Looking for a Fh Rubber

[Zezima]

It’s nice to see people moving away from harder rubbers and switching to softer ones for more forgiveness.
It’s much easier to dig in and slap the ball with a softer sponge compared to brick-like H3 or other Chinese rubbers. Hard rubbers are less forgiving and harder to use. Even if you can handle them, the amount of spin you produce usually just reflects your actual skill level. You end up with a rubber that’s tough to spin with, doesn’t tolerate mistakes, and gives you only average spin if your level isn’t there yet.
Go with C1 or Vega Europe. You’ll probably play a lot better with them. Stay away from Vega China.

I currently think the same way but without any proof (yet). I mean I have to give a softer rubber a chance I think atleast so I can say I tried atleast.

I checked vega europe and it seems like its 42°? The Woman I played against uses that hardness on her bh and her fh is r45° not sure her blade though might be timo boll alc I don't remember. But from what I have seen that team everyone plays with a fast racket but with soft rubbers.

I feel like my fh is atleast on her level maybe even better if I look at my winners with my fh. She forced me into many mistakes with her placement mostly into my elbow so she had more opportunities to finish the rally than me overall. But that's skilldiff aswell.

C1 seems to be 45° if I remember correctly but I know of noone who uses it on the fh. I do think I shouldnt go lower than 45° on the fh but maybe try a 45°.


I also have mistaken vega china with vega korea. Vega china is way too hard and I would have the same issues still.

 

[NextLevel]

Trying to hit through players isn't the way forward.

He keeps thinking this is the answer and that is his problem. Not the equipment. Not even his technique. He just needs to select shots and take more risks. He already plays the shots he claims he can't play.

 

[victormanriquey]

I honestly don't understand the h3 technique vs esn rubber technique. Care to explain further?

I also have no coach and h3 is even more exhausting to get good quality shots (tried it on my W968) and I had better time with a d09c instead. it was h3 blue 39° 2x boosted. Sponge feels so dead. Like I don't even know if I activate the sponge because there is no "kick" from the sponge to give me that feedback like a d09c for example.

So no I don't think I wanna go that route. Atleast not this season.

It is fine not to use a hard sponge this season or later, that is a personal preference and a matter of style in the end, some players like a hard sponge with a softer blade like me, and some players the opposite. In general, because the FH can put more body and arc into the shot, a harder sponge for more power and spin makes sense, the BH body mechanics are limited by the body, so a softer sponge that helps the stroke makes more sense. This is of course in theory and principles, you can always break this and do something else that fits your game, in the diversity is the beauty and fun of this sport.

Let me clarify the above point:
- With a harder sponge, it is more difficult to activate it, and thus more hitting through is required to get the same speed and spin than a softer sponge. A softer tensioned sponge lets the ball sink in even with less hitting and more brushing, so then hitting through is not as much needed, still recommend though for maximum power. So any sponge always benefits from a good hit-brush ratio, to penetrate it and reach/activate the blade. that is where true power comes from in TT. It's just that this effect is easier to do with a softer sponge, and this is why most people say: soft sponge is easier.

- How to know if you hit-brush correctly: this is only possible by listening to the sound your strokes make and by looking at the blade's angle at contact point. Is it nicely opened (not flat, more like 45 degrees or so, this depends per ball and player, but not fully closed. Note: not all strokes and balls necessarily need this) and makes a good loud crack, then you did it correctly. Is it a thin brush sound, then you didn't do this and are playing more with the topsheet.

A sponge like hurricane does not have the same 'hollow' (to me it's hollow, to others the word they use to describe is different, I'm not a native english speaker) feeling as a soft sponge for example, and this is likely what you experience as the 'dead' feeling, boosted or not. It will never have that feeling by the way, this is just the nature of the sponge (small pores, thick walls, pips arranged densely) but with the right contact it can generate more speed and spin. This is well known and proven scientifically.

