Hi, i am a modern defender and for the most part i have been playing with either a really thin sponge or no sponge at all. Now however i have been looking into switshing to a piple with more sponge so i can produce more backspin in my chops. In my search for my new rubber i have mostly been looking at feint long 2 an victas curl p3a. I was really curius about these rubbers because they are supposed to be abled to be used for both choping and creating disturbing balls close to the table whitsh would be verry good for me because i like to beable to push using the pimples to return the opponents serve but still be able to make greate chops. Therefor i am wondering if anyone has any experience with these rubbers and could say whitsh one is the best?
Curl p3a or feint long 2?
- Thread starter Leo2
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FL2 with more 1.4mm or more sponge becomes difficult to handle near the table. Maybe you need to try Curl P4 or FL3 which are slower so you can have more sponge. Also I don't thing that only the sponge produce more spin you need to work also your technique. Many choppers don't go over 1.2mm sponge.
Do you want also to attack balls with the pips? If so, then you should check medium pips, for example try Dawei 388C-1 or 729's 563 (about 10-15USD/Eur from Aliexpress) with 1.2 sponge or 1.5 (faster) sponge but you can also chop.
Do you want also to attack balls with the pips? If so, then you should check medium pips, for example try Dawei 388C-1 or 729's 563 (about 10-15USD/Eur from Aliexpress) with 1.2 sponge or 1.5 (faster) sponge but you can also chop.
Thank you for sharing your experience with FL2!
I have tried FL3 and i was not satesfied with it. I did not think that it was especially grate in close to table game althoug it was really good when playing defence. Also i will probably not try switching to medium pips since i have never felt the need to attack the ball using my pimples (i have tried a few medium pips and did personaly not like them verry much).
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The trade off with grippy lp's & sp's is that its harder to keep chops low against strong topspin (more reactive to spin). You can gain some advantages with less grippy pips by going to more sponge and make adjustments to control it.
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My club has a mix of mostly recreational players and competitive players. We also have a lot of middle age and older folks that use some combination of pips, mostly for bh blocking at the table. Typically for at the table disturbance you would want a stiff non grippy pip with no sponge.
FL2 and Curl P1 seem to be the go to rubber for choppers. FL3 and Curl P4 are grippier and more suited for a thinner sponge, unless you have perfect technique and arm speed for more sponge. About 5 years ago I tried Globe Mo Wang 1 on .5 sponge when testing a couple of blades. Every player that looped against that rubber hated it. Lots of subtle variation in spin and hard to read. I would use that rubber again on something like a 1.2-1.5 sponge.
Currently I have P4 on I think a 1.3 sponge because at the time I also wanted to be able to generate my own spin when playing with people that don't necessarily loop. I just found myself using my inverted racquet instead and that rubber/sponge combination is just too reactive for ramped up topspin.
I play about 4-6 hours a week. And split my time between tt, hardbat & sandpaper. I don't play many lp matches anymore, mostly just training with some players. If I dedicated all my efforts to defending (long range chopping) I would go with P1/FL2 or something similar like Mo Wang 1 on thicker sponge.
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Curl P3a is basically medium pips (not long). I play with the "old version", i.e. TSP Curl p3 alpha r-soft (ox), really very fun rubber. True, I also tried Victas Curl p3a, but the difference is huge..tsp I like it better
The purpose of chopper using thick sponge LP is:
*increase dwell time so to generate your own spin (rather than purely revese opponent's spin)
*to have better control when incoming power is strong (or when you smash with LP)
However, you must do your full chop stroke nice and smooth. You won't have same spin level as low-friction LP by just poke the ball.
The next question is: if the ball rebounce speed is too fast with your blade + thick sponge LP?
You can use defense blades which are slower than offensive ones.
or, use LP with slower sponge (like P4V, FL3 - 25deg hardness) or damping sponge (like bty Iilius)
When you get good technique on chopping, you can try to use harder sponge friction LP (P1V, P3av - 55deg hardness) which has higher spin reversal but can add its own spin onto the ball.
FL2 & P3av both works for chopper but they are prone for versatile playing style and not not chopping-specific like P1V. FL2 has harder pips than P3av, so I would recommand you to pare it with hard blade, so you can bend the pips easier with limited push swing close-to-table ( but chance is high that ball might fly high and away...)
If you want to improve your defense skills, it's better to use defense blade. Noticable improve on all aspects (except for offensive part )
*increase dwell time so to generate your own spin (rather than purely revese opponent's spin)
*to have better control when incoming power is strong (or when you smash with LP)
However, you must do your full chop stroke nice and smooth. You won't have same spin level as low-friction LP by just poke the ball.
The next question is: if the ball rebounce speed is too fast with your blade + thick sponge LP?
You can use defense blades which are slower than offensive ones.
or, use LP with slower sponge (like P4V, FL3 - 25deg hardness) or damping sponge (like bty Iilius)
When you get good technique on chopping, you can try to use harder sponge friction LP (P1V, P3av - 55deg hardness) which has higher spin reversal but can add its own spin onto the ball.
FL2 & P3av both works for chopper but they are prone for versatile playing style and not not chopping-specific like P1V. FL2 has harder pips than P3av, so I would recommand you to pare it with hard blade, so you can bend the pips easier with limited push swing close-to-table ( but chance is high that ball might fly high and away...)
If you want to improve your defense skills, it's better to use defense blade. Noticable improve on all aspects (except for offensive part )
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