Search results

Stiga Mantra is good, once the boost wears off. Unwrap it and leave it in open air for a month. Yasaka Mark V is always good, with incredible control. Better than Sriver in my opinion. It's like Rakza 7, but more grip and less catapult. Hurricane 3-50 is softer than Hurricane 3. Personally...

That's my perspective, and it's the perspective of a lot of Chinese coaches who typically recommend that beginners use hard or medium-hard rubber without catapult. But you need proper technique and strength (getting power from the legs, using the whole body, engaging the sponge, etc) in order to...

I tried Degu also and thought it had a weird mix of soft sponge and lack of grip. It seems to me that most short pips follow one of two formats: (1) If you use a soft sponge, it should be because you want to grip the ball and create your own spin, like inverted rubber, so it makes sense to add...

On some level, you have to play with advanced rubber in order to develop the skills that you need to use it. If you keep playing with beginner-tier rubbers like Vega Europe you won't learn the skills you need to play quickly and precisely. I think G1 or Rakza X should be a good choice for you...

Yeah, follows from some basic geometry. But with the racket turned down, (some say) you can control heavy topspin better than with an open racket. There is also some variability in how you hit the ball -- if you use a high-throw rubber you are more likely to hit the ball coming from above it...

I have this blade and like it a lot. Skyline 2 FH and Hurricane 8 BH. Huieson did a great job with this one. I've never tried the Stuor blade they're cloning, but Huieson also makes a Viscaria clone which I cannot tell apart from a real Viscaria.

Rakza X is a little more advanced than Rakza 7. A bit faster, a bit spinnier, a bit harder. Rakza X is more difficult to control, but allows more precision when the player is skilled enough. Rakza 7 is a good rubber for beginners, and one can play with it as a beginner or intermediate player...

I think that the soft sponge is primarily responsible for your lack of precise placement. Soft sponges will produce a consistent shot, but it is hard to be precise with them. They are error-tolerant, meaning that they will adjust to small inconsistencies in your stroke, meaning that it is...

Falco Tempo Long works well for consistent performance. If not, 802-40 38deg with no booster works fine, it'll just have a bit more pips effect than the soft sponge version.

I'd recommend 802-40, it's a good transition from inverted rubber. Going immediately to a knuckleball pips will be very confusing. Spinfire is actually the closest thing you can find to inverted rubber. But Spinfire is very expensive, and honestly it doesn't really play like pips at all -- it's...

Yasaka Extra Offensive, used by Ma Lin and subsequently known as Ma Lin Extra Offensive. It's the best available blade for penholders, in my opinion. Ma Lin Soft Carbon is fine. My brother has one and he let me use it. Not a bad blade but it's completely different from the Ma Lin Extra...

YEO actually has a lot of flex -- more than pretty much any other blade I've tried. What you may not like is that it's very hard. There is a distinction to be made between hardness and stiffness. YEO is very hard but not stiff, and Clipper is very stiff (doesn't flex) but not hard (the surface...

I have a Garaydia Revolver, it's alright. I'll sell it to you for pretty cheap if you want, actually. It's slower than 1-ply but definitely still an OFF blade. You can put sticky Chinese rubbers on it to slow it down a bit. Garaydia Revolver will work well for you if you curl your fingers on...

Yeah, you make a good point actually. Pendulum serve from the forehand side to your opponent's forehand side is maybe not the best tactic -- it's somewhat extreme in that it presents a good opportunity for your opponent to counterspin. It does usually put the ball to your backhand, though. I'm...

Outer hardwood blades have the same kind of "pop" as carbon blades, but with more feeling and control. Ma Lin Extra Offensive is a good one. Neottec Voodoo Classic is pretty similar to Korbel, but a bit slower.

I use hot glue. If you want to remove it, just heat it up a bit with the tip of a glue gun or a hairdryer.

Former jpen player here, and I've been on this search before. Yinhe makes some multi-ply jpen blades and you can put rubber on the back of them. Yinhe 981, 983, and 985 are various multi-ply jpen blades with the traditional rectangular shape. Yinhe 987 is a multi-ply blade with a jpen handle...

The basic one is: Pendulum serve side-top or side-under from the forehand side of the table --> ball comes to your backhand --> you put it away cross-court. Serve should either be to wide forehand or to the middle -- don't make it easy to attack. Vary the serve by going down the line sometimes...

Boosting will make Hurricane 3 behave more like D09c. Skyline 2 is also a good option. They'll retain the tackiness longer than D09c. It's not super hard to learn how to boost, it's basically just an extra step in between layers of glue. I like Falco Tempo Long and Haifu Seamoon Black. Try Falco...

Try buying Hurricane 3 instead