Calderano Signs with Joola (#139)

[Bz26]

It’s a good thing that the blades and rubbers that the pros get from Joola are the same as commercial. Only difference is the Joola sponsored player may want to have a blade that is heavier than commercial blades. At least the people that are buying the commercial blades can have complete trust that the equipment they buy is going to be the same as the pros. Big thumbs up for Joola @Matt Hetherington

Joola seems to be the only company that are doing this. Other brands such as DHS and Butterfly have custom pro blades that you cannot buy commercially e.g DHS W968 No 1 blade etc

Just to be clear, nobody mentioned anything about the rubbers Joola players play with being the same as the commercial ones, Matt only mentioned blades (which is very believable)

 

[NextLevel]

Maybe, though it would be interesting that his signature blade varies so differently in construction from the TB ALC he allegedly uses if BobFL's information is accurate and current.



Almost no chance that Lind or any other pro is using their main competition racket when they do social media stunts or promotional shoots or the like, so that wouldn't be very telling.

Yeah, I was being silly

Someone like Ishiy probably uses commercial but everyone knows that Hugo will just have ESN make him whatever personal rubber he's been using with XIOM, and they'll just label it with Dynaryz or Trinity or whatever his named line of products is going to be.

Well, apparently not everyone...

That would be in violation of ITTF rules around rubbers and LARC. Dangerous for a player of his profile and for Joola if caught. There are better solutions.

 

[Ghostzen]

I think if he knew how the thread was going to turn out he'd have steered clear

Fair play on that one definitely! 😊

 

[rbtitco]

It’s been quite a ride 🤣

If you think this is bad, you should see the autism levels in the german forums

 

[Der_Echte]

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

HC gunna be a Pickleball Star... Joola makes Pickleball.

 

[mamedium]

AL signed Non disclosure agrement for sure.

Btw, according to my source AL uses butterfly timo boll alc with donic handles. The info came from former top 20 player who is still in the loop

my source said the same

 

[Doralikesmath]

I don't know what AL is using, but he taped over the logo of his blade during the WTT Champions Frankfurt 2025. Hmm...

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

Lind using TBALC with Donic handles makes sense because before the Hexacarbon he was using the Donic True Carbon which is the Donic brands TBALC-alike, a blade originally made for Ovtcharov who was back then using TBALC with Donic handles. I guess history repeats itself. Though I don't think anything will come close to the hubbub generated by FZD using the Viscfinity

 

[zeio]

Hilarious if true. Wouldn't surprise me and he wouldn't be the first or only one still doing it. I suppose it would be easy enough to see if his blade is inner or outer carbon if someone finds a clear and zoomed in enough photo - don't care enough to look but hopefully some internet sleuths are on the job.

Regardless of the truth and besides mere mortals wanting to get their hands on one, it highlights the crux of a long-standing issue that some here either don't get or refuse to come to terms with, that is, sponsored pros not using what brands make you believe they are.

Instead of acknowledging that fact and (perhaps not) following up with a debate on integrity, the focus always turns to how much difference constitutes a difference and whether that difference is discernible and whether one is proficient to make the best of it, without realizing all those questions are moot when the premise is not even established.

Again, to add to the other Chihara's video, the narrator states that １グラムの誤差が世界大会ての勝負の明暗を分ける/a 1-g error could make the difference between winning and losing at the World Championships.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...onsorship-with-other-brands.23591/post-316819

 

[longle]

Lind using TBALC with Donic handles makes sense because before the Hexacarbon he was using the Donic True Carbon which is the Donic brands TBALC-alike, a blade originally made for Ovtcharov who was back then using TBALC with Donic handles. I guess history repeats itself. Though I don't think anything will come close to the hubbub generated by FZD using the Viscfinity

I have this question since long ago: what makes a blade of a brand special than others even when they have the exact same composition, why couln't Donic replicate the exact blade like TMBALC (blades are all wood and carbon stick together, it's not a microchip)

 

[SDC]

Has a pro or amateur pro ever contacted you about a blade before?