Lastly, when you activate a hurricane sponge, you know, trust me but this requires focus on the body first as it recoils inwards, arm loose, then accelerate forward with focus on index finger as the wrist opens and finally the finger makes the arm have an outwards/inwards-forward arch (like a half moon) to contact hit-brush the ball. With this motion, body weight naturally moves in the correct way and you can relax-explode. You did do this in the training a couple times, I can see it and hear it, so I think you can already do this but maybe you don't know you can or that this is the right feeling

He keeps thinking this is the answer and that is his problem. Not the equipment. Not even his technique. He just needs to select shots and take more risks. He already plays the shots he claims he can't play.

I think the same @NextLevel , I saw the right technique and sound in the practice video

 

[Zezima]

Yeah I get you
You just have to drive more fwd.

Trying to hit through players isn't the way forward.
That's why R7 is perfect. You consistently put the ball on the table and you use placement and spin to win points.
I think it was said before a lot about forgetting about results and work on your ability in the rally.
Let them block, it's technique you're chasing here not fastest rubber.
More blocks equals more rallys equals more consistent practice at what you need to be doing. Better the rally continues than ends with a mistake from you.
Otherwise just put T05 on Viscaria and close this thread! 😉

Yes but the problem is I usually get one good chance to attack for my current level. Let's say 3rd ball attack, because I am also mentally prepared to attack after my serve since I know 99% the ball will end up long somewhere. So I need to use that chance. As you can see in the video when I did that I won the point straight. That in return makes me atleast a bit more relaxed in the game. With R7 I would loop the ball and then lose the point. The more points I lose the harder I try to go and make even more stupid mistakes. In the end I will end up playing worse.

I don't want to lose so much spin as going back to R7 maybe something that can generate more dangerous balls (how is it compared to R45 actually?). But in terms of hardness it should be around that 45°.

So the goal is the rubber should make me want to play more balls actively than currently where I am waiting for the right incoming speed and height of the ball. For me it's also a huge mental thing. I don't need bounciness from rubber just close to the same characteristic as d09c but softer (g09c is not enough soft I think).

 

[Zezima]

He keeps thinking this is the answer and that is his problem. Not the equipment. Not even his technique. He just needs to select shots and take more risks. He already plays the shots he claims he can't play.

wait you tell me my equipment is not the problem?

I do agree I am a pus pus when it comes to taking more risks. Yeah I do play the shots I claim I can't play but I don't play them with confident. 90% of the time when I loop a strong players serve is I have no clue if the ball is gonna land because I don't get enough feedback from my hand so I watch the ball longer and can't mentally focus for the next ball. And then I am just playing the rally in survival mode since I am always a step behind.

And yes I tried practsing it. I seem to have almost no problem in practise with looping serves. But keep in mind the quality of a 1000-1200 hell even most 1500 players is not the same as +>1600 players. The thick dude in the first video (first half) had insane serves. I don't know the timestamp but when he got bored he pulled it out twice in a row. And twice in a row I didn't know what to do. Crazy amount of sidespin with backspin.

 

[NextLevel]

vs Better players I am waiting for that random weak ball that looks like when warming up with fh. And even then I tense up and do a random bad looking fh stroke very far away from how it looks in the practise I think.

The reason you don't get that ball as easily is that the other player is better than you. So you are not used to anticipating it and getting into position to hit it. But your game is already good enough, you just need to play more and train more with good players and get better at controlling and attacking that ball. It has very little to do with equipment. Take it from someone who has arthritis in virtually all his joints, has no plyometric push off in his legs, and can still whack the ball at people. You will miss a lot but you will find the balance.

 

[Ultravisitor]

Glayzer is easier to activate, softer and still very linear. Might be to slow on a korbel. You can use it on fh and bh and still get good quality from the d05 topsheet.

 

[NextLevel]

wait you tell me my equipment is not the problem?

I do agree I am a pus pus when it comes to taking more risks. Yeah I do play the shots I claim I can't play but I don't play them with confident. 90% of the time when I loop a strong players serve is I have no clue if the ball is gonna land because I don't get enough feedback from my hand so I watch the ball longer and can't mentally focus for the next ball. And then I am just playing the rally in survival mode since I am always a step behind.

And yes I tried practsing it. I seem to have almost no problem in practise with looping serves. But keep in mind the quality of a 1000-1200 hell even most 1500 players is not the same as +>1600 players. The thick dude in the first video (first half) had insane serves. I don't know the timestamp but when he got bored he pulled it out twice in a row. And twice in a row I didn't know what to do. Crazy amount of sidespin with backspin.

