Equipment for close to the table play?

But it depends a lot on what you mean by "close to the table"..
Do you like to block topspins right off the bounce when they have a ton of momentum? Or do you like to block a bit higher when they don't? Or do you topspin them (which is very hard, often impossible, if close to the table). Do you topspin with your backhand or do you block with it? What do you like to do?

I use tacky rubber for FH because it helps in a lot of the close-to-table shenainganery, cuz it helps you put a lot of spin on very low momentum balls.
Short backspin pushes on short serves for example, and that "forward shot with slight upwards brushing motion" that gives you topspin but keeps the ball on the table, which is a lot harder to make work with non tacky rubbers (at least for me). Not to mention extremely spinny serves.

On the backhand I use a soft, ultra-light, very fast rubber, because that lets you effectively flick low momentum balls (like serves) very fast and also helps with flicking in general. For this type of play to be effective you want to have all the advantages, meaning a lighter bat for quicker acceleration, a soft sponge to catch the ball even when it's not very fast, and a fast tension rubber because you want to create sudden speed).


That's my take on it.
The limitations of my setup is that blocking powerful shots with the backhand is highly unsafe (but very good if it lands! but ultimately costing points more than winning them), that farther away from the table requires a lot more strength and body rotation to return a quality ball which can be tiring, and that straight forward forehand shots are also risky so you have to always have a slight topspin component which is a slightly different technique.
Probably more limitations than that, but this is just off the top of my head.

I am sort of close to the table player. You can see my equipment to the left. Pretty happy with it at the moment. Although some time ago I was thinking about trying short pips. Didn't give up on that idea yet.

I am an ALL player who prefers to stay 1-3ft from table. I always used H3NEO on FH (playing TG3NEO atm). and chinese tacky on bh. I recently tried T05 fh and 05fx bh. I don't like either of them for close to the table as you can see i put on TG3Neo. and i am planning to go back to Mark V on bh. T25 is probably more acceptable for close table play but even then I would still prefer Mark V on both sides or Tacky fh

richrf said:

Thanks. Mark V for coming control and punch shots? Wondering if Rozena might work for this kind of play?

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Mark V is a do it all rubber in my opinion with every gear. Can't go wrong with it. I prefer 2.0 though, I have also tried 1.5 on the FH and also found that quite ok. But overall the 1.8 or 2.0 is better imo (never max)

For amateurs who want to play a game right at the table, there are a couple schools of thought on this.

One is to play a light spin mostly drive style with FAST OFF+ blade and fast rubber - this kind of setup is optimized to bang away, very controllable for that. If you are good enough eyes to hit with less time at table, that style can work. Another related style is the close to the table hitter/smasher. They serve tricky, and look to put away the loose return with a powerful shot close to table. Difficult to be consistent, but the ones who manage this scare the living shyt outta players who cannot get there serves back with quality.

My idea of a modern player close to table is one who is a flexible attacker who prefers close to table to use ALL the shots possible, relying mostly on spin, but also with an ability to counter hit or block. Slower the blade the better for this, so ALL+ wood blade is the sweet spot with a modern FH rubber and some control rubber on BH. The idea is you can hit harder and still land the ball with a slower bat and controllable modern rubber, this lets you be more aggressive on counterdrives. Another benefit is on the shots that are not all out, you have more control with your good spin and less speed, plus better touch. This opens up some good stuff and is a valid style to explore. Since when you hit hard you are on endline, you hit quicker and opponent has less time, you don't need 53 Gs of force torque on your drives or loops to finish. You can still open heavy and then hit or powerloop. A good modern rubber on an ALL+ blade can still have a decent top end speed.

I purposely left out which blades and rubbers. Just about every company makes 2-12 of these blades and at lease 1-3 rubbers suitable. Pointless to try to name them all, that would make a database in itself. Look at my sig with the same blade or Lissom to get an idea, but there are HUNDREDS of blades and dozens of rubbers possible.

