The 10 best forehand rubbers

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In general, I think the best forehand rubbers are hard sponged and can "eat" the ball. For example, Tenergy 05 is a good FH rubber but Tenergy 64 is more suited to BH (in my opinion) due to the pimple structure. Although the sponge is the same hardness, the pimple structure of T64 makes it harder to really dig the ball into the sponge. T64 is more bouncy and speedy because of this, I think it is more suited to backhand. I hope that helps
 
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says Spin and more spin.
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Top 10 most beautiful women in the world. Top 10 FH rubbers. We like to do things like this to ourselves. It causes people to come up with opinions: "I agree." "I disagree." But the truth is, there is no such thing. There are lots of good rubbers. But there is no real, "this is the best, this is the second best....etc."

A rubber that is good for one person, may not be as good for another person.

So, wanting to know what is the best, or even, what are the 10 best, kind of shows that a person doesn't quite understand the uniqueness of human beings and how what a person does and does not do well will play a large roll in what equipment might be useful to that player's game. As the player develops and improves, what works best for him will likely change as well.

And, for sure, putting a Viscaria with H3 and T05 in the hands of a brand new player, will likely be the worst possible setup in the world for that brand new players. :) Whereas, for a player with fairly refined technique, and an offensive style of play, that may be an excellent setup. :)
 
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says Spin and more spin.
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By the way, I have seen lots of "10 hottest women of _______ (fill in the blank)."

I teach yoga and work with an average of about 300 clients a week. 95% of them are women. 50% of the women are smoking hot. 25% of those are way way way way hotter than any woman I have ever seen in a 10 hottest anything video.

I have had Victoria Secret models and famous actresses in my classes who end up in those 10 hottest ______ videos who are not even close to half as hot as some of the women I have come to know from teaching over the years. (Although some of the famous people were really very nice in person).

Maybe there are not as many rubbers as women. But there are a lot of rubbers. And what would be good for one person is not always good for another person. I just read a comment from a very good player who said Tenergy was too fast for him. :)

The question of what rubber is good is beside the point. The question that people should be asking is, "What rubber will be good for me and for how I play."
 
says Spin and more spin.
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So.... The takeaway from this tread is that we should all sign up for UpSideDownCarl's yoga classes ASAP.

Guys often feel awkward being the novice in a group of women. But I have told lots of friends how often many of the women in my classes like to take care of the awkward guys who look like brand new beginners. [emoji2]

But, when you are surrounded by this, my job can be much more trouble than it is worth.


Sent from my NSA SpyPhone from Sector 13D-SR13Z74 Sub Level 29X Fort Meade, Maryland
 
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says Spin and more spin.
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It is worth trying lots of things. It is worth it, when you play or train with someone to spend a few minutes hitting with their setup. Seeing how different things work. But it is interesting how, a lot of players at the higher end of mid level, closer to elite amateur level or semi pro level, realize that a rubber like Tenergy can be too much for them to handle and therefore use things that have a touch more control.

Most of those players would be best off with Tenergy if the whole game was mid-distance looping. But for short game and closer to the table looping they are better off with something a hair toned down from Tenergy. And therefore, their game skills and winning percentage goes up with a rubber with slightly less fire power.

Every TT company has middle of the road control tensor type rubbers. All of them are pretty good. Most likely any of them would be good for most players on this forum. But we all have slightly different needs. So something that would be among the best rubbers for one person would not be for someone else.
 
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It is worth trying lots of things. It is worth it, when you play or train with someone to spend a few minutes hitting with their setup. Seeing how different things work. But it is interesting how, a lot of players at the higher end of mid level, closer to elite amateur level or semi pro level, realize that a rubber like Tenergy can be too much for them to handle and therefore use things that have a touch more control.

Most of those players would be best off with Tenergy if the whole game was mid-distance looping. But for short game and closer to the table looping they are better off with something a hair toned down from Tenergy. And therefore, their game skills and winning percentage goes up with a rubber with slightly less fire power.

Every TT company has middle of the road control tensor type rubbers. All of them are pretty good. Most likely any of them would be good for most players on this forum. But we all have slightly different needs. So something that would be among the best rubbers for one person would not be for someone else.


I was at a camp recently with a high level coach and he used a TBS with H3 forehand (boosted at one time, but since he coaches, he doesn't really care) and some T05 (probably old as well) on the backhand. When I grabbed his racket for blocking during one drill, I just remembered why I don't use stuff like that - the ball just kept flying off once he did a decent loop. People can block with that ALC blade and T05 rubber, I just don't happen to be one of them. Wood and ancient ESN rubber is more my kind of thing.

The coach actually agreed with my choice of equipment. He said that everyone wants to play with fast rubber because it feels good when practicing loops and you can see the ball fly, but in most matches, no one is losing because their loops are too slow, people are usually losing because their pushes and flicks are too long or they can't control the ball at 9-9 in the 5th. It's one thing if you are practicing every day like a pro and using fast equipment. It's very different when you play a lot but mostly when you can like myself. I just want something that when I spin the ball, it stays somewhere on the table and when I push the ball, it doesn't pop up when it touches my racket so I can have a chance to dig into the ball a little to add spin. I can't go to the point of tacky rubber anymore because the ball release messes up my blocking and I can't move as well as I used to, but definitely not Tenergy, where the ball is gone before I feel I had a chance to control it. Maybe T05H or Dignics would fix that, but I am not spending $100 on a rubber when I can get 4 rubbers for $120.