Okay. So what does all this mean? One of the things you do which I hope you are aware of is that you coach yourself in a way that is very different from how you would coach someone else. Would you write the stuff you are writing now to someone in your position looking for advice? How would you tell them to approach the problem you are having in a match? If they face a harder serve from a higher level player, would you tell them to change their equipment to solve it?

What you need is more practice against that quality of player. Equipment always has tradeoffs. Have you tried playing that player with a different rubber and seeing if the results changed?

I don't like taking risks either but that is a style issue. IF you aren't willing to take more risks with your style, that is the problem. You can practice third ball kills in a drill where you don't know where the ball is going.

The biggest mistake adult learners make is that they continue to act like the way they play today is the only way they can play, and that missing the ball on the table means that the shot was absolutely wrong. Missing is part of the game, you need to find the right swing and figure out how to adapt it, If you take risks with the swing and adapt it, your body will learn over time how to use the swing to adapt to new and different balls. But your attitude is so consumed with mistakes that you can't use real mistakes to learn and grow even during matches.

 

[BHShoulderPain]

I don't know what you mean by "

You mean just hit it hard like 90%hit and 10% brush lets say not caring about whether they land on the table or not?
The first "thick" dude (2nd place currently in the league) plays like that. He was slapping these balls very hard. He missed some but if those landed on the table it didn't matter where he was aiming.

What I mean is you need to put more energy into the ball. Since you want to improve your loop, I would focus more on brushing.

How I learned was I would angle my paddle extremely closed (almost parallel to the floor) and try to loop balls on the table. You will find that if you don't put in enough effort to brush the ball, it will just go into the net. Make sure the path of your forehand swing matches with the angle of the racket. You want to slice the top of the ball. Hitting the ball while it's rising also helps because you can borrow spin and speed which deepens the feeling of the loop. Once you get the feeling, you can begin to step a little back and do the same thing. Only open your racket angle slightly when you have used all your power and brush but still can't make the ball on the table. This only works if you use at least 90% strength and focus on brushing hard. Don't cheat and open the paddle prematurely. Hurricane helps with this because it's tacky and holds the ball for dear life.

Of course, this isn't really practical in game unless you are looking to play early timing. Judging from your videos, you take the ball when it's falling. Once you are confident in your brushing, you can move on to looping with an open racket face. The paddle should be almost perpendicular to floor now. Use the same swing angle you would to loop the ball on the table but this time with the open racket face. You will find that if you don't brush the ball will just fly out because you are just smacking the ball. Once you can get the ball on the table, you would have mastered both looping and loop driving. Looping is brushing by rubbing the topsheet of the rubber. Loop driving is brushing by driving the ball into the topsheet and sponge.

 

[Souther]

I know I need to work on my technique. I am actually working on it especially lately (I have another thread dedicated to just my fh form)

I don't know what you mean by "

You mean just hit it hard like 90%hit and 10% brush lets say not caring about whether they land on the table or not?
The first "thick" dude (2nd place currently in the league) plays like that. He was slapping these balls very hard. He missed some but if those landed on the table it didn't matter where he was aiming.

I am actually focusing only on fh form right now and 0 about the game. Thats why you see me playing as if I have no gameplan (tbh I had no gameplan). As you can see I was busy reacting to balls and could only think about topspinning when I had the serve (3rd ball attack). In the Rallys it felt like I had no time for a backhand loop because I saw it too late where they gonna play the ball. I am playing more on survival mode even then I ran out of time and did stupid mistakes by just holding the racket into the ball. But thats a different issue.

I was practising very simple fh topspins in my training and even if I do 2fh-2bh drills it works really good. But these better players tend to play balls where I just feel like I have no time. Even though against weaker players where I don't know where they are gonna loop I feel like I have all the time in the world. I even have time to think about placement, speed, spin variation against them.

vs Better players I am waiting for that random weak ball that looks like when warming up with fh. And even then I tense up and do a random bad looking fh stroke very far away from how it looks in the practise I think.