I've made a few blades for pros, not many. It's not that interesting actually, if the player is sponsored then he cannot advertise he is using my blade, and I can't do it too, so it does nothing other than inflate my ego 😅. I've also made some repairs and handle swaps for pros.

You have several levels of pro, and by pro I mean someone who earns something in return for playing. The reality is that most pros know very little about equipment, because they simply don't care. They play with whatever is put in their hand since a young age, and many only start messing with equipment changes at an adult stage. A pro looks at equipment differently from us, for them it's a tool to do their job, so what they want is reliability. They don't even want to think about that stuff, if they miss a point they don't want to look at their racket thinking something was off. Of course there are exceptions, we have a little bit of everything, but this is true for most low/mid tier pros.

When Marcos first moved to Tibhar he was playing with a M. Maze since a young age. They built a blade for him but he continued using his trusty old blade. He only changed after he moved to Butterfly, and I believe he still continued using it for a while. For an elite player, the decision of moving to another brand has very little to do with equipment. There are many ways around that. Don't forget that this is still a business, and money is what moves both sides. For a player like Hugo, it's also important to support his career, and also start preparing for when he retires. He seems interested in moving TT forwards in Brazil, and maybe Joola aligns itself, and supports his view. As for his blade and rubbers, you can never really trust what a pro is using. In tennis they paint frames to make them look like other ones, in TT we make handle swaps. He can continue using his blade until they build him something that he likes. He will adapt, don't worry. Rubbers too, this was told to me by a pro, he was using an old generation rubber that he preferred, but the printing on the top sheet was from a newer model that had just came out and they wanted to sell. They also get their rubbers boosted from the factory. So, forget about what pros use, it's all marketing and very easy to deceive, do what's best for you.

In the case of Anders, he has a blade with his name on it, why would he say he is using something else? Does he not want to make money?! Maybe he even used it for a while but had a change of heart, not that the blade is bad or anything, it happens... Maybe the brand already had this composition destined for this type of marketing and decided to use his name and he played along...

And there isn't this magical forest where all the special wood for TT blades grows. Apart from Hinoki, namely Kiso Hinoki, which you can select the boards with a tighter grain, wood is wood. Of course there's crappy wood, but there's not magical wood. Butterfly has pretty good Limba, and I really doubt they change the source of that Limba for pro blades, it's all about material selection. They select what they need (in terms of density and grain), from their current batch. Better quality components does not always translate to a higher quality product. There are good blades with crappy materials, and vice-versa. And a higher quality product does not necessarily mean a better blade for that player, it's all about personal preference, so it's all very subjective. If a pro gets a blade with his name, but he likes to play with a 95g head heavy blade, that will never sell, so of course they have to tweak the composition to make it commercially feasible.

 

[yodachi]

When we spoke to a Japanese manufacturer, we learned that the hardness and bounce of the ball when hit changes depending on the type of adhesive.
Performance also varies depending on the country of origin, age of the tree, drying time, and processing method.

 

[Tyce]

There are quite a few players who change equipment based on the location they have to play in, be it due to climate, bigger/smaller venues, or something as logical as their own state of fitness.

It doesn't make sense to market all of those blades. You'd get inners, outers, different fibers, veneers etc. Instead, they play with the blade they need, and stick on the logo and handle that they need.

For rubbers, I have a problem with using a different topsheet than what's printed on there. These are supposed to be under ITTF scrutiny, messing with that is just not OK.
Sponge is a different story as those aren't part of the actual approval system. Of course a Pro is going to jump on every loophole they can find.

As for Pro players getting special versions of blades? Of course they do. That being said, I wouldn't read too much into that. Most of it will come down to selection, and the lack of print so that doesn't interfere with anything. Pro athletes in every kind of sport will have all kinds of weird requests, and it doesn't make sense for table tennis to be an exception.

