For how much? Send me a PM.
I like the blade, so I'm going to keep it.
JOOLA can make Hugo whatever he wants and needs, you seem to have the pre-existing opinion that JOOLA has less capability than Xiom somehow?For me it's interesting that a Pro of this level, after, arguably, his best year in terms of results on international events, decides to change his sponsor (and, supposedly, equipment). Like.. does the equipment not matter so much? Or is it just that the other sponsor can guarantee to provide very similar equipment that will not hinder the athlete's performance?
I would understand a switch from Xiom to Butterfly in this context (as Butterfly can probably provide the best equipment for him), but from Xiom to Joola - I definitely don't understand what and how is prioritized here
They can glue any joola handle on whatever blade he likes to play with. More importantly, he can get paid.For me it's interesting that a Pro of this level, after, arguably, his best year in terms of results on international events, decides to change his sponsor (and, supposedly, equipment). Like.. does the equipment not matter so much? Or is it just that the other sponsor can guarantee to provide very similar equipment that will not hinder the athlete's performance?
I would understand a switch from Xiom to Butterfly in this context (as Butterfly can probably provide the best equipment for him), but from Xiom to Joola - I definitely don't understand what and how is prioritized here
Or we can just make the blade...
Nop - I would say that for me they have pretty much the same capability (but, as you understand - I have no idea 😅). My main point was mostly that I see those two brands as pretty equal and I would say that still, even if Joola can provide whatever Hugo wants it will still take time and it will still be different from what he has (those probably will be small margins and maybe on his level he can easily compensate for them and adjust just by the sheer volume of training).
No you can't, the blade is made of rare materials available only to Xiom. You don't have access to these rare materials... wood and axylium... the racket was also forged in a Korean kiln... you don't have access to that either. So how will you make the blade?
Think I misspoke on Timo's rubber, I apologize. Probably confused him with someone else. However you can see the special blade he got from BTY with his How I glue video, 14:27
I suspect the main reason is that Joola is paying him a s*** load of cash.For me it's interesting that a Pro of this level, after, arguably, his best year in terms of results on international events, decides to change his sponsor (and, supposedly, equipment). Like.. does the equipment not matter so much? Or is it just that the other sponsor can guarantee to provide very similar equipment that will not hinder the athlete's performance?
I would understand a switch from Xiom to Butterfly in this context (as Butterfly can probably provide the best equipment for him), but from Xiom to Joola - I definitely don't understand what and how is prioritized here
Other than personal reason, Calderano actually made the same move, leaving Cornilleau in 2019 after he had a breakthrough the prior year, notably beating Boll (1st encounter), Harimoto (1st of 2 wins) and LGY (1st encounter and 1st of 2 wins) at Qatar Open 2018 and then FZD (1st of 2 wins) at WTGF 2018.For me it's interesting that a Pro of this level, after, arguably, his best year in terms of results on international events, decides to change his sponsor (and, supposedly, equipment). Like.. does the equipment not matter so much? Or is it just that the other sponsor can guarantee to provide very similar equipment that will not hinder the athlete's performance?
I would understand a switch from Xiom to Butterfly in this context (as Butterfly can probably provide the best equipment for him), but from Xiom to Joola - I definitely don't understand what and how is prioritized here
Cornilleau wasn't and isn't in a great spot and you can argue Hugo moved up the ladder by going to Xiom; whereas moving to Joola now however seems like a sidegrade at best, if they haven't given up on table tennis completely and only do pickleball
Thanks. Again, you're the one calling them special, ZJK said he got exactly the same thing with respect to Viscarias, they just don't make the blades look exactly the same as the commercial and number them differently as they are tracked as part of a different inventory process. Most people would call Timo's racket a fake if they were presented with it without any context because it is plainer than the commercial product which is made prettier by its bells and whistles. It isn't made with some special recipe that makes it different from regular Boll ALCs, it has at most stricter pre-selection criteria that meets what Timo likes.
It is not actually always the case for Butterfly to make custom blades different. AFAIK Wong Chun Ting has a special blade with ZJK Alc's handle. To be fair, some manufacturers do use special treatment/processing for special versions, as far as I'm aware, the veneers in W968 are naturally dried, whereas the drying for the veneers of HL5 are accelerated. Pressing temp also, W968 cold pressed, HL5 normal pressed.
In the cases I have heard this rumored, alternative blade the player actually uses is either commercially available (and sometimes more expensive) or just something that evolved with a switch in preferences on the part of the player which it would not really be worth it to adjust the commercial blade to reflect that switch. But it's rarely a case of player A using something and the manufacturer going out of their way to sell something different because they don't want the public to have access to the player's superior equipment.
The W968 is commercially available. Even when Schlager won with a Primorac Carbon and the Schlager Carbon was created, the Schlager Carbon was commercially available. Anyone can get a custom blade made by Butterfly at expense to them, pros just don't have to pay. But this is a different issue from saying that there is some process by which pros get blades and equipment that regular people will never have access to. It just doesn't happen as much as some would like to believe.