Practicing your stroke, movement, and anticipation all go hand in hand when you are practicing with another person. If you only want to fine tune your stroke without any thought, you should use a robot. When you play a person, you must constantly practice reading the opponent's spin and anticipating how your own stroke will affect where the next ball will be so that you can move into position accordingly. You are in survival mode because you're only focusing on stroke when you need to put it together with anticipation and movement.

As for equipment, if you want to get better, just stick with one rubber. Choose something a top pro uses and stick with it. The good player will learn to use the best rubber (Tenergy, Dignics, H3) and change the blade from 5 ply to 7 ply to carbon when needed. If you keep trying to adapt to different rubber, it will take longer for you to get better.

 

[NextLevel]

Hey folks,

I want to give up on d09c. I already went down with the blade going from long5 then to W968 and now to Petr Korbel jp. I feel like I get more feedback which I need to self adjust my stroke. Now after a couple months with d09c both sides I think its time to go down to an easier to activate rubber but with linear properties.

Why linear? I struggled with shorter slower balls with h3 because of the hard dampening effect. It was only good when opp served short. But in my league they mostly serve halflongish longish serves. Noone really serves short.

My most recent games:

against +300 rated players.

Even with a different rubber I would have lost still but I am still showing these clips so you can see how I use my fh and that d09c just feels wrong even though I like the fact it gets better and easier to play the longer I play with this rubber.

I actually played more safe with a 8month d09c compared to a fresh sheet...

I have also tried g09c. It feels like the little brother of d09c. But I think I am looking for something even easier to activate than g09c. I have seen much better players like 2200ttr with a really good fh with r48. So I feel like I might need to go even softer than that like r45 type of softness maybe?

Last 7 years I havent had anything softer than 47,5° rubber on my fh. So I don't even know how that would feel. Played the likes of g1, aurus prime, r48,mx-p,g09c,r7, mx-d

Please recommend some rubbers you think it would greatly benefit and get more confident in using my fh even if I am standing not perfect to the ball but still easier to activate the sponge.

With d09c I can activate it only when I am standing correct.

My ideal rubber would have the same linearity in block and catapulty/linearity like d09c but it can be slightly less speed softer feeling so I can tell if I activated the sponge. But not too soft since I would hate it to bottom out when I go all in (I want to blame my technique not the rubber giving up)

I also struggle with soft loops on receive. I am sometimes too slow and dont overcome the incoming speed. So slight misread makes the ball go out or into the net when I loop.

You watched those matches and your conclusion was that you need to change your forehand rubber? Seriously?

 

[Zezima]

The reason you don't get that ball as easily is that the other player is better than you. So you are not used to anticipating it and getting into position to hit it. But your game is already good enough, you just need to play more and train more with good players and get better at controlling and attacking that ball. It has very little to do with equipment. Take it from someone who has arthritis in virtually all his joints, has no plyometric push off in his legs, and can still whack the ball at people. You will miss a lot but you will find the balance.

yes no doubt they are better than me (all 3 of them in the vid). I just thought it would be easier for me to get into the game if I go to a softer rubber that gives me better control when I am mostly reacting. So even though I will be not in optimal position it might give me the confidence to still try and go for the shot. My biggest problem is anticipation and where to move after I hit a shot. And as you correctly said I need to get exposed to these players more. We just have 8 rounds so 8 weeks of 2-3 matches per gameday then 2months break and another 8 rounds. After that its 6months break... So I don't get the chance to play vs these players let alone train with them. So I am finding other ways to get to their level somehow

offtopic:
I actually wrote the female player after our match and asked to train together sometime. I think we will play on Monday. So that will help if we can train more often. She is currently #2 These 3 players are top 5 currently in the league. The bh serving player around 4min is known for his bh service and bh killing topspin which he did against me. In the video it looks a bit slower but in real it's too fast and spinny + he had back problems and still beat me.

 

[Zezima]

Okay. So what does all this mean? One of the things you do which I hope you are aware of is that you coach yourself in a way that is very different from how you would coach someone else. Would you write the stuff you are writing now to someone in your position looking for advice? How would you tell them to approach the problem you are having in a match? If they face a harder serve from a higher level player, would you tell them to change their equipment to solve it?

