Better rubbers+blade won't make you better right?

I've been beaten by people with more expensive stuff.

I've also been beaten by people with cheaper stuff.

And vice versa.

I see not correlation.

Why don't you play a match using each other's equipment? Then he should win, right? Maybe he wants to make a small bet on it?

Brs said:

Why don't you play a match using each other's equipment? Then he should win, right? Maybe he wants to make a small bet on it?

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I agree with this. I just wouldn't use his racket. I would let him choose between my main and backup.

Winggie said:

Hi y'all. I have a friend that is convinced that a better racket wil make him better than me. I currently have on my FH the Andro R42 an BH Joola maxx 500. Idk which rubbers he has but if we play some games and loses, he says that it is because he don't have good rubbers. He says that he will be a lot better with a €150+ handle and Butterfly tenergy 05 on FH and 05Fx on BH vs me with my donic handle (€50 or something like that) Andro R42 an Joola Maxx 500. Do you guys have any experiences with people like this who think they will be better with better equipment?

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Yeah, if his racket is crappy and his rubber is dead, having new equipment that is faster and more sensitive to incoming spin will probably make it harder for him to hit the table. Many balls in the net against backspin and many balls going very long when he faces decent topspin.

So, bring a backup racket, give him the option to choose which one he wants to try, and see what happens when he has to use a racket with rubbers that grip.

And if it really was his racket, all he would need to do is buy a new racket. The fact that he is complaining shows that there is something going on that is more in his head. But this happens frequently. And it is not usually high level player who make complaints like that.

Before I got my current setup, I have had a premade Donic Shildkrot bat. It was not very spinny, and I couldn't lift backspin with it. One guy with tibhar genius rubbers and some joola blade in my club would beat me most of the time. After I got my current bat he has beat me only once in 2 months, we have probably played about 10 times.

There is one more guy that have had old worn out mxp on some very bad blade. He would beat me sometimes, I would beat him sometimes, we were pretty evenly matched. After he bouth new blade and rubbers he has been usually beating me since.

I should probably add that the guy in the first story started coming less, and me and the guy in the other story and me were at the club almost every day, also the guy from the other story has been training with coach at the other town after school 2 times a week, and in our place/village there is no coach. So there is not only about equipment but it does matter.

In my opinion, a better set-up definitely helps, but this will only apply based on your honed skills or playing style. I don't blame my losses because of my set-ups. It's usually because of how I missed my shots or made poor shot selection. Or how ready I am mentally and physically. I also believe that you can lose to yourself.

There are a lot of affordable set-ups out there that you can start with, based on how much you play and how much do you want to improve. If you are playing a lot, then only you can tell if your set-up is best for you, based on your skill level or what you want to achieve.

I think equipment does help but you need to use it properly and you can beat somebody with the most expensive combination. You could try to get a good affordable combination thats suits you playing style.Your equipment only plays a small part in your game.

I have seen a good player beat a mid level player with a tiny racket, a shoe, a cell phone, a block of wood.

I have seen a good player beat a mediocre player using a big lollipop.

Equipment is important if you are trying to learn the game. Equipment that helps you learn the technique to make spin contact. If you really know how to play, you can play with anything.

But someone who is complaining when they lose to you that the problem is their racket....that your racket is better than theirs....that person has a different kind of problem. And the problem is in their head. They want to be able to make that complaint. Otherwise they would simply get the racket they think will be good for them. But if they did, they would not be able to blame the loss on their equipment.

I have definitely taken a few people making that complaint and put a racket with good rubbers that grip in their hand and spun them off the table and made it clear that they had an easier time dealing with the spin with the crappy racket with the slippery rubbers. That is also why antispin makes it easier to return serves.

Of course equipment can make you better. A rubber without grip and a rubber with grip will very much effect your game. Also Hard to say better, if you change equipment to something that suit your style better of course you willbetter.

But i find it funny that alot of people Will use short cuts. Like i Do not want train But say What rubber i could change to so my forehand becomes better.

Equipment is important in our sport But it need to suit us answer Also need to have skills to use it.

I may have over-generalized it continuously when I explain the concept in many threads very often...

but…

Equipment can make a task easier or harder... can allow someone to play with more or less ball quality.

That has an effect just as Lula and many have said.


Considerations of equipment selection ought to be what class is APPROPRIATE for the most frequent things you do and what is important to you. That can be a wide range.

Maybe the ULTIMATE measure if equipment selection is optimal or close enough to that is how much more or less troublesome you are to the same opponents with enough sample size to make you confident.

Players who have played a while, know their skills, limit, and style.. can feel the ball and have a decent minimum understanding of equipment properties... these people can very quickly discern a change in a rubber of blade and what it does plus and minus.

I think the "better" word ought to replaced with "appropriate" equipment for what one does.

It is entirely possible to give a very appropriate bat to a developing player, and simply where that player is in terms of poor touch, poor judgement, poor balance, poor movement, poor command of strike zone, poor stroke, poor efficiency of whip, poor timing, poor grip, poor position... you get the idea, to such a play, any equipment isn't gunna do much right away.

Yet, with time, appropriate equipment supports a chunk of what I described above, or makes one more aware when one did not do right on it.

At my local club, I get asked all the time to evaluate a certain blade and rubber for a club member. The club member acquired it and wants to know if they did right.

Often, the player is an older adult who has played for years, but never really grew in TT (but I get the young 20s crowd doing this as well) shows me a used ZJK ALC with Tenergy used they got off a local dealer or club member or the internet.... often this kind of player is between 500 USATT and 1200 USATT California. That is not a level to strike fear of any average club player.

One side of me want to get all techie and give the real nitty gritty plus/minus of it all... but to such a class of player who has not developed much of the fundamentals, that very inappropriate bat described above, or even a very appropriate for development (your standard All to Off- blade and control class rubber)… even a very appropriate bat is not going to do much immediate help.

The help is hopefully, the player gets lessons or gets active and frequent observation and correction from someone who can quickly spot poor things and communicate... in this situation, that component and an appropriate bat can help that player out a lot.

Even so, even with an "inappropriate" bat, if the player gets effective coaching and is developing fundamentals, he or she could still grow with an inappropriate bat, so long as it isn't too wild, like say 2x LP for a developing topspin attacker.

I think of gear in a way that it only sets the spin/power ceiling, but it also has a skill and power requirements. If a really good player plays with a crap bat he still will get good quality shots, but it will handicap him. If a novice player plays with a rocket launcher, he will be handicapped the other way around. It is good to find a medium ground between crap and rocket launcher, that you are happy with. The equipment helps one to create spin and power, but it is only as good as the player. In Poland, we have a saying, a car is only as good as the thing that connects pedals and the steering wheel. I think its perfectly applicable here.