Difference between tacky and grippy rubber

In both cases, you can't slide the ball across the rubber. They should both grip well.

But a good tacky rubber when new might even be able to pick the ball off the table if you press the paddle on it. Or if you touch it with your finger, the surface will actually feel stickier.

Some general beliefs (your mileage may vary) is that tacky rubbers actually grab the ball better or more. Have higher spin potential. But since they also hang onto the ball more for a fraction of a second compared to grippy, which are not sticky, they're a hair slower than grippy in theory. The ball rebounds or springs off grippy faster. Again I'm generalizing here and rubbers vary between them.

Try them both. See what style suits you better. It's completely a personal preference thing. After trying euro rubbers twice as expensive, I still prefer the Chinese tacky rubbers. But that's just me. The next poster in this thread could easily feel completely the opposite.

Personally I prefer grippy rubbers, but that's because I don't have a decent enough technique to get the best out of tacky. Grippy lets me be lazy as it's more forgiving for me

I came across this article recently that helped me choose a little between the 2....

https://www.ttequipment.co.uk/equipment-advice/rubbers-information/rubber-types-tacky-vs-non-tacky/

Drop a ball against a blade with Tenergy/Tensor rubber and it rebounds X cm. Do the same against a blade with something like Hurricane 3 and the ball only rebounds half of X cm or less.

(The above assumes that "grippy" refers to Euro/Japanese rubbers)

Tacky rubbers grip the ball more.
They're made my cutting the polymer chain so that instead of assuming a stable structure they hang out there (kind of like pimples I guess, just real tiny) that keep trying to hook stuff.

Playing with tacky rubbers ultimately makes it easier to put more spin on the ball, but it requires a period of adjustment and practice because all low-velocity shots react very differently and stay on the bat longer

Xanderngzien said:

Whats the difference? Dont they both mean that there is friction in them

Click to expand...

Grippy Euro/Jap rubbers are usually paired with tensor sponge. With low to medium impact you can return the ball with decent speed and spin.

Tacky rubbers are usually paired with hard sponge. Take national skyline 2 blue sponge for example. With low to medium impact the return is quite slow. Flat hitting is slower than Euro/Jap rubbers.

I have grown up with tacky rubbers. Once trained probably, you can unleash the deadly power of tacky rubber - low arc, long trajectory and sudden drop after a bounce. If you can engage with the rubber and sponge fully, you can produce far more dangerous shots with tacky rubbers than with any expensive Euro/Jap rubbers.

Passionate about TT