What you need is more practice against that quality of player. Equipment always has tradeoffs. Have you tried playing that player with a different rubber and seeing if the results changed?

I don't like taking risks either but that is a style issue. IF you aren't willing to take more risks with your style, that is the problem. You can practice third ball kills in a drill where you don't know where the ball is going.

The biggest mistake adult learners make is that they continue to act like the way they play today is the only way they can play, and that missing the ball on the table means that the shot was absolutely wrong. Missing is part of the game, you need to find the right swing and figure out how to adapt it, If you take risks with the swing and adapt it, your body will learn over time how to use the swing to adapt to new and different balls. But your attitude is so consumed with mistakes that you can't use real mistakes to learn and grow even during matches.

Closest I was coaching "aggressively" was my little brother and yes I told him to change his equipment and that he fucks up himself more than I do by playing with primoarc carbon tc5000 ? and Tenergy rubbers when he had just 700RC. 2nd thing I would advise is practising serve return but thats easier for him than for me. I can do most serves with decent quality, spin, placement. I would be even happy having someone able to serve my serves against me atleast in terms of variety spin placement etc. But nope they usually have their main serve like tomahawk and just slightly variation. So after missing 1 or 2 times I basically have a 98% return success.

You can practice third ball kills in a drill where you don't know where the ball is going.

That's what I have been practising mostly. Actually almost always like this. Except lately I wanted them to play to my fh more (still mixing it to the bh). I also don't think my main problem is attacking after my serve. Sure it could be better still but the most points I give up is when the opponent serves. I am way more confident when I have the serve and even if I lose the point it's me getting an attacking chance atleast (and miss it). But I am happy with that outcome still.

Watching the videos I am more open to doing mistakes with my bh than with my fh. With my bh even if I overhit I still keep topspinning mostly unless I get no time and just react block it back. I even hit some good bh TS vs the female player where I won the bh rallys. But it's not the same with my fh even though technically I seem to be able to produce those shots in the training sessions.

Look at the "thicker" players in the 1 match video. He just slaps with his fh no matter if they land on the table or not. He just plays with the idc attitude which I need to learn still. And when I did a really good serve (half longish) he was still able to safely loop which I needed to kill but was too passive.

You are right in that I care too much about doing mistakes in matches and sadly other than slowing down my equipment I don't see a short and long term solution for now. I will give up some high quality balls for more consistency and more attacking mindset(atleast I hope it will turn into this).

 

[NextLevel]

yes no doubt they are better than me (all 3 of them in the vid). I just thought it would be easier for me to get into the game if I go to a softer rubber that gives me better control when I am mostly reacting. So even though I will be not in optimal position it might give me the confidence to still try and go for the shot. My biggest problem is anticipation and where to move after I hit a shot. And as you correctly said I need to get exposed to these players more. We just have 8 rounds so 8 weeks of 2-3 matches per gameday then 2months break and another 8 rounds. After that its 6months break... So I don't get the chance to play vs these players let alone train with them. So I am finding other ways to get to their level somehow

offtopic:
I actually wrote the female player after our match and asked to train together sometime. I think we will play on Monday. So that will help if we can train more often. She is currently #2 These 3 players are top 5 currently in the league. The bh serving player around 4min is known for his bh service and bh killing topspin which he did against me. In the video it looks a bit slower but in real it's too fast and spinny + he had back problems and still beat me.

The s backhand serves are mostly long. You will miss most of them initially when you attack them but you have to continue to attack them until you start making the attacks and force the opponent to serve short enough that you can push with quality . Adjusting to a ball is all about knowing where to start the racket, where to contact the ball, and where to finish the swing. Once one has accepted that a loss is on the table, you do what you have to do if your goal is to win. And sometimes, that involves swinging at balls you may never swing at comfortably or doing shots you hate doing even in practice and hoping they work. The instant I see someone is serving long and killing every push return, I force myself to topspin the serve, even if they will kill that as well.

This is a tip I have given you before: you always have to be aware of serve length when playing a player. Because pushing long serves with quality is incredibly difficult so it is better to give them as much time to come off the table and attack them, even if that costs you a couple of points. The converse of that is that pushing short serves with quality is relatively easy, so if you are making a lot of mistakes pushing shorter serves, the serves might be much longer than you think they are. That way you can take control of the point early.

