Recommendation for FH Rubber

It would be the immediate instinctive response of our equipment knowledgeable people to say "try this rubber, because..."

These kind of recommendations come from knowing that certain equipment allows a player to play certain shots easier or with more control.

A lot of recommenders usually do not take into account the context of a player's level, desire to improve, or overall future expectations for the sport personally.

So... having said that, I have two sets of recommendations for the OP based on two randomly selected situations.

Situation A: Player is at the lower levels of the sport where this class of player mostly pushes... and doesn't really want to grow much past this stage. This player wants equipment that makes it easier to do a certain thing... here, this is the push... and do it a little lower throw, a little faster

Recommendation for Situation A: get an overall mid firm control oriented rubber like Aurus, Vega Pro, Karis +, Sigma Euro... like it and enjoy tt the rest of your days in your level.

Situation B: Player wants to improve overall and continue improvement as much is practically possible.

Recommendation for Situation B: Get any control oriented rubber in preferred sponge softness/firmness that has the words "Competent Coaching 3x a week" in the name.

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In you case, then more power to you all the way have a blast enjoy it to the fullest.

I'm trying to get to where you are... enjoying tt at 70+... a got me a couple more decades to get there.

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You can take max thickness for more spin, speed and lower throw.
I use the yasaka sweden extra too and I like the tsp ventus spin which is a little bit harder or if you want, tsp ventus speed which is 45°. They are heavier but only 3-4g more (and nearly the same price)... You can't fine something lighter than vega europe xD

You could just go to max thickness for the Vega Europe on your FH.

Hard, light, good blocks, lower throw, fast.

Hard and light don't go hand in hand, sorry.

For everything else, any thoughts on short pips?

I stand behind Mr. Echte's suggestions of training, but if that's not possible, short or even long pips are an option and fun to play with.

shinhyun said:

You can take max thickness for more spin, speed and lower throw.
I use the yasaka sweden extra too and I like the tsp ventus spin which is a little bit harder or if you want, tsp ventus speed which is 45°. They are heavier but only 3-4g more (and nearly the same price)... You can't fine something lighter than vega europe xD

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I think OP's telling us he's not a FH looper, but a blocker and counterhitter instead. I'm with Der E. on this: you (A) either double down in accepting this as a reality, or (B) dig your teeth in and invest in widening your options substantially. And the way I see it, OP indicates B is not a realistic options. Option A it is, then.

Maybe this is outside the box too much, but wouldn't a short pips FH fit that style? It seems to work for Mattias Falck (né Karlsson).

This might sound wierd, but adding weight low in the handle area, like say grip tape will make a bat easier to swing.

One could take off blade handle pieces to add desired amount of weight, but often, just the g ett ip tape is enough to lower the balance point and make it easier to swing.

Like mentioned earlier, a firmer sponge is inherently heavier by a few grams, but there are enough around that are not total heavyweights.

Also, a firmer sponged rubber in a little thinner sponge is an option... like say 1.9 or 2.0 instead of max.

If pushing, hitting, and blocking are the main things getting done, a 1.9 or 2.0 version of the appropriate rubber will do those jobs just fine.

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russell said:

Would be glad of any recommendations for a forehand rubber which would be a good match for my Yasaka Sweden Extra blade and my BH Xiom Vega Europe. Looking to try something which is a bit harder but still relatively light. I currently have Xiom Vega Europe 2.0 on both sides but although I use a lot of spin on the BH I don't loop at all and most of my FH hitting has less spin than my BH. If I'm playing against loop, I always block. Although I like Vega Europe I'm looking to try something which is a little bit faster and slightly lower throw as my FH push is not as good as my BH and often with Vega Europe it pops up a bit high.

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Xiom Vega Europe is not a high throw rubber and your pushes pop up high not because of the throw characterics of the rubber.
Its because of the strong catapult, which is very well expressed with softer hits like pushes. If you try Xiom Vega Asia DF you will experience better control with pushes and they will go lower, although the Xiom Vega Asia DF has a higher throw angle. It is harder, faster and with less expressed catapult.