Calderano Signs with Joola (#139)

[Matt Hetherington]

@Matt Hetherington why did Joola change their logo. The one before the current one looks better with the triangle logo for the A. The new one looks bland.

Company decision mainly driven from pickleball side. I’m not part of the ‘why’ I just know they wanted to rebrand and move in a certain direction. When it comes to logos and wordmarks everyone is going to have varying opinions anyway haha

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Few Xiom players are using DHS blades so maybe it was fine for Hugo to use DHS tables but I think Joola will be much stricter as I never seen Joola sponsored players use other brands blades instead of Joola blades.

The only time I seen Joola not being strict in are forcing players to use Joola shoes as I seen most Joola sponsored players use Mizuno. Liam was using Asics shoes at the time. ZQH at the time was allowed to use H3 on the FH but not sure if Joola allows players to use a different brand rubber with other players.

Yea you can’t really sign a contract with a CNT player which has any stipulations about forehand rubber so those situations are unique 😇

 

[The0rigina1]

The Calderano SAL has ayous core. It's the HAL that has kiri core. Not sure why they made this change, possibly to keep the average weight lower.

Soft kiri core can act as a sponge absorbing a part of the impact, giving the blade better arc

 

[NextLevel]

Ahem, welcome to the club. I provided sources from multiple current/former pros to back my long-standing stance on various pros and still got the same treatment on multiple occasions from you know who. Thank you very much for feeling the heat.

Data/sources don't speak for themselves, everything is seen through a lens of some sort. Convincing data to one person can lack credibility to someone else. We aren't all going to see eye to eye on such things, but not all such disagreements have significant value on a TT forum.

 

[piligrim]

@piligrim does this count as wood from Alfa Centauri?

Better quality control, blades selected by weight. Does what Matt Hetherington said 20 pages ago.
Also chinese video translated by zeio not really reliable source to judge. I trust more to Matt and players

 

[zeio]

Better quality control, blades selected by weight. Does what Matt Hetherington said 20 pages ago.
Also chinese video translated by zeio not really reliable source to judge. I trust more to Matt and players

That clip is likely taken from a Butterfly-sponsored TV program. SMH.

 

[NextLevel]

@Matt Hetherington speaks for JOOLA only. JOOLA isn't every TT brand in the world. We'll see if he chooses to answer this - so far it has been ignored.

@piligrim 's main point was still pretty clear - it was a weight requirement which required wood with a rare density to meet it. The framing affects the perception. We could call them custom blades, heavier blades, or blades with woods that occur in less than 1% of manufactured blades of that type.

 

[piligrim]

We can also call them "blades that are not commercially available and that fundamentally differ from the commercially available version". But I don't think you and I need to keep going in circles since we understand each other's point.

You want to push back on the notion that the above is some undeniably superior product which I agree with you on - there is no singular truth on what makes equipment superior, I think that is common knowledge for people who know table tennis. Maybe not all in this thread, so I get your point.

I want to push back on the notion that the differences are insignificant or that just because someone from a white-label brand made a public statement about how their company operates, that it means that the entire industry operates this way.

Everyone can ask specific weight for blade from store. It doesn't make blade special

 

[piligrim]

@Matt Hetherington speaks for JOOLA only. JOOLA isn't every TT brand in the world. We'll see if he chooses to answer this - so far it has been ignored.

No problem. You can bring to forum someone like Matt from another TT companies and ask them same question. If they say players use special blades totally different from commercial blades we use then we won't need to discuss about it anymore

 

[piligrim]

@zeio broke Hugo to Joola before Matt did to this forum, of course it was just rumors, but take a second to think about what that means in terms of what public figures can say publicly about how their company operates. Let me know if it isn't coming to you, I'll give a hint if needed.

You have to show any proof to support your statement. Currently it same as believe to god. No evidence he exist, nobody seen him. You just have to believe. Same with this special blades. Nobody seen them, no proof from manufacturers. I cant believe to what people imagine in there mind

 

[igorponger]

SEEING IS BELIEVING.
RACKET HANDLE IS A PERMANENT CONSTRUCTION NOT TO BE RESHUFFLED.

Handmade re-design of racket handle is rather a popular fib originated with the leisure nubs and casual folks. Factory made handle can not be removed anyhow since a thermogluing pressure is always employed in manufacturing process.
Heh, give me a footage of player doing a demontage of racket handle as an evidence. Come on, my dear😃

 

[zeio]

You have to show any proof to support your statement. Currently it same as believe to god. No evidence he exist, nobody seen him. You just have to believe. Same with this special blades. Nobody seen them, no proof from manufacturers. I cant believe to what people imagine in there mind

Just putting this out there.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/wtt-star-contender-chennai-2025.36921/post-516310

Look, ThePongCommenter has done in 1 post what you have failed to do over the years. Offer concrete insights that are verifiable. In this instance on MLTT, my language skills happen to be far more reliable and trustworthy than your unverifiable "networking".

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/wtt-star-contender-chennai-2025.36921/post-516177

In MLTT the teams usually arrive 3-4 days ahead of the match to train together and shake off jet lag etc. and it is paid for by the teams or league.

KASAHARA Hiromitsu said as much. Sharing the experience of his stay in the inaugural season in an interview with Butterfly in 2024, his original plan was to fly to the US to play then get back to Japan but the owner of 888 provided him an apartment where he eventually stayed for 2 months. Other than the SF where he had to fly in from China and the match was the day after his arrival, the other times were pretty stress-free.

...

 

[piligrim]

Didn't say you have to believe anything. You can choose to or choose not to. Do you think it is impossible for a statement to be true unless evidence sufficient to your standards is provided?

