Cornilleau Simon Gauzy Quest Blade
Weight: 81g
Type: OFF
Composition: 5 ply (Ovangkole, Kiri)
Rubbers used with blade: Target Pro GT
Written Review:
What’s going on guys it’s Dan from TableTennisDaily, in this review we are joined alongside World Number 13 Simon Gauzy to review his latest personal blades with Cornilleau! The Gauzy blades come in both All+ and OFF.
Forehand:
All wood blades are designed for optimum control and feeling, and the Gauzy quest Blades both possess these attributes in abundance. This fantastic level of control helped me especially when blocking Simon’s relentless forehand topspins. I was really taken aback by the amount of control both blades gave me whilst still maintaining good speed. This was especially apparent with the Quest OFF.
I have used and reviewed a lot of carbon blades recently, this wood blade reminded me how much control and feel you can get on the ball with an All-wood blade. I felt confident on my backhand side especially when playing punch shots.
Sometimes I struggled on high balls. I couldn’t get the balance of playing with maximum power. It was probably due to me over forcing the ball worried of Simon’s incoming attacks, which put me under a lot of pressure. Perhaps it’s also because I am used to a Carbon blade where I get more power without as much effort needed.
Playing backhand and forehand topspin from close to the mid distance worked very well. I felt I could stay relaxed and really swing through the ball without having to worry too much about it going off the end of the table. I could create good amounts of spin when finely brushing the ball during topspin play, and the Quest OFF also gave me great accuracy when it came ball placement.
Blocking and feeling:
When blocking for Simon I had a huge amount of feeling and control on the ball, you can really feel the ball onto the bat when blocking with this OFF wood blade.
Spin:
The dwell is superb with this blade when playing open ups even though the outer wood plys using ovangkole. Ovangkole being a relatively hard wood yet it still allows the ball to sink into the blade and catapults it with great spin. This harder outer wood helps during 5th ball follow up attacks.
Once again even when blocking against Simon’s heavy topspins, the blade gave me the time to feel the ball back onto the table, although I did need to use quite a closed bat angle and delicate touch.
It’s easy to create a good amount of spin with the Gauzy Quest OFF blade. You get a lot of time on the ball due to the ample dwell.
I found a lot of stability with backhand open ups, I could accelerate with a lot of racquet speed and confidence.
Backhand Flicks:
Similar to the backhand open up, the All wood quest off blade helps with gripping the ball when playing backhand flicks over the table.. When I took my time and managed to read the spin on Simon’s serve I got a lot of rotation on the ball which help to set me up for my next shot.
Counter topspin:
I had loads of control on my counter topspin. Even though Simon was loading the ball with ridiculous amounts spin. The ball does not shoot of your bat like you find with carbon blades which tend to be much stiffer and more reactive. The Gauzy quest OFF makes counter spinning much easier and I surprised myself quite a few times on ho
w well I could perform these shots with this blade.
Serving:
Serving with the Quest OFF is a breeze due to the dwell that it’s all wood construction provides. Here are some examples of Simon serving to me. The amount of spin was insane!
Conclusion:
I had a great time filming with Simon Gauzy in the brilliant Ochsenhausen training center,, as you can see from the review we both had a lot of fun.
I was very impressed with the Gauzy quest OFF blade, I really like the feeling and control it gives you. The weight of the blade is very evenly balanced when paired with average weighted tensor rubbers like cornilleau target pro which we used in this review. Some players may prefer a heavier blade for more power, however I found it really comfortable FOR my topspin game as I quite enjoyed the variation of shots you can play it. The Gauzy Quest off blade is noticeably slower than your average ALC Carbon blade for example, although it makes up for this in the control department where it really excels.
I was often blocking for Simon as he put me under a lot of pressure yet I was still able to contain most of his shots. This attribute of the blade I think is its strongest point, it's feeling and control is really is outstanding.
I did find on some occasions that when I wanted to go for all out attack I was quite limited with the blades speed. This is again because the Quest OFF is a wood blade tailored for spin and variation based players rather than for those with an all out attacking game.
As noted before, close to the table punch and counter topspin shots are easy to execute with this blade, this helped my style of play giving me good consistency.
For players starting out or looking to develop their game the Gauzy Quest ALL+ is a high controlled solid allround blade, the soft limba plys gives you great control and feel. The OFF is more suited for all round attacking players who value control and spin over extreme speed. The OFF is definitely faster and more direct than the ALL+ which is slower and but gives you even more control and dwell time.
Product information
