Damien Éloi: Are the top players’ rubbers different?

[piligrim]

 

[tabletennismaniac]

For anyone who is not willing to watch full video - his answer is “That’s a difficult question for me to answer…”, so you probably can make an conclusion based on this 😊

 

[igorponger]

Crazy musician of France and his famous guitar. Lovely memories of the past. 🥰

 

[lightspin]

Yes the rubbers are very different. I once got some H3 "national" from someone associated with the CNT and it was much better than what is normally available.

 

[PoppaChubby]

I'm not that surprised being a musician. There are tons of kids who want the same guitar as Joe Bonamassa or the same bass as Marcus Miller. But when you really get the knowledge, you then understand that Bonammassa has his trusty Les Paul completely tweaked by luthiers, technicians/electronics nerds, his amps are completely tweaked too. Marcus Miller has a preamp in his bass installed by Roger Sadowsky, who makes basses and preamps for the general public, but not Miller's one, and you can't find it anywhere. For the amps it's different: he's endorsing a company that can send amps on any venue in any country so he can have the same sound without travelling with heavy stuff, so here no tweaking.

Effect pedals, man... completely tweaked too. Or even clones made by a completely unknown electronics nerd.

There's no rule in music, but there are in TT, so it's a tough topic cos' it's the frontier between what you send to the ITTF and what's really used by the athlete. And we won't talk about the CNT and some koreans boosting their rubbers.

In any sport like football or basket-ball, they make a mold of the MBappé's or Cristiano Ronaldo or Lebron James feet, then they've got their cleets or shoes tweaked no one will ever find on the market.

 

[Zezima]

Yes the rubbers are very different. I once got some H3 "national" from someone associated with the CNT and it was much better than what is normally available.

If that would be the case then they would produce it for everyone to sell it.

 

[Airoc]

It´s always the same story.

Different sponge hardness normal, different sponge altogether possible, very careful selection of quality.

Factory boosting also possible.

Topsheet has to be the one approved by the ITTF if the rules are respected.

That you could fabricate a totally different topsheet and have it stamped like the one approved should not lead to the accusation that this is actually done. ;-)

 

[merlin el mago]

Pros uses custom top-sheet & sponge hardness special for his needs....

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I got some pro version D09C and D05
quality is way better

 

[piligrim]

I got some pro version D09C and D05
quality is way better

The question is on what level you feel difference in quality? Should you be pro player or even amateur under 2000 USATT will feel difference and will play better with it?

 

[yamagata]

Are rubberjuice like wine?

 

[Dr Evil]

I know at least some Butterfly players get personalized quality control, so they can request precise rubber weight, hardness, thickness, etc. They might use "max thickness D05" on both sides, but their forehand rubber will always be heavier/thicker/harder than their backhand rubber. Butterfly in general has rigorous quality control and pro rubber comes only from the highest quality batches. I don't know for sure, but I highly doubt Timo Boll's rubber comes from a different manufacturing process than commercial rubber. It's just the best of the best according to his precise specs.

 

[backspacer]

Iba touched on this in his latest vlog. Says they are the same as the commercial ones, but just more consistent.

 

[andzejgolot]

They can boost them and didnt care. Good booster destroy your rubber faster

 

[lodro]

I don't know
You don't know
We don't know ..............and the ones that DO KNOW they won't tell.

What I do know is that even with all the fussing about with the rubbers (and the blades) they are not always free of problems.
How many times have we been able to observe things going pear-shaped and top players looking down at their racket with a face expression that clearly said : " WTF ".

Just a day or so ago Lin Shidong did it.
Not that long ago Tomo Harimoto could not land a ball on the table using his FH smash and a bit further back, remember when Ma Long had to turn BH to FH because simply nothing worked, not even his serve and he ended up using the good old "gentle BH serve" 😁

Who really wants to be a professional TT-player ? 😁

😁😁

 

[Metaxa]

I don't believe a word of it. I can't believe that they would adjust the composition of rubbers and/or sponges in the manufacturing process specifically for one particular player (or several players).
I do believe in test compositions for professionals, but in my opinion, this is only to establish a new line before commercialisation. Of course, there always has to be some kind of myth.
With wood, it's different. I do believe in that because it's reasonably easier to achieve (composition, balance, handle).

 

[lodro]

I don't believe a word of it. I can't believe that they would adjust the composition of rubbers and/or sponges in the manufacturing process specifically for one particular player (or several players).
I do believe in test compositions for professionals, but in my opinion, this is only to establish a new line before commercialisation. Of course, there always has to be some kind of myth.
With wood, it's different. I do believe in that because it's reasonably easier to achieve (composition, balance, handle).

So just another believer then ? 😂

 

[beeray1]

Everyone has their anecdotes. I still remember a friend of mine interviewed Zhou Qihao and Yu Ziyang for some TT publication in China and got to spend some time with them. ZQH gave him one of the rackets from his bag to keep and it was glued up with H3 and T05 at the time (this was prob 10 years ago). I hit with it and the H3 was (SHOCK) not really any different than the H3 I was using. A little harder. It still played like H3. The T05 I remember being the thing that stood out more because it was quite hard and I think this was before T05 Hard was a commercial product.

 

[lodro]

Everyone has their anecdotes. I still remember a friend of mine interviewed Zhou Qihao and Yu Ziyang for some TT publication in China and got to spend some time with them. ZQH gave him one of the rackets from his bag to keep and it was glued up with H3 and T05 at the time (this was prob 10 years ago). I hit with it and the H3 was (SHOCK) not really any different than the H3 I was using. A little harder. It still played like H3. The T05 I remember being the thing that stood out more because it was quite hard and I think this was before T05 Hard was a commercial product.

H3 on the FH and T05 on BH ??

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I don't believe a word of it. I can't believe that they would adjust the composition of rubbers and/or sponges in the manufacturing process specifically for one particular player (or several players).

well, it does happen
think about it, the top star player getting special treatments.
if the player wins, they will have a lot more business.

Take Xiom for example with Hugo
or Kao Andro
or whoever else.

Victas was in Taiwan recently, and they ESN engineer (Victas staff working full time in ESN Germany) visits to help spec the players "customized" rubber.
the sample he brought had many different hardness variations alone and I was told, we can demand anything we want.

It is a lot more easier for the factory to have a batch at a unique spec than you think.
I had my own branded balls printed by DHS for example
its not impossible - it is more whether they want to or not and being the star player, if they not going to do it for you, then change brands.