Changing equipment is never gunna get anyone to read spin better, be in position more, know the strike zone, recover, etc, but it is good to use equipment that makes the main shots you do easier or controllable over other equipment not quite as well suited..

any 5 ply a;ll wood blade or 7 ply all wood blade can be good. either a hurricane 3 in the forehand or xiom omega v euro would be great.. any soft rubber in the backhand.

It is because i only tried the omega v euro recently and is very impressed with it. It is like a faster mxs with same.level of spin.

Der_Echte said:

My idea of a modern player close to table is one who is a flexible attacker who prefers close to table to use ALL the shots possible, relying mostly on spin, but also with an ability to counter hit or block. Slower the blade the better for this, so ALL+ wood blade is the sweet spot with a modern FH rubber and some control rubber on BH. The idea is you can hit harder and still land the ball with a slower bat and controllable modern rubber, this lets you be more aggressive on counterdrives. Another benefit is on the shots that are not all out, you have more control with your good spin and less speed, plus better touch. This opens up some good stuff and is a valid style to explore. Since when you hit hard you are on endline, you hit quicker and opponent has less time, you don't need 53 Gs of force torque on your drives or loops to finish. You can still open heavy and then hit or powerloop. A good modern rubber on an ALL+ blade can still have a decent top end speed.

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Nicely said. Also as said good quality short and deceptive serves are really important.

P.S. I was wandering how balsa blades would fit for a closer to the table game style. (I am a little bit of equipment junkie, like to try new stuff, but trying to resist the urge...)

Der_Echte said:

My idea of a modern player close to table is one who is a flexible attacker who prefers close to table to use ALL the shots possible, relying mostly on spin, but also with an ability to counter hit or block. Slower the blade the better for this, so ALL+ wood blade is the sweet spot with a modern FH rubber and some control rubber on BH. The idea is you can hit harder and still land the ball with a slower bat and controllable modern rubber, this lets you be more aggressive on counterdrives. Another benefit is on the shots that are not all out, you have more control with your good spin and less speed, plus better touch. This opens up some good stuff and is a valid style to explore. Since when you hit hard you are on endline, you hit quicker and opponent has less time, you don't need 53 Gs of force torque on your drives or loops to finish. You can still open heavy and then hit or powerloop. A good modern rubber on an ALL+ blade can still have a decent top end speed.

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I couldn't agree more.

I'm that kind of player, close to table - mid distance. And I use exactly what Der_Echte is talking about : ALL+ blade and soft rubbers (you can read it in my profile).
I have huge amount of control / spin but not crazy speed. It helps me a lot placing the ball where I want, and when required, I can safely push hard.

Simas,

I avoid balsa blades like I do hospitals, which are centers of death.

Balsa blades are suitable for OX LPers and hitters, which style I also avoid to become.

That doesn't mean any of these styles can have a place in tt, they do, just not for me.

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Der_Echte said:

Simas,

I avoid balsa blades like I do hospitals, which are centers of death.

Balsa blades are suitable for OX LPers and hitters, which style I also avoid to become.

That doesn't mean any of these styles can have a place in tt, they do, just not for me.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

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Don’t some consider them too unpredictable for SP hitting too? (Poor things, no love. XD )

Der_Echte said:

Simas,

I avoid balsa blades like I do hospitals, which are centers of death.

Balsa blades are suitable for OX LPers and hitters, which style I also avoid to become.

That doesn't mean any of these styles can have a place in tt, they do, just not for me.

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Thank you for your "picturesque" description

I can't imagine myself becoming OX Lpiper, so no worries here. As for becoming a pure hitter I think that's more possible, but as you said I wouldn't want to too, cause I think that a hitter can't experience the full beauty of TT which comes with the spin. Nevertheless hitting straight through the spin could be fun, plus I play somewhere between close to the table to mid distance and have been playing only with inverted rubbers. So buying and trying short pips is on my short list. As for balsa it's not on my short list, but I saw a guy in my club with TSP balsa (if I remember correctly the fatter -faster one) so if I see him, I'll ask him for a test

Many l.p. players like balsa for very light weight, easy to hit, and spin continuation... so you can see many very old players liking balsa.

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