Weight of Pro's rackets and blades

[bobpuls]

Do not be wory so much, it is not when touching... And i do not think you will put it to your mouth.

 

[Baal]

There´s also the myth they´d constantly be testing new stuff. The opposite is more true. If something works, why change. Why waste time to adapt to something else that might work. Testing takes valuable time away from their daily work.

The three former US team members I know at my club are incredibly conservative and resistant to ever even trying anything new. The only thing caused them to change is when they had finally realized that the last of their favorite blades, which have been out of production for a really long time, had reached the end of their useful life. And they all went to faster stuff, and all went from all-wood to composites (which I can report in two cases happened because they hit with my blade and said wow, this feels great). This corresponded to the time of introduction of the 40+ ball, and it was obvious to them after hitting with 40+ balls for a couple of weeks that they needed something a little faster. Barring something earth shaking like that, my impression is that most good players don't make changes.

In general I have the distinct impression that most really good players don't EJ at all.

 

[Suga D]

The three former US team members I know at my club are incredibly conservative and resistant to ever even trying anything new. The only thing caused them to change is when they had finally realized that the last of their favorite blades, which have been out of production for a really long time, had reached the end of their useful life. And they all went to faster stuff, and all went from all-wood to composites (which I can report in two cases happened because they hit with my blade and said wow, this feels great). This corresponded to the time of introduction of the 40+ ball, and it was obvious to them after hitting with 40+ balls for a couple of weeks that they needed something a little faster. Barring something earth shaking like that, my impression is that most good players don't make changes.

In general I have the distinct impression that most really good players don't EJ at all.

Given that to most pro´s their bat is their extended arm or actually extended hand and is a tool to do their job in the best possible way, many only change their stuff when it´s necessary. Some might try out new things within a certain range, but that doesn´t happen a lot, ´cause like Airoc wrote, every change will mean a draw back and other players that haven´t changed their stuff might take off when one is stuck in the same spot ´cause one needs to adapt to the new equipment first and make it feel natural. So most people that earn their money with TT won´t try to hinder themselves by keeping trying out new stuff.

 

[Ilia Minkin]

C'mon, how many blades Ma Long changed during his career and how many versions of his (allegedly) DHS blade are out there?

 

[Suga D]

Well exceptions are natural. And there really might be a time for trying out new things, but not in the mid season or before important tournaments.
One shouldn´t forget that the change of ball size and material have been drastical changes. But not many would just experiment for no good reason. That´s absolutely not professional.
BTW: i still don´t believe Dima has tested the H3N at the last Worldcup.

 

[Baal]

C'mon, how many blades Ma Long changed during his career and how many versions of his (allegedly) DHS blade are out there?

Yeah, he seems like a bit of an EJ. But I think he is not typical.

 

[Vrael]

I heard that Ma Long is changing his blade every ~3months, because boosters have some effect on blades, but don't quote me on that