Search results

Not a blade maker, will likely never be a blade maker, not planning to be a blade maker, but I still read all that. I particularly sympathize with the "different thing being called same thing as other thing", I have to wade through a lot of that and finding the truth is always satisfying...

Beware that modern Hurricane 3 for the last few years is effectively not tacky, or at most hybrid levels of tacky. It's still a bit easier to play short and serve with than tensors, but the difference is small IMO.

You must glue the rubber with precisely 2.81 layers on the sponge and 2.917 on the blade, or it's going to be no good.

Well, if you instantly play better with the old blade, then maybe the new one's not for you? It should expand your capabilities in areas you felt were lacking. The general idea I've gathered is that if you train for 40h/week or more and play tournaments regularly, it'll take you 6 months to...

Your handle is missing the bevel, so I'm inclined to believe it's a fake based on my research from comparing Aliexpress fakes to genuine ones.

When I played a lot, I would play about 25 hours a week, and I used the same sheets of 729 Super FX for about 3 years straight with only minor noticeable wear. Right now I play single digit hours per week, so I pretty much only plan to change rubber when I feel like it, but I did need to swap...

Yep. Actual good players and coaches almost fully understand my situation just looking at me play and have given me entirely appropriate and reasonable advice. It's really not a complicated situation so people don't say that much, a lot of it comes down to "hit ball more, get back in shape"...

Gluing rubber on instead of using the blade as just a wood surface also changes the feeling. I wouldn't worry about it and just seal it unless your sponsor gives you 50 of them a year.

Another day of playing with casuals, another day of missing 30% power shots against weird balls. Ironically it's really hard to play in a more tempered way that still allows beginners to rally with you without just doing drives and blocks. Mostly all the balls are a bit shorter than I think...

It's one reason I went for it, I was disappointed in H3 tackiness. 729 FX was more tacky. I prefer the slight control over speed. Supposedly Battle 2 is not as tacky as it used to be either but is closer. Of course main reason is just to replace the what seems like rock hard years old rubber.

Really going all out with the EJ and also ordered a sheet of Battle 2 Provincial Blue Sponge 40/2.10 for the forehand to replace my several years oxidized H3N due to huge sales right now. I was really happy with how 729 FX Blue Sponge felt so hopefully this is that but better.

Weird players require consistency and a repeatable gameplan from you. Adding variables into the mix is the opposite of that IMO. You should probably just use the most performant setup that you're fully comfortable with.

Usually the tight spot is where the tendon meets the muscle, at that exact boundary. I've had to do a ton of scraping and pressure work on mine on various limbs and on my torso. Of course if you're talking about the center of the ball joint then it's something different and you'd probably need...

Not medical advice, but I have some experience personally: Rub your forearm muscles around, with some good power, and see if they are tender at any point. It shouldn't hurt even a little bit if you rub it and press load into it. If it does, you may have stiff muscles that need some work done.

Really bad day today, I needed more recovery, so my calves were on fire. Also missing a lot of shots barely grazing the ball or hitting the edge. Part of this might be due to mostly playing with beginners who I don't really want to kill the ball with, but I should still be able to perform...

Progress from this weekend: Regressing in strokes. :P Will need to drill a bit more and chase that feeling in games. Strokes are better when under very low pressure against very bad opponents. This will probably just improve automatically with time as I get more used to it again. My serves are...

I ended up going for Vega Europe DF which I will swap on later, but R7 Soft is definitely on my list too, maybe after this one.

To me it looks like there is more arc on the ball, so the quality has probably increased. Of course you can't really compare hitting into topspin with a human vs hitting into whatever that is with a robot, but it's not an easy change to make anyway. From here I think you might need a trainer to...

Probably about 185, and handle balanced. I don't particularly like it. 205g and more head balanced, CG maybe 40-45% up the rubber, is the best for me. EDIT: Highballed that, should be more like 170. No wonder it feels like air.

Not everyone needs to be in the men's top 50 rankings. There's a lot of things to do inbetween being an elite fulltime pro and a hobbyist, many of those things which still require advanced skills.