Pro players that don't boost

Makelele · Feb 1, 2017

I' ve recently read the following Airoc's post in the " Samsonov equipment" thread: "... he - according to a pro player source - does not boost"

It came as a real surprise to me and I thought that this kind of information deserves a thread on its own ( just because I like gossiping about stuff like this

So, which pro players are not boosting besides Vladi?

Mizutani? Boll? William Henzell?

pgpg · Feb 1, 2017

Proving a negative is usually quite a challenge...

Makelele · Feb 1, 2017

A reliable source can convince the toughtest jury some times

Airoc · Feb 1, 2017

Makelele said:
A reliable source can convince the toughtest jury some times

True. But difficult to find. As you mentioned my post, I read the info on another forum where the player uses a pseudonym. Coincidentally, I know who it is but can´t say.

So while I consider the information correct, real proof looks different.

Timo Boll claims to play booster free, but then he also insists he plays with versions of tenergy you and I can buy, something even other Butterfly players find quite hilarious

ajtatosmano2 · Feb 1, 2017

Mizutani's backhand

Baal · Feb 2, 2017

Who knows for sure?

Shuki · Feb 2, 2017

samson dubina doesn't boost, and seemiller senior. saw seemiller open a sheet of tenergy, glue and cut. and then he gave his old sheet to a U18 player

ttpshot · Feb 2, 2017

I'm actualy very suspect of top women players in Japan. I often see many of them using non-tenergy rubbers with ripple on the surface and constantly pressing the racket on the table during the match.

Top high school(Sitennoji)'s sponsor buy rubbers directly from DHS so technicaly they might be factory boosted but yeah, it's a sad sight.

As for men, lots of them try boosting Chinese rubber but no one seems to be able to use them effectively and fall back on Tenergy(which they get for free) after while.

Airoc · Feb 2, 2017

Makelele said:
So, which pro players are not boosting besides Vladi?

Sabine Winter, now that I think of it.

With THAT forehand and a very loud sound a few years ago everyone suspected heaps of Booster, but girl was using standard Calibra Sound rubbers out of the retail package.

Now with quality selected andro rubbers. Which according to the voiceover in the video are of course the ONLY rubbers that enable you to do this

anchorschmidt · Feb 2, 2017

I would guess Timo Boll. Many pros avoid the question but Timo's insistence that he doesn't boost along with his record of playing fair even when it harmed his result greatly (2005) indicate to me that he most likely doesn't boost.

kirua18 · Feb 2, 2017

Samsonov, Mizutani, Boll and others use boost.

They don't boost by themself like chinese. But Butterfly, Tibhar and co, boost for them. Theirs rubbers are much faster than commercial versions.

At the end, same result.

suds79 · Feb 2, 2017

I just assume they all do and therefore are on a relatively even playing level.

... and even if they are not, the ITTF doesn't care about the players being on the the same level anyways. If so, everybody would have to play with the same rubbers. But we don't and I'm fine with it.

Shuki · Feb 2, 2017

suds79 said:
I just assume they all do and therefore are on a relatively even playing level.

... and even if they are not, the ITTF doesn't care about the players being on the the same level anyways. If so, everybody would have to play with the same rubbers. But we don't and I'm fine with it.

everyone using the same rubber wouldn't be on the same level. Not everyones style adheres to the same rubber. Making everyone use a rubber that one person is good at and the others weren't wouldn't be the same level

suds79 · Feb 2, 2017

Shuki said:
everyone using the same rubber wouldn't be on the same level. Not everyones style adheres to the same rubber. Making everyone use a rubber that one person is good at and the others weren't wouldn't be the same level

Well of course. People have different techniques. The difference would be in their skill with said equipment.

But if say an organization was concerned about trying to make everything as equal as possible, then same equipment would make the most sense.

However I think we'd all agree the variety is what makes TT interesting. So i'm glad they don't do that which kinda backs up my point that I don't really care if some players boost & some don't... I'd still be surprised by any pros that don't.

Makelele · Feb 2, 2017

Airoc said:
True. But difficult to find. As you mentioned my post, I read the info on another forum where the player uses a pseudonym. Coincidentally, I know who it is but can´t say.

I bet that it was on forum.tt-news.de
I wish I could read German, but unfortunately my knowledge of that language is limited to the names of a couple of foods

Brs · Feb 2, 2017

kirua18 said:
Samsonov, Mizutani, Boll and others use boost.

They don't boost by themself like chinese. But Butterfly, Tibhar and co, boost for them. Theirs rubbers are much faster than commercial versions.

At the end, same result.

This doesn't make sense to me. So you are saying Butterfly makes a boosted version of Tenergy for the Pros that they could sell to us suckers as a "National version" for maybe $200 a sheet, but they don't want the extra $$$$? Doesn't sound like the Butterfly I know.

kirua18 · Feb 3, 2017

Brs said:
This doesn't make sense to me. So you are saying Butterfly makes a boosted version of Tenergy for the Pros that they could sell to us suckers as a "National version" for maybe $200 a sheet, but they don't want the extra $$$$? Doesn't sound like the Butterfly I know.

Commercial versions of Tenergy, Calibra and others, are boosted, but not so much.

You can buy national versions of tenergy, hurricane or others wich are not boosted, but it's difficult to find them. Also, production of national versions is limited. It's more easier to produce commercial versions. Quality control of national versions is probably important.

Also, best professionals have special versions. They choose sponge degree. And they choose level of boost between a few versions.
They have skills to control it.

National versions + boost, will be too much faster for most of non professionals players.

ttpshot · Feb 3, 2017

I know if the engineers at Tamasu factory is told that there is "national versions" of Tenergy, they'd get really mad because they work tirelessly to increase the production yield and inconsistancy in quality.

I've been to the factory and seen sponsored players picking the rubber off the producion line. Rubbers that weren't chosen were packed in the cardboard box and shipped to the local TT shops. So if there's a naional version of Tenergy like you claim, some lucky guy in my local area gets to use one and maybe win a few matches with heavily boosted Tenergy.

Sponge degree is another matter and few players use them. Anyone can actualy order custom made rubber to Butterfly although it's only limited to non-tension rubber(eg. Sliver sheet and Tackifire sponge).

Takkyu_wa_inochi · Feb 3, 2017

ttpshot said:
I know if the engineers at Tamasu factory is told that there is "national versions" of Tenergy, they'd get really mad because they work tirelessly to increase the production yield and inconsistancy in quality.

I've been to the factory and seen sponsored players picking the rubber off the producion line. Rubbers that weren't chosen were packed in the cardboard box and shipped to the local TT shops. So if there's a naional version of Tenergy like you claim, some lucky guy in my local area gets to use one and maybe win a few matches with heavily boosted Tenergy.

Sponge degree is another matter and few players use them. Anyone can actualy order custom made rubber to Butterfly although it's only limited to non-tension rubber(eg. Sliver sheet and Tackifire sponge).

how come you came to the factory ?

Airoc · Feb 3, 2017

kirua18 said:
Quality control of national versions is probably important.

It´s essential. There´s no time to be wasted on sub-standard material if table tennis is your profession, because every minute of practice is work.

I disagree with the term "national" version on most rubbers - the German tensor rubbers have no official name because officially they don´t exist.

They are known as "selected" and are also widely called "Pro Player version" (as Tibhar now labels all Evolution rubbers).

National makes sense for Chinese rubbers, where between Commercial and National you may also get Provincial.

On tensors, it´s either shop version or pro/selected, while several "pro" versions may exist according to the preferences of the players.

Pro players that don't boost

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