Andro Treiber Z

All over the speed glue era I played with blades without any synthetic fiber. But when speed glue got banned my preferences changed a lot. I played harder rubbers than before and also my blade became harder and faster.

This blade with the synthetic fiber right under the outer ply fits perfectly to me. It is of course very offensive but I still manage in keeping control of the ball. I like especially the impact of the ball when I have to make a backhand block for example. It feels like I can „ navigate it“ wherever I want. The ball throw is quite high, which provides additional control. And the counterspin is also not difficult. I think this is also a result of the high ball throw and this very special feeling when you hit the ball. It feels like having a „turbo“ in your racket that explodes when playing a topspin.

I played all my carreer with straight handles, so of course I did the same choice here. During the rally I very often change the way how to hold the racket. A straight handle helps a lot for such actions.

Control, control, control. I found myself missing the Zylon feeling and thought I would give this blade a try after selling my ZJ ZLC and TB ZLF a few months ago. Between those 2, the Treiber plays and feels more like the ZJ ZLC. Treiber Z has a slower gear than the ZLC offers. This is very useful for soft contact shots, where I could easily get double and triple bounces with a simple push. Blocking took me a minute to wrap my head around. When blocking passively, which took a very soft hand when using ALC or flexy 5-ply blades, the ball would come off dead and roll into the net. Either gripping tighter or blocking more actively corrected this issue. Looping is delightful with this blade. People have stated in other reviews that the throw is really low when looping. I found this to be true when opening up and when looping a ball with little spin. When relooping a loop, the throw was plenty high and would dive down sharply with plenty of net clearance. Driving is quick, spinny and low throw for the most part. When I first tested this blade I was delving into soft sponged rubber with high sound output such as Donic Z3, but have since went back to Tenergy 05. The blade plays better with medium rubber, as a softer rubber and the soft top ply made for a mushy feel.

The Treiber Z from andro is a hard fast blade which nevertheless gives you a good ball-feeling. You will have especially advantages with aggressive topspins. If you begin to play with the blade, it is possible that you have temporarily some problems with block balls. But it only takes some time to get used with the speed of the blade. Later, you can be an excellent blocker, if you play often with this material. In my opinion, the blade sits comfortably in the hand. Recently, andro has reduced the price for the Treiber Z in Germany. There, you can buy it there for approximately 109 US-Dollars.