As with every sport and its merchandise/commercial part: you will never, ever, buy the exact equipment that your idol is using, because they are the ones using it. You can obsess and try to get as close as possible, or you can just get the brand product that is supposed to be it and be a happy fan. The first option being exceptionally toxic because you simply never know if you're close as well as they can be changing equipment throughout the season. I know my pick.

 

[IB66]

Multi sponsorship deals should be available to players, but it seems the manufacturers want everything!! Clothes, shoes, blades, rubbers etc
It seems to depend on a matter of flexibility on the brands part.

In the past CNT players used Stiga blades, BTY blades, BTY rubbers (BH) etc (although there wasn’t any ‘visible’ sponsorship from the other brands)
How the provision of rubbers / blades was arranged with the other brands is an unknown!! (To me ).

Anyone with more insight into sponsorship deals, please advise.

The most visible item is clothes / shoes (but a label can be added for other sponsors)

What happens when a player has a personal sponsorship deal with Brand A, But the national Team has a sponsorship deal with Brand B?? This is also where other sponsors labels are added to clothing.
Okay, the deals are likely to be ’item’ specific - balls, tables, shoes, clothes etc (clauses in the deal) but the brands are flexible why can’t they be the same on an individual sponsorship ?

This should also be the case for a ‘personal’ sponsorship.

 

[zeio]

What happens when a player has a personal sponsorship deal with Brand A, But the national Team has a sponsorship deal with Brand B?? This is also where other sponsors labels are added to clothing.

Things get ugly. Keywords: SBTF, Stiga and Donic. There have been many cases...
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/banda-stiga-blades.23280/post-312523
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/run-in-between-moregard-and-sbtf.36653/

JTTA has only recently started allowing personal sponsorship rather than players being limited to national team sponsorship when participating in select WTT events at their own expense.
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...ould-have-won-the-match-780.35128/post-526897

 

[JackJohnson]

Multi sponsorship deals should be available to players, but it seems the manufacturers want everything!! Clothes, shoes, blades, rubbers etc
It seems to depend on a matter of flexibility on the brands part.

In the past CNT players used Stiga blades, BTY blades, BTY rubbers (BH) etc (although there wasn’t any ‘visible’ sponsorship from the other brands)
How the provision of rubbers / blades was arranged with the other brands is an unknown!! (To me ).

Anyone with more insight into sponsorship deals, please advise.

The most visible item is clothes / shoes (but a label can be added for other sponsors)

What happens when a player has a personal sponsorship deal with Brand A, But the national Team has a sponsorship deal with Brand B?? This is also where other sponsors labels are added to clothing.
Okay, the deals are likely to be ’item’ specific - balls, tables, shoes, clothes etc (clauses in the deal) but the brands are flexible why can’t they be the same on an individual sponsorship ?

This should also be the case for a ‘personal’ sponsorship.

SYB is sponsored by DHS (blades/rubbers) and Nike (uniform except for shoes are Mizuno). She is not forced to wear Lining gear like most of the other DHS sponsored players. Usually when your sponsored by DHS your also sponsored by Lining at the same time. The other DHS sponsored player that does not wear Lining is Nicholas Lum he’s sponsored with DHS and Nittaku but both DHS and Nittaku also have a partnership as well similar to DHS and Lining.

 

[piligrim]

Sure but I’d feel happy asf if I got a Q968 lmaoo

Now you know no chance you will have one )))))

 

[joshmak10]

Now you know no chance you will have one )))))

Not true, I can buy one from Prott

 

[latej]

If a pro gets a blade with his name, but he likes to play with a 95g head heavy blade, that will never sell, so of course they have to tweak the composition to make it commercially feasible.

@SDC, what is your definitive position on the concept of weight??? ;-)

I mean, people speak about diffs. in blade models, but I'd say for me the diff. in weight is at least as important. Do you see it the same, or can you provide some nuance here?

 

[piligrim]

Not true, I can buy one from Prott

How you know it's really personal blade?