Red on FH or BH and Black on FH or BH

GusShnaps · Dec 26, 2018

So, I have a simple question for you guys:

I'm curious to know...
What rubber color do you use on your backhand and forehand side?

I've noticed that most top players use Black on their FH and Red on their BH. I wonder why.

I use Red on FH Black on BH.

Lightzy · Dec 26, 2018

It doesn't matter.
There's some old superstition about chinese hard/tacky rubbers that the black topsheets are more tacky than the red ones but that's pretty much it. And it's not true in any case.

Der_Echte · Dec 26, 2018

I use whatever color I have handy given the rubbers I have or can source... no difference to me. I just have to make sure one rubber is black and one is red in color.

Dr Evil · Dec 26, 2018

Color doesn't matter to me either. I use the same rubber on both sides and try to switch forehand and backhand sides from one session to the next. This way I can change both rubbers at the same time even though my forehand wears down the rubber faster than my backhand. I also like to twiddle during matches just to confuse my opponent.

thekleifheit13 · Dec 26, 2018

I generally use the tackier rubber on my forehand (same rubber both sides) whether that's the black or the red. There's rumors that black is more tacky or that red is tougher to see the angle of, but I don't know how much truth there is to that.

Ioiettino · Dec 26, 2018

Dr Evil said:
I also like to twiddle during matches just to confuse my opponent.

Ahah, Jedi mind tricks.

I couldn't do that with mine because my rubbers do feel slightly different, but that is due to individual variations in manufacturing (most likely sponge thickness, I can't see any difference in topsheet behaviour). The few times I picked up my bat and started playing with the wrong side, I could tell right away and actually lost a point recently due to looking at it halfway through the point ("'the heck??").
So now I play holding my blade in reverse (branded logo indide my palm) as I like the spongier feeling of my black sheet on forehand more, not sure how much of a confusion this causes to my opponents...

Tony's Table Tennis · Dec 26, 2018

I use Black on my FH
as H3 Neo Blue sponge doesn't come in Red

I have played with orange sponge red and black H3 Neo, and I felt the topsheet of black is more tacky

yoass · Dec 26, 2018

I'm actually still grumpy about these rubber colour rules. Playing with a symmetrical blade (now) and the same rubbers, I actually would like them to be identical, so that I wouldn't even have to pay attention to the blade sides during gameplay. Rubber colour is just one more distraction I do not need.

Not only do I fondly remember my purple 729, a green Joola rubber I think Appelgren played with, a related blue rubber used by Waldner at some point; but I've also seen John Hilton play. Now his game probably formed one of the main motivations for these rules -- heavy twiddeling, footstamping and grunting when hitting the ball to mask the sound at impact, and so on.

When I saw him, the top players had caught on. Just a few months earlier, he had reduced Secrétin to a a bumbling fool at the table, and took the EU title, but this time he was utterly destroyed by all serious players, regardless of material. Wrecked, even though black and black.

Tony's Table Tennis · Dec 26, 2018

Those good old days

I had a video of Waldner on my FB page.
It just went viral again (even table tennis legend tours page shared it)
Those days where its still 38mm, and the game is about the player pushing him/herself to speed and spin.
and the magician himself made it look so simple

not this slowed down version today

here is the link

729B2 · Dec 26, 2018

For me i feel the black is a softer rubber to the red version because of the dye , for me black has a better burst speed and red is better for long distance and tackyness maybe black is more but who knows
but that is my 2 cents

suds79 · Dec 26, 2018

I don't think it probably means a whole lot of difference but I've been playing Black on FH for so long now, I can't go back. I know it's weird.

yogi_bear · Dec 26, 2018

For chinese rubbers it is always the black one that is softer and has more tack. In the case of sanwei target national red, i had a sheet that is super sticky compared to the black.

Ranger-man · Dec 26, 2018

I play single side penhold so technically I use the same color on FH and BH

Cornerer · Dec 27, 2018

yogi_bear said:
For chinese rubbers it is always the black one that is softer and has more tack. In the case of sanwei target national red, i had a sheet that is super sticky compared to the black.

