A curious question about DHS Hurricane 3 BS and OS.

[AmanooMan]

As we know, many top Chinese players use H3 Blue Sponge on their forehand and H3 Orange sponge on their backhand, and usually their forehand rubber is harder by at least 3 degrees (DHS scale). Then, here is the question:

To my knowledge, harder rubbers have higher top-end speed (I mean, if you hit very hard, you get higher speed compared to a soft version of the same rubber). So unless the difference in speed of H3 BS & H3 OS is very big, it would make sense for the harder H3 BS to have a higher top-end speed. If that's the case, then why do the players turn their rackets and use the softer H3 OS for high smashes? Shouldn't it have less speed when hitting hard?

 

[latej]

As we know, many top Chinese players use H3 Blue Sponge on their forehand and H3 Orange sponge on their backhand, and usually their forehand rubber is harder by at least 3 degrees (DHS scale). Then, here is the question:

To my knowledge, harder rubbers have higher top-end speed (I mean, if you hit very hard, you get higher speed compared to a soft version of the same rubber). So unless the difference in speed of H3 BS & H3 OS is very big, it would make sense for the harder H3 BS to have a higher top-end speed. If that's the case, then why do the players turn their rackets and use the softer H3 OS for high smashes? Shouldn't it have less speed when hitting hard?

It's like 2 types of hits, direct hit, or topspin hit... Both used with power... For the direct hit you prefer the softer sponge, it will tend to stay "direct"... But for the topspin with power you want harder sponge because it will not let you down, meaning letting down is it penetrates too much to the blade and will be too direct, too low...