Speed 9.2
Spin 9.4
Control 9.3
Tackiness Slightly Tacky
Weight Medium
Sponge Hardness Medium – Softer than MX-P, harder than FX-P
Overall 9.7
Thanks to all those who commented and got in touch with me after last week’s review – lots of requests coming in for different equipment, sorry my time is limited but I’ll keep doing my best to do one a week. I’m flying to China today for the WTTC, but yesterday after a relatively light training session I managed to test out the TIBHAR Evolution EL-P rubber on my spare blade to see how it felt.
The information I’d seen on this rubber was that it was basically the ‘middle’ option for those players who wanted the ‘in between’ rubber when compared to the harder Evolution MX-P and the softer Evolution FX-P. It makes sense that a lot of players of all levels would like a rubber that sits in between these two as some people want the best of both worlds, or as close to it as possible!
This rubber is currently available from my UK sponsors Bribar Table Tennis at a special offer, first 100 sheets sold price of £34.99, reduced from £46.99. You can view and buy it here:
http://shop.bribartt.co.uk/tibhar-evolution-el-p.html
The sheets I have are both maximum sponge thickness and the surface is not dissimilar to the TIBHAR Evolution MX-P, It’s slightly tacky, but not like a Chinese rubber and not as tacky as the Evolution MX-S. When I bounce the ball onto my bat and spin with the rubber, I still get plenty of ‘bite’ and a nice contact on the ball, it sounds great and feels spinny!
My first impression is that the rubber is as described – it is very obviously harder and faster than Evolution FX-P, but slightly slower and with more control than Evolution MX-P. Objective achieved on that score! When I’m topspinning the ball, the contact feels great and the rubber feels quick. The arc of the ball is not quite as straight as the Evolution MX-S, this is more of a traditional European style rubber and I get a good arc depending on how much topspin I impart with my stroke. The more I try to get a good contact the more arc I’m getting, and the grip here surprises me for a rubber that does not feel that tacky.
When I’m away from the table and in a topspin rally, the rubber feels safe. I don’t have to hit it on the ‘sweetspot’ every time, it’s very forgiving. If my timing point is slightly away from being ideal, I can still produce a good amount of spin and in this sense the Evolution EL-P feels very reliable.
When I’m blocking for my opponent, the Evolution EL-P offers a really superb amount of control when compared to the speed and spin levels. I feel like I can either do a safe, steady block, a soft block or even a hard punch block from my opponents top spin with ease, and again it is the contact that really stands out, the rubbers offers really good feeling. If I try to re-loop close to the table from my opponents attacking shot, the rubber is again very ‘forgiving’ – I do not need a perfect contact every time to generate a good return.
When I’m serving, the spin I can generate is really good but not as high as when I played with the Evolution MX-S last week. The ‘balance’ feels better, but the bite is not quite the same. I have to give my service action a little more wrist in order to generate this level of spin. On my follow up 3rd ball attacking shot, I am able to topspin my opponents heavy backspin push return quite easily, thought again the difference between the Evolution EL-P and the Evolution MX-S is that the arc of the ball signifies the amount of topspin on the ball – it feels very safe, and the more I try to spin heavily the more the arc, like a traditional style Tensor rubber.
When I’m receiving from my opponents serve, I can receive with confidence. Although I can’t generate quite as much backspin with such a short action (this was something I could do when I tested the Evolution MX-S), I can still touch short with confidence and flicking is also very controlled. To generate a lot of backspin on my long push, I need to use my wrist more and really try to get a good contact, but when I do it’s still heavy.
For speed, I have rated the Evolution EL-P as 9.3. This is a fast, attacking rubber, especially when combined with the maximum sponge thickness. The rubber feels best for me personally when I’m just a couple of feet away from the table, not quite mid distance but in between mid distance and close to the table. From here I can topspin the ball quickly and with a good level of spin with confidence. The speed I can produce when I’m trying to hit the ball hard is really good!
For spin, I have rated the Evolution EL-P as 9.4. It doesn’t grip the ball as well as the more tacky Evolution MX-S, but the surface is still very good when trying to produce heavy spin on serves, heavy push receives or when playing the first opening topspin. The reaction is as you would ‘expect’ from a rubber like this – the arc increases when you improve the contact and really try to spin the ball up. The sponge is slightly softer than the Evolution MX-P, so that slight extra dwell time allows you to generate a touch more spin with a little less effort.
For control, I have rated the Evolution EL-P as 9.3. The key to this rubber is the combination of the three factors – speed, spin and control. When I’m playing quickly I still feel like I have great control. Again, the slightly softer sponge allows me that. When I’m moving from blocking to re-looping the rubbers feels so reliable and consistent, and it seems to be more forgiving and have a better margin for error than the spinier MX-S or the faster MX-P.
To sum this up, this rubber is totally ideal for those attacking players who want some variation in their attacking game. It’s meant to be an allround attacking rubber, and in this respect it does totally offer some great characteristics. The balance between speed, spin and control is brilliant. I could serve, receive, loop close to the table, loop at mid distance and also far away from the table and the feeling on all of these shots felt really good. Blocking and then turning to attack felt great as the control I was able to execute on the shots was superb.
If you are an attacking player who likes to play quick top spin shots combined with good blocking and a good all round game, this is a rubber you should check out – particularly if you do not enjoy the ‘tacky’ feeling of the MX-S or if you feel the MX-P is slightly to hard for you. The key is the sponge – with it being slightly softer, I think this rubber will suit a lot of players out there who need to add a a little bit more control to their attacking shots.