I found some older Yinhe/Galaxy rubbers also have red rubbers tackier than black of same model. There was also LKT's "red diamond" and "black power" (red sheets named red diamond and vice versa) with red diamond one rated more spinny than black. But yeah generally black Chinese topsheets (especially DHS ones) are indeed more tacky and softer (more spin) and slower.

ESN rubbers also generally have black ones slightly softer, spinnier and slower than red, but difference is minimal in comparison to Chinese rubbers and probably not noticeable unless u have same rubber model on both sides and extra attention is paid to try figure out the difference.

Japanese rubbers tend to have red ones grippier than black (e.g. Butterfly and Yasaka, I would say Rakza X plays quite different in black and red), and i feel like that's the reason most Chinese pros uses Tenergies and Rakza X on their red backhands.

EDIT: to OP, I would say generally it does make sense to use black on FH (unless u use Japanese rubbers) due to how most players are generally more capable of brushing ball harder with FH, although most people probably just using black on forehand as they try to follow the pros' trend or they think it somehow looks cooler.

Wister · Dec 27, 2018

It's funny to see that most people actually use black FH here as in France we have most people that use a red FH, personally i'm even a bit surprised when i see a black FH. Also chinese tacky rubbers are not really well known so there is not the idea black = more tacky. (p.s : Just my experience, maybe it's different for in other places but i've been to several clubs)

langel · Dec 27, 2018

Here most players play with the red on the FH too. As I use same rubbers both sides, I change sides frequently just to keep them in equal shape. I do feel a subtle difference between the red and the black, the red being somewhat "sharper", can't say if this is due to dye, or thickness deviations, but as its always, I doubt its the thickness.

Dixy · Dec 27, 2018

langel said:
Here most players play with the red on the FH too. As I use same rubbers both sides, I change sides frequently just to keep them in equal shape. I do feel a subtle difference between the red and the black, the red being somewhat "sharper", can't say if this is due to dye, or thickness deviations, but as its always, I doubt its the thickness.

I always got the feeling red plays slightly quicker. I don't know if it's real or not?

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

langel · Dec 27, 2018

Dixy said:
I always got the feeling red plays slightly quicker. I don't know if it's real or not?

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

I bet its real, though not for all kind of rubbers, maybe.
I doubt that it could be felt with boosted rubbers, and I'm sure that it can't be felt with 4 - 8 layers of glue.

mart1nandersson · Dec 27, 2018

yoass said:
I'm actually still grumpy about these rubber colour rules. Playing with a symmetrical blade (now) and the same rubbers, I actually would like them to be identical, so that I wouldn't even have to pay attention to the blade sides during gameplay. Rubber colour is just one more distraction I do not need.

Not only do I fondly remember my purple 729, a green Joola rubber I think Appelgren played with, a related blue rubber used by Waldner at some point; but I've also seen John Hilton play. Now his game probably formed one of the main motivations for these rules -- heavy twiddeling, footstamping and grunting when hitting the ball to mask the sound at impact, and so on.

When I saw him, the top players had caught on. Just a few months earlier, he had reduced Secrétin to a a bumbling fool at the table, and took the EU title, but this time he was utterly destroyed by all serious players, regardless of material. Wrecked, even though black and black.

I believe that both J-O and Appelgren were sponsored by Banda already by the early 80ies. Red on both sides.

JST · Dec 27, 2018

mart1nandersson said:
I believe that both J-O and Appelgren were sponsored by Banda already by the early 80ies. Red on both sides.

Basically whole European top were playing with red on FH till Tenergy emerged in 2008 (including Boll, Samsonov, Schlager, Ovtcharov, Saive, Primorac, Stager...)

Red on FH or BH and Black on FH or BH

What rubber color do you use on each side?

Red on FH and Black on BH

Black on FH and Red on BH

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