Thoughts on rubbers both FH and BH

Basten4 · Dec 2, 2018

Hello Everyone,

It is time to change rubber at least on my forehand for sure, so wanted to hear some thoughts.

I have DHS Long 3 blade. I have been using Xiom Vega Pro on my FH for 8 months, and Rakza 7 on BH for 3 (Vega Pro as well before that). I am an attacking player (both smash and loop) on FH, and attack/active block on BH.

My Vega Pro is dead, so I need to replace it for sure. I was very happy with what I have, but thinking about trying something new as I am not to happy with only one aspect of Vega Pro, which is short serve return, which loses me a lot of games.
I was thinking about Tenergy 05, 05 Hard and 80, but decided not to go in that price range just yet.

So currently I am considering for my FH:

Xiom Vega Pro
Xiom Vega Asia
Xiom Omega V Pro
Andro Rasanter R47
Tibhar MX-P

Thoughts or advise?

Now, for my BH I use Rakza 7, but while I am very happy with the short game and block, the throw angle still gives me problems after 3 months of use when attacking, and I would like the rubber to be a bit faster. The rubber is still fairly new, but I tried my Vega Pro on the backhand last time I played, and it felt A LOT better when attacking.

My thoughts on the BH rubber were:
Xiom Vega Pro
Xiom Vega Asia
and I am open to suggestions.

I feel like Vega Pro's throw angle fits me very well, so want something similar.

The only issue is I don't want heavy rubber on both sides, like to stay around 190 grams or maybe even go slightly lighter with my setup. Blade is 90 grams.

Cheers!

laistrogian · Dec 2, 2018

Tenergy series is a lot harder than vega pro to use for short pushes but it is faster and spinnier

Basten4 · Dec 2, 2018

That is why I am not considering Tenergy.

Also, I've heard that Gewo Nexxus EL Pro 48 is a very good BH rubber. Anyone has experience with it?

chintanmashroo · Dec 2, 2018

Go for Vega China on FH to keep your service return short

For BH, if you like Rakza 7, stick with it and try to adjust your racket stroke angle, which will do the trick
Or you can try Rakza 7 soft

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6010 using Tapatalk

langel · Dec 2, 2018

Xiom Omega5 Asia is closer to T05, Omega7 Asia is closer to T05H, O Pro is more like T80.
With O5A and O7A the bat will be about 190 gr, with O7Pro - about 185 gr.
With Tenergy it will be over 190, with T05H - 200 gr.

Der_Echte · Dec 2, 2018

Vega Pro isn't too bad at all to keep it short. I have adapted to Vega Pro and Sigma Euro and return our top player's serve short to an ever increasing degree.

T05 is way more unforgiving in that department.

If you were growing level with Vega Pro, I would say stay with it and keep adapting. VP is a very appropriate rubber for a flexible all out attacker or attacking oriented allround player.

yogi_bear · Dec 2, 2018

Omega V Pro forehand and Sigma 2 Euro for backhand.

Gerald Finch · Dec 3, 2018

Vega Pro short game is fine. I think you just need to polish that part of your game a bit more with a lot of practice.

Lightzy · Dec 3, 2018

Vega Pro is excellent but hard and heavy. Both forehand and backhand will get too heavy for what you want I think.

Rakza 7 Soft is very good with the new ball, I noticed. Why not try that, like someone suggested.
It's light so you'll get your weight down, great for backhand especially.

UpSideDownCarl · Dec 4, 2018

1) Most of the rubbers on your list that are not Vega Pro would require you to be more precise when returning serves. So you may want to stick with Vega Pro.

2) Vega Pro on both sides might be a good idea as well.

When you say that the throw angle for Rakza 7 gives you problems: explain. Is it that too many balls go into the net? Is it that too many balls go long? Put another way, do you feel it is too high "throw" or too low for you?

Basten4 · Dec 4, 2018

The throw angle on Rakza 7 is too high for me.

UpSideDownCarl · Dec 4, 2018

Basten4 said:
The throw angle on Rakza 7 is too high for me.

Explain how that affects you. Does that mean you hit the ball out long too often?

usualsuspect · Dec 4, 2018

I use Xiom Vega Pro on my BH and I have no problem returning serves short. Vega Pro is a medium hard rubber, so it's not too bouncy on soft shots and not too sensitive to spins. This means good control on returning short services short. I think your issue might be more on reading spins and adjusting racket angles on service returns. I also recommend Vega Pro for BH. I prefer it over Rakza 7, which I've used before.

Jirrex · Dec 5, 2018

A question to those who have used both Vega Pro and Rakza 7;

When I was doing some research for a new setup, I narrowed down the choice to the rubbers mentioned. Eventually I went for Rakza 7's, mainly because I came from Rakza 7 soft (so only one variable changed).

When it comes to a comparison between Vega Pro and Rakza 7, some people seem to say that they're pretty similar, but apparenty not everybody agrees. My friend wants to buy a new racket in the near future, and coming from a classic rubber, I adviced him to go for an older generation tensor rubber. Rakza 7 and Vega Pro seem to be good candidates since he wants something with a medium/hard sponge.

Could someone here make a quick comparison?

Lightzy · Dec 6, 2018

Vega pro felt harder to me, it's 47.5 hardness or something like that.
But now it turns out that the Rakza is 45-50, which is really, really odd. I mean, that they can't get their freaking process together enough to have a sponge of any consistency.

So maybe I just got a softer Rakza7 when I used it.

yogi_bear · Dec 6, 2018

Rakza 7 soft's sponge maybe be a big difference in hardness compared to what you have been using before.

Basten4 · Dec 6, 2018

I have both right now on my racket, Vega pro FH and Rakza 7 BH. Rakza 7 is definitely harder and slower, less catapult, throw angle is different, Vega Pro feels a lot more natural to me. Both are very playable though.

Basten4 · Dec 6, 2018

The problem is that Rakza is slower, and I have to change the angle to hit it over the net. It may not be the throw angle if I think about it, but more the speed.

yogi_bear · Dec 6, 2018

Why not move up to omega v pro. Spin is mich more compared to vega pro

purpletiesto · Dec 7, 2018

Saw you say that you are disregarding Tenergy because it's harder to use for short pushes. T05H is one of the easiest to control for short pushes I think.

What about MX-P fh EL-S bh?

Thoughts on rubbers both FH and BH

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