Yasaka Rakza 7

good for all levels on BH

One of the best rubber in terms of price to durability ratio. Medium to medium-high throw. Very linear output with low upper limit. From observation, good BH choice for developing players although it is also a FH choice for some. It lacks an obvious character but the overall feeling is comfortable. Can be a good or bad aspect, depending on what a player demands. If one does not know what to choose, this rubber may be a good one to start with.

Speed:
Blades with a hard veneer is preferred if one wants to have medium fast speed, otherwise it lands around medium. For perspective, a competitive player would call it a slow rubber but an average amateur may find it controllably fast.

Spin:
Super easy to create spin but not very spinny in actual performance. The clear feeling on gripping and spinning the ball creates an illusion of generating huge spin, while in reality the effect is average at best.

Durability:
Very playable for a long time if you do not mind the sides chipping a little over time. Not too affected by humidity and temperature overall.

Control:
Best suited for developing players who started on slower rubbers. It is just about controllable enough for a complete beginner but on the speedy side. Very controllable from intermediate level.

This rubber is very fast and has super amount of control. I use it on my backhand as i think that it is a cheaper alternative to tenergy 05. I just wish that is had more spin

This was my favorite rubber for a long time. It's a great rubber that does everything really well with great control and consistency. I had it paired with my Nittaku Acoustic 5 Ply wood blade on both the FH and BH sides and felt they were an excellent match as a developing 2 winged looper. Even by today's standard I consider it to have excellent spin and good speed. While it can be used either on the FH or BH sides I think it is slightly better on the BH side with a rubber with a slightly higher throw angle on the FH side. The throw height I would consider to be medium. Not as spinny or good at looping as Tenergy 05 but stronger in the short game and a more balanced rubber. Overall an excellent attacking rubber for offensive players who value control in their game.

Rakza 7 is fast and spinny rubber. Its quite hard. Its good forehand rubber but you can use it on backhand too. In 2mm sponge is very balanced. Its good really good in block
I use it on both sides on Butterfly Zoran Primorac OFF- and I am happy with it

These rubbers allowed me to impart a decent amount of spin on the ball and are quite fast. They encouraged me to play an aggressive game while being controllable enough for this to work. I can produce decent topspin on normal shots with these rubbers and I can also topspin backspin shots. There is enough control to be able to block and play close to the net when I need to, then open up and attack.

The 2.0 regular Rakza 7 is still very good at driving, blocking and smashing. I decided to try 2.0, coming from Max to experiment if I needed a bigger margin of error when miscalculating or performing out of position strokes. Using 2.0 holds true for backhand strokes, but for forehand strokes I may return to Max. Loop quality and ball grip is missing in performing forehand loop, drive, block and smash. The 2.0 sponge forces you to actually be in the right position for every shot. That has plus and minuses depending on what kind of game you play. Overall I may stick with 2.0 on BH and Max on FH.
** UPDATE** I've stuck with FH: Rakza 7 Max and BH: Rakza 7S Max.

I play very often with the Rakza 7, and I don't understand why so few people play with it.
It's a very spinny rubber : enough for good serves, efficient topspins.
It's a little tacky : I like this especially for playing short game
It has quite a high throw : Not as high as a T05, but enough for feeling very safe in first attack on backspin for example, or playing away from the table.
It's not a linear rubber, you can feel a tensor effect.. especially with thick sponge. That's why I like to play with only 1.8mmm on my backhand.
I think that Rakza7 might be considered as the successor of the Mak V.

This is my review of the Yasaka Rakza 7 rubber in the color black, max sponge.



Blade: Stiga Hybrid Wood penhold

Initial observations:
Top quality topsheet.
Medium soft sponge in the color white.
Weight is avarage. Not as heavy as chinese rubbers.

Throw:
The Rakza 7 I would say has a medium throw. Lower than chinese rubbers like the H3 Neo and TG2 Neo but higher than both Rakza 7 Soft and Stiga Boost XT.
Compared to Rakza 7 soft and Stiga Boost XT the sponge is not "bouncy" at all so the throw is therefore really direct. Great throw length. For me it is perfect for my backhand. Also works well on forehand.

Speed:
Not the fastest rubber on the market, however it provides enough speed to blance the rubbers spin and is a big part of the rubbers exelent control.
It is faster than the H3 neo and TG2 neo on my blade but not as fast as the Stiga Boost XT. However it makes up for it in both spin and control.

[edit] After a few weeks I glued this rubber on an old Banda JO Waldner blade and this blade suits the Rakza rubbers much better. The speed was increased noticably! [/edit]

Spin:
Good amount of spin thanks to the top quality of the topsheet. The topsheet is a little tacky, it picks up a small amout of dust but not much. Easy to clean.

Control:
I love the control of this rubber.
The balance between speed and spin is exelent.
Placing the ball is such fun.

Value:
Great value for your money.
Will buy this rubber again.

Rakza 7 is a fast rubber with a nice top sheet, which Yazaka claims has a higher amount of natural rubber. When executed properly, this rubber will really shine. It is not very forgiving, but instead demands good quality shots. This rubber has a medium throw. This rubber has built-in glue effect which is one source of the power. When the glue effect runs out, the rubber becomes quite dead.