I've seen them and held them, but since I didn't come here with a sworn statement from pro players I deal with, what I say couldn't possibly ever be true...even though an anonymous person on another forum was right about Hugo to Joola, despite not bringing sworn proof and despite Matt also existing on this forum where he could've broken the news.

Got it!

It's my standard. It's normal practice in conversation to support your statement with proof and links. In this case only manufacturer and maybe player know how different his blade from what we buy in store. Even if you hold blade how you know if plies was glued with different glue or was using better quality wood?

 

[piligrim]

Just putting this out there.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/wtt-star-contender-chennai-2025.36921/post-516310


https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/wtt-star-contender-chennai-2025.36921/post-516177

You keep quoting yourself

 

[zeio]

You keep quoting yourself

Well, gonna put this out there as well. It takes a lot of courage to take you seriously.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...-players’-rubbers-different.37607/post-531962

 

[Matt Hetherington]

@zeio broke Hugo to Joola before Matt did to this forum, of course it was just rumors, but take a second to think about what that means in terms of what public figures can say publicly about how their company operates. Let me know if it isn't coming to you, I'll give a hint if needed.

In fairness I’m not looking to lose my job so the forum can have info ahead of the official announcement 🤭 I think I’ve been fair about how I’m answering things. There’s a difference between being silent when information shouldn’t be shared vs actively answering questions when I’m able to address them 🤣

 

[zeio]

From the limited sample size, many Tieba users still welcome the development and look forward to Joola making a comeback.

果子签尤拉了！！！
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/10359796269
暴力搓上旋 尤拉制板水平如何，比胶猛能有更大突破吗？
IP属地:四川来自Android客户端1楼2026-01-02 18:22
回复
(How good is Joola's blade-making ability? Can it achieve a greater breakthrough than Xiom?)

贴吧用户_0y5Cy94 绿芳碳，估计也是韩国那个代工厂。
IP属地:广东来自Android客户端2楼2026-01-02 18:26回复
(Green aramid carbon? It's probably from that South Korean OEM factory)

牢达d6a1b 个人感觉骄猛水平应该更高尤拉高端的产品感觉不多，更多是中端产品
IP属地:福建来自Android客户端3楼2026-01-03 10:13回复
(Personally, I feel that Xiom's level should be higher. Joola doesn't seem to have many high-end products. They mostly offer mid-range products)

嘤嘤嘤月嘤星劫 尤拉绿芳碳一直可以的，冰封hrd，周启豪只不过没有太爆款的东西胶皮zgr zgx也都是好东西
IP属地:浙江来自Android客户端4楼2026-01-03 10:38回复
(Joola Green aramid carbon has always been decent, as has Freeze HRD, ZQH. But they don't have any particularly popular stuff. Rubbers like ZGR and ZGX are also good stuff)

【水】尤拉官宣、细节以及新品
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/10360068616
贴吧用户_0MN8GPJ 可惜啊，雨果跟奥恰情况差不多，这个单打冠军拿的太晚了，这个年纪，估计很多品牌不会太看好未来的发展，赞助也就这样了，反正我看他拿了单打商务也没啥起色，相反小莫，法国那对兄弟，因为年龄小，被很多品牌方看好，商务一直在往上走
IP属地:广东来自Android客户端7楼2026-01-02 23:40
回复
(It's a pity. Hugo's situation is similar to Ovtcharov's. He won this singles title too late. At this age, many brands probably won't be very optimistic about his future development, and that's about it in terms of sponsorships as I haven't seen much improvement in his commercial endorsements after winning the singles title. On the contrary, Little Mo and the French brothers, because of their younger age, are favored by many brands, and their commercial endorsements have been steadily increasing)

雨果签约尤拉
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/10359713711
懂球帝炎黄 优拉当年的雷神软，是我打过最好用的反手胶皮之一，可惜停产了，赶紧出新的吧
IP属地:北京来自Android客户端6楼2026-01-02 19:59收起回复
(Joola's Rhyzm 42.5 [not certain] from back then was one of the best backhand rubbers I've ever used. It's a shame it's discontinued. They should release a new one ASAP!)
万事屋阿蟹: 是的，我以前也是尤拉忠实用户，可惜近些年搞匹克球去了，这次又换代理，又签球星，看样子是要卷土重来了
2026-1-2 23:24回复
(Yes, I used to be a loyal Joola user, but unfortunately they've shifted to Pickleball lately. Now that they've changed distributors and signed a star player, it seems like they're making a comeback)

 

[TTWiz]

I play in the same club as Anders Lind here in Denmark - Herlev IF (although he doesn’t currently play league matches, as the rules in Germany don’t allow it).

Thor Christensen, who also plays for Herlev, is on the national team together with Anders and has competed with him in the Danish Championships in doubles, has told me that he is absolutely certain that Anders plays with the exact same blade that anyone can buy in stores.

That said, Thor would like to ask Anders directly, so he can give a definitive answer.

Of course, this doesn’t really answer whether other professional players use specially made blades, so that discussion will probably continue regardless.

 

[Ninja26Go]

so you would believe anything Lind says? just because he's well-known.

Don't be so pessimistic, why are you so sceptical about everything. You just said you couldn't care less, why argue the point further? It doesn't matter what we get, as long as its decent quality!

 

[Matt Hetherington]

I know, that is exactly the point I am trying to make. This thread has gone to shit though, hopefully you don't waste your time on the recent pages the way I have lol.

Are you able to address this one?

Other brands i’m not sure, only a couple of them make their blades in-house and I think it’s getting even less common now. Mostly OEM, similar to rubber situation.