As for the original question on best forehand rubber, there is an argument that a forehand stroke is generally faster and harder than a backhand stroke so it is easier to use harder rubbers on the forehand. But I have explained a million times that such generalizations get people into trouble because table tennis is a very specific and subjective sport. My backhand is usually powerful enough to use what my forehand does, and I have improved my forehand a lot, but not to the point where I feel the gap to my backhand justifies a different hardness of rubber. And I know people who prefer to use softer rubber on the forehand and harder rubber on the backhand for some reason. They must have missed the memo.

And even amongst pros, Emmanuel Lebesson is still one of my idols. He is an unabashed 5 ply, soft sponge user on both sides with Tibhar FX-P and his namesake blade. He also has one of the best and most powerful forehands in the world, which you can easily see if you watch a match or two of his.

So when people talk about forehand or backhand rubber, it is better to ignore them and know what you do with your forehand or backhand and then find out about a rubber that suits that given your feeling.
 
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Out of curiosity and perspective, what ARE you using now NL?
 
says Spin and more spin.
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I was at a camp recently with a high level coach and he used a TBS with H3 forehand (boosted at one time, but since he coaches, he doesn't really care) and some T05 (probably old as well) on the backhand. When I grabbed his racket for blocking during one drill, I just remembered why I don't use stuff like that - the ball just kept flying off once he did a decent loop. People can block with that ALC blade and T05 rubber, I just don't happen to be one of them. Wood and ancient ESN rubber is more my kind of thing.

The coach actually agreed with my choice of equipment. He said that everyone wants to play with fast rubber because it feels good when practicing loops and you can see the ball fly, but in most matches, no one is losing because their loops are too slow, people are usually losing because their pushes and flicks are too long or they can't control the ball at 9-9 in the 5th. It's one thing if you are practicing every day like a pro and using fast equipment. It's very different when you play a lot but mostly when you can like myself. I just want something that when I spin the ball, it stays somewhere on the table and when I push the ball, it doesn't pop up when it touches my racket so I can have a chance to dig into the ball a little to add spin. I can't go to the point of tacky rubber anymore because the ball release messes up my blocking and I can't move as well as I used to, but definitely not Tenergy, where the ball is gone before I feel I had a chance to control it. Maybe T05H or Dignics would fix that, but I am not spending $100 on a rubber when I can get 4 rubbers for $120.

As for the original question on best forehand rubber, there is an argument that a forehand stroke is generally faster and harder than a backhand stroke so it is easier to use harder rubbers on the forehand. But I have explained a million times that such generalizations get people into trouble because table tennis is a very specific and subjective sport. My backhand is usually powerful enough to use what my forehand does, and I have improved my forehand a lot, but not to the point where I feel the gap to my backhand justifies a different hardness of rubber. And I know people who prefer to use softer rubber on the forehand and harder rubber on the backhand for some reason. They must have missed the memo.

And even amongst pros, Emmanuel Lebesson is still one of my idols. He is an unabashed 5 ply, soft sponge user on both sides with Tibhar FX-P and his namesake blade. He also has one of the best and most powerful forehands in the world, which you can easily see if you watch a match or two of his.

So when people talk about forehand or backhand rubber, it is better to ignore them and know what you do with your forehand or backhand and then find out about a rubber that suits that given your feeling.

Great post.

Yep. There are good rubbers. There are lots of good rubbers. I can't think of any that are good for BH and not good for FH.

I can think of a few rubbers I am okay with for FH but don't like for BH. But I can still use them just fine for BH. And there are only a few in that category. The rest, I can use on either wing indiscriminately. There is no such thing as a BH rubber and there is no such thing as an FH rubbers. There are rubbers. And you can use them on either wing.

And most people on this forum would probably be better served with the same rubber on both sides.

Matching what your needs are to a rubber that can do most of what you need from it is all you should be worrying about. Throw away the false idea of FH rubbers and BH rubbers. It just makes people confused and think they need to get different things for each wing when so often they don't.
 
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@NL

"but in most matches, no one is losing because their loops are too slow, people are usually losing because their pushes and flicks are too long or they can't control the ball at 9-9 in the 5th"
Maybe people spend way more time practising their loops than their pushes, because its more fun... and its got nothing to do with the rubber

As for me my BH rubber is HARDER than my FH rubber. Actually its one of the HARDEST rubber available. But I practice a lot, and i've struggled indeed to find my BH loop and drive, but now its ok. I like the extra-spin on my BH side. I think the hard sponge makes it a great rubber for active blocking / counter , and for serving.

Only for flat-hitting or when starting to step away from the table, i believe Tenergy is superior but it doesn't really matter for my style.

So, yes, the rule for having a softer rubber on BH side maybe suits most, but its not an absolute rule.
 
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