On the camera, the lady's quality doesn't look special but she is very consistent so you will have to play multiple shots to beat her and that will help you a lot.

 

[victormanriquey]

wait you tell me my equipment is not the problem?

I think your equipment still is a problem, but not as much as you think

Equipment is often 20-30% of the total package. It is still a lot in a sport where every point and detail matters. Specially because having a wrong feeling in your hand or playing with something that doesn't fit your playstyle, age, technique, level etc will make you lose points and undermine your confidence.

So the key is to find the equipment you feel confident with, and then forget about gear and focus on everything else.

You must trust yourself more

 

[Zezima]

What I mean is you need to put more energy into the ball. Since you want to improve your loop, I would focus more on brushing.

How I learned was I would angle my paddle extremely closed (almost parallel to the floor) and try to loop balls on the table. You will find that if you don't put in enough effort to brush the ball, it will just go into the net. Make sure the path of your forehand swing matches with the angle of the racket. You want to slice the top of the ball. Hitting the ball while it's rising also helps because you can borrow spin and speed which deepens the feeling of the loop. Once you get the feeling, you can begin to step a little back and do the same thing. Only open your racket angle slightly when you have used all your power and brush but still can't make the ball on the table. This only works if you use at least 90% strength and focus on brushing hard. Don't cheat and open the paddle prematurely. Hurricane helps with this because it's tacky and holds the ball for dear life.

Of course, this isn't really practical in game unless you are looking to play early timing. Judging from your videos, you take the ball when it's falling. Once you are confident in your brushing, you can move on to looping with an open racket face. The paddle should be almost perpendicular to floor now. Use the same swing angle you would to loop the ball on the table but this time with the open racket face. You will find that if you don't brush the ball will just fly out because you are just smacking the ball. Once you can get the ball on the table, you would have mastered both looping and loop driving. Looping is brushing by rubbing the topsheet of the rubber. Loop driving is brushing by driving the ball into the topsheet and sponge.

actually this is how I was looping before and am trying to get away from this type of looping. I also don't think my problem is that I am not brushing. I am actually brushing too much and too scared to "hit" more instead. Right now I am practising to loop with a more open bat angle. It got much better over the last months. I also realize that I am missing the balls/ hitting the edge less.

 

[NextLevel]

Closest I was coaching "aggressively" was my little brother and yes I told him to change his equipment and that he fucks up himself more than I do by playing with primoarc carbon tc5000 ? and Tenergy rubbers when he had just 700RC. 2nd thing I would advise is practising serve return but thats easier for him than for me. I can do most serves with decent quality, spin, placement. I would be even happy having someone able to serve my serves against me atleast in terms of variety spin placement etc. But nope they usually have their main serve like tomahawk and just slightly variation. So after missing 1 or 2 times I basically have a 98% return success.


That's what I have been practising mostly. Actually almost always like this. Except lately I wanted them to play to my fh more (still mixing it to the bh). I also don't think my main problem is attacking after my serve. Sure it could be better still but the most points I give up is when the opponent serves. I am way more confident when I have the serve and even if I lose the point it's me getting an attacking chance atleast (and miss it). But I am happy with that outcome still.

Watching the videos I am more open to doing mistakes with my bh than with my fh. With my bh even if I overhit I still keep topspinning mostly unless I get no time and just react block it back. I even hit some good bh TS vs the female player where I won the bh rallys. But it's not the same with my fh even though technically I seem to be able to produce those shots in the training sessions.

Look at the "thicker" players in the 1 match video. He just slaps with his fh no matter if they land on the table or not. He just plays with the idc attitude which I need to learn still. And when I did a really good serve (half longish) he was still able to safely loop which I needed to kill but was too passive.

You are right in that I care too much about doing mistakes in matches and sadly other than slowing down my equipment I don't see a short and long term solution for now. I will give up some high quality balls for more consistency and more attacking mindset(atleast I hope it will turn into this).

