Apolonia ZLC and Mizutani ZLC blades, but it's price is high, and it's initial great play characteristics change quite fast (after 80-100 hours of play it' already noticiable), so I tried to find a cheaper alternative... for FH I somehow migrated to Rasanter R50, but on BH I couldn't find anything to change tenergy 05... until I tried O7A rubber, it's a bit stiffer than 05, but overall for me they kinda alike to the point that I switch to O7A from 05 entirelly, I even changed Rasanter R50 on FH to O7A... But, I still think Tenergy 05 is better, the reason is overall balance of key parameters (speed, spin, etc...) and a few cons of O7A... The main issues for me in O7A is the lack of power and incoming spin sensitivity. But maybe problem with lack of power is because 2.0 thickness of the sponge in O7A I use, already ordered one rubber with max thickness, waiting for it to arrive, hope it solve the issue, at least at FH... Still kinda bugs me the problem of incoming spin, having issues with playing topspin on incoming backspin, the reason is with O7A I have to consider the amount of backspin and do it quite precisely, or else ball could go to the net or over the table easily... So, not beginner level rubber at all, but I like this rubber, so will try to struggle with it some more, but I'm not entirely sure my level will be enough to eventually use this rubber freely...

P.S. Originally the price to O7A is close to Tenergy series, so IMO if you don't have a big discount on O7A it's better to go with Tenergy or search something cheaper...

For me for now the only downside with this blade is that my playing level is too low to control this beast to the level that I have some stability in my play, especially so when someone return my first or second attack, I just too slow to react, the faster ball (and the more rotation it have) I loop to my opponent, the faster and with more rotation it return to me... I played with Apolonia ZLC blade before, and still play with it sometimes, IMO Apolonia and Mizutani ZLC is quite alike, but Apolonia ZLC is slower and have more vibrations, but Apolonia ZLC not create so much power and spin that can produce Mizutani ZLC, so now I have a dilemma, with Apolonia I have more stability, but Mizutani is more dangerous for my opponents and I like the "feel" of it more, for now overall on tournaments my results is quite the same when I use Apolonia ZLC or Mizutani ZLC, so I think that with Mizutani ZLC my play have more potential, but only if I manage to "tame" it a bit more, if I can't then will probably go back to Apolonia ZLC blade...

As for general "type of play" cons, IMHO Mizutani ZLC (as well as Apolonia ZLC) not for a close to the table type of play, it's a blade for a loop and counter loop play in the middle and far from the table zones with a lot of rotation involved...

When I tried to play in defence with long pimples on BH I found that I'm not very found of slow def blades, so tried to found off- blade for myself... So I found Hadraw SK, it's really very good allrounder, inverded rubbers, long or short pimples (long/short chops or close to the table attack), all plays nice with this blade, it's have great control on any type of play... So overall it's IMHO a blade for a players that want to keep ball in play as long as possible, it's not a blade for total attack style at all...

I got a couple of boxes a couple of weeks ago... so far quite like it, first it didn't broke (but, I lost 1 ball, and give 1 to my sparring, so it's not like I play the same ball for two weeks...), second it's feels lighter and harder than DHS D40+ and Nittaku Premium (which I mostly use), but not to the point of lightness of XSF/Kingnik/... type of balls, so overall I liked new SD ball (I don't like light weight balls, I don't "feel" them), it fells more "bouncy" and "lively" than D40+ (when I drop (at the same time, subjectively) D40+ and SD to the table from the height (same, subjectively) about 30 cm then SD bounce noticeably longer and higher), and not much worse than Nittaku Premium for me, but SD is much cheaper than Premium... also, from 2 boxes (3 balls in a box, so 6 balls) 1 ball is not round at all, others at least acceptable, so in general they are not as round as almost any Nittaku Premium ball is...

So decided to fully migrate to this ball, tomorrow will get another 3 boxes... but still bought 1 box of DHS D40+... it's just they really are alike, I have no problems when I play on tournaments if I play one match with NSD ball and next match with D40+, it's just playing with NSD ball is a bit more joyful to me, but D40+ is a bit cheaper and sometimes I use them, when it's a pity for me to play with NSD ball (for example at work, where we have such a rough surface on walls, that any ball will be killed in a few hours of playing maximum)...

Conclusion: Good alternative to DHS D40+ ball, a bit pricier, but a bit more "bouncy", for me it's worth to overpay a bit...

On a occasion got myself a red R50 on ultramax sponge... didn't expect much from it, because recently bought R47 with 2.0 sponge and wasn't impressed with it's performance compared to tenergy 05 max rubber that I use on both sides of a blade (tried it on Apolonia ZLC blade... on BH it was "so-so", on FH not bad, but 05 is much better), I just wanted to try new blade that I bought (Innerforce ZLC)... but, to my surprice, R50 ultramax was fantastic on FH, especially when you make powerful topspin, I was quite dumpfolded when I realise that the more powerful topspin is the more control you get (with 05 for me it's quite an opposite), also the powerful topspis has quite low through angle, but still have a lot of rotation and (as I already sayd) a loooot of control, so it's quite hard for the opponent... the thing I didn't like in R47 2.0, the "cushion" feeling of the sponge, in R50 ultramax on FH is a great thing for short play and block, but, as I sayd, topspin is great thanks to hard and thick sponge... the are still cons though, when you try play relatitely "soft" and slow topspins control is lacking (I think the "cushion" feeling of the sponge is a main reason), so IMO if you attack with this rubber it needs to be done with some power, "soft" attack is not for this rubber, and for my lousy play it means that this rubber is not for my BH, which doesn't have much power, so on BH I prefer Tenergy 05 which compensates my lack of power with bouncy sponge...

So my choice for now is R50 ultramax on FH and Tenergy 05 on BH... but it's a choice for Innerforce ZLC blade, still haven't tried R50 with Apolonia ZLC blade, hope it will be as great as on Innerforce... also, currently Innerforce ZLC with red R50 ultramax on one side and Tenergy 05 1.9 on the other is weight quite much and have quite noticeable overweight to side of the racket with rubbers, and I like it, it helps me to accelerate wrist on the topspin in the moment before racket contact the ball which probably give additional rotation on power to the ball, so maybe some part of my WOW effect of R50 is actually due to that...

Using black Rozena in max on backhand (on forehand I have red 05 max) of my Apolonia ZLC blade for about 3 weeks... Overall I like this rubber, it's just what I wanted for my backhand, I like how 05 max plays on Apolonia blade, but my level is too low and I can't control it my backhand properly (too fast and too sencetive to my mistakes), so I wanted a rubber that will be like 05 (same feeling), but a bit softer than 05 (not to the level of 05FX, which I dislike greatly...), slower than 05 and as tolerable to my mistakes... so this is all about Rozena IMO, so I like this rubber and plan to continue using it on my backhand for a while.

BUT found a very big con though, Rozena plays horrible in high humidity...played in a tournament that took place in a very humid room... not that 05 played good in this circumstances, but it somehow played, it had some coherency with the ball... but Rozena didn't play at all, topsheet had almost zero coherency with the ball, it was like antispin... I didn't even finish first match, it was pointless, and I just forfeited and go home...