No, the thicker player doesn't slap his forehand, he is big and strong so his spin is much heavier than yours, he doesn't need to put in special effort to get a quality ball. You need to understand what you are watching, even you have a higher quality ball than you realize you do, the problem is that you keep putting your game down rather than trying to find someone you can pay to develop it objectively and give you a system. These players just know what they are doing on every point far better than you do. Because you don't play at their level, you are surprised by the things they do. But once you get used to those things, you will start playing faster too.

In any case, go ahead and do what you want, but it is a bit annoying to continue to hear about how this or that is your issue when the bottom line is that you need to put yourself in a situation where you can train against better players if you want to improve faster. Your game is pretty complete other than maybe some over the table aspects, what you need to do is deploy the weapons and improve the placement and quality so that you can anticipate the opponent far better. But doing things like improving quality is harder when you don't have a quality opponent or coach pushing your level by showing you it still isn't good enough.

 

[NextLevel]

actually this is how I was looping before and am trying to get away from this type of looping. I also don't think my problem is that I am not brushing. I am actually brushing too much and too scared to "hit" more instead. Right now I am practising to loop with a more open bat angle. It got much better over the last months. I also realize that I am missing the balls/ hitting the edge less.

No, you are not brushing too much, not everyone has the same style or timing or approach to the game. Focus less on technique and focus more on what the ball quality is doing to the opponent out of a specific pattern and what shot you should have selected. Brushing and driving are situational choices based on training and power level, not a "one-size fits all" proposition. You might as a tall guy be starting the racket too low and finishing too high, but again, such adjustments are based on selecting shots against the incoming ball.

 

[Zezima]

The s backhand serves are mostly long. You will miss most of them initially when you attack them but you have to continue to attack them until you start making the attacks and force the opponent to serve short enough that you can push with quality . Adjusting to a ball is all about knowing where to start the racket, where to contact the ball, and where to finish the swing. Once one has accepted that a loss is on the table, you do what you have to do if your goal is to win. And sometimes, that involves swinging at balls you may never swing at comfortably or doing shots you hate doing even in practice and hoping they work. The instant I see someone is serving long and killing every push return, I force myself to topspin the serve, even if they will kill that as well.

This is a tip I have given you before: you always have to be aware of serve length when playing a player. Because pushing long serves with quality is incredibly difficult so it is better to give them as much time to come off the table and attack them, even if that costs you a couple of points. The converse of that is that pushing short serves with quality is relatively easy, so if you are making a lot of mistakes pushing shorter serves, the serves might be much longer than you think they are. That way you can take control of the point early.

On the camera, the lady's quality doesn't look special but she is very consistent so you will have to play multiple shots to beat her and that will help you a lot.

I actually cut out the ladys quality since she was demolishing me in the other sets. I only put the late 2nd set into the video and since noone would be interested to watch the entire match anyway. So I only picked out the part where I was somewhat in the game. Both first and 2nd set I was like 0 6 behind not understanding whats going on. Even the last and final set I lost 4-11 with her attacking every ball.

In the match I have no time to think about my stroke in detail. I don't have the ability to change my swingpath in little details. It's mostly full up when I take it very late. His serves would land half long or a bit long but never just fast long. The bigger problem was his backspin and his toopspin both with sidespin had the same pace so I just tried to flick somehow on the table and get into the rally. But I was also not allowed to hit to his bh. But by the nature of his serve it wants me to flick to his bh still... Skillissue.

I also seem to rush when I am going for the backhand flick especially and don't predict the balls trajectory right.

 

[Zezima]

I think your equipment still is a problem, but not as much as you think

Equipment is often 20-30% of the total package. It is still a lot in a sport where every point and detail matters. Specially because having a wrong feeling in your hand or playing with something that doesn't fit your playstyle, age, technique, level etc will make you lose points and undermine your confidence.

So the key is to find the equipment you feel confident with, and then forget about gear and focus on everything else.

You must trust yourself more

yes and I am only confident with d09c if I know what type of ball am getting and in matches I just don't so to compensate that I want a more forgiving rubber instead until I can work on reading the ball and trajectory better.

I do still think d09c fits my playstyle age and technique. I can fully use this rubber in drills but just not in matches. So I want to move to something that gives me more confidence