Affordable first custom racket for ambitious new adult player

[Meatslurp]

Hello everyone!

After recently dipping my toes into the world of table tennis and really enjoying it, I'm now looking for a optimal setup to aid my development as I just started playing in a club 2 weeks ago. My goal is to play competitively as fast as possible. Hopefully within the next year or two.

I've done a bunch of research and tried some rackets by players I've met and this is the Idea I've got so far.

I want something with maximum control and spin so I can develop as much feel for the ball and all the basic strokes as possible. I like the Chinese way of playing and I don't mind generating most of the energy myself if it forces me to develop clean strokes and how to use my whole body to generate force. I'm in my early 20s and quite athletic. I'm working seriously and with great focus and the other players are telling me that I'm making great progress and now that I'm getting to working on spinning the ball more, the 7 year old, borrowed, Butterfly prebuilt I have doesn't give me the feeling that I want.

I haven't played enough to really know my playstyle yet and I'm not too worried about winning games. Leaning slightly towards controlled offence, although I know that doesn't mean much in the early days.

So I though about a basic all-round blade like a Stiga all-round classic and all the other usual suspects that are recommended for beginners.

Then I found a great offer for a TSP Swat (30€) it's a 7 ply and maybe a bit stiffer then what I was looking for, but I'm planning to pair it with slow chinese rubbers, so I though that might actually be nice to balance them out a bit.
For rubbers I'm thinking about Friendship/ Super FX 726. 2mm Both FH and BH. Said to be hard to use but great to learn the basics on.

The blade seems like something that I can use for a long time if I later put on some more aggressive or boosted rubbers.
The rubbers I see as a cheap way to see how it feels to play with proper equipment, figure out what I want out of my racket and develop good technique, feel and spin with a slower rubber.

That being said I have tried the speedier rackets of friends and even with one of them using max. Tenergie 05 (don't know the blade, but he said it was a stong attacker) I don't have that much of a problem keeping the ball on the table. So maybe something with at least a tiny bit more speed like the Sanwei Targer National or DHS NEO Hurricane 3 would be ok? I just really don't want my technique to suffer for it.

So what do you guys think? Other suggestions for a control/development focused build are of course also welcome.

 

[Michael Zhuang]

Sanwei Target, DHS Hurricane 3, or Friendship Battle 2 are all very good choices for ultra spinny, dense, slower rubbers.

If you want a faster rubber but still spinny, Yinhe Jupiter 3, Yinhe Big Dipper, or Friendship Bloom Power are good choices.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Hello everyone!

That being said I have tried the speedier rackets of friends and even with one of them using max. Tenergie 05 (don't know the blade, but he said it was a stong attacker) I don't have that much of a problem keeping the ball on the table.

Did you play matches with it where you were trying to return serves with varying spin? Or trying to loop backspin? Or trying to return a heavy, heavy loop?

Because, if you had no trouble keeping the ball in the table in the scenarios listed above, then get whatever you want.

But, if you had no trouble keeping the ball on the table when the ball was fed to you with consistent, moderate topspin so you could do what you want with the ball, and you were not trying to figure out where the ball was going and what spin was on the ball, then that kind of hitting won't really tell you if you are having any trouble keeping the ball on the table.

If it is the second scenario, you would do well to see if you can convince one of those players with a blade like the one described above with T05 on it to let you play a match against someone who is a tiny bit better than you so you can see how you play with it against someone who knows ways to mess you up and cause you to make mistakes. If the setup works in that scenario, then you are in the right ballpark and should get something similar.

 

[jk1980]

If you want to get something controlled that can last you a long time then you can not go wrong with the yasaka Sweden extra. It is inexpensive and can be used for years to come even if you promote to higher leagues.
If you are adamant that you want to play something very good and not so inexpensive but still controlled you can get yourself an Nittaku Violin. It is 100 bucks more expensive than the yasaka blade and a real high quality blades that provides the most feel that you can get.

Gesendet von meinem SM-G998B mit Tapatalk

 

[damszelfly]

I agree on TSP SWAT is being a good foundation for progressing with the skills. However, I think, if you use only one configuration, that won't tell you too much about the "best possible" racket.
I would get one or two more spare blade to make experiments with them as well.

Regarding rubbers, DHS Hurricane 3 Neo is a very popular choice, because it has higher throw angle, than many other Chinese rubbers (arcs are hit with good safety), and while it is very good for short play, it has great dynamics as well. It is already suitable for intermediate players, but you can grow with it very much.
If you really want to dig deeper in Chinese style play, I can also suggest DHS TG2 Neo, which has noticeably lower throw, so it plays more directly with smaller hit window (thus, much more sensitive to the vertical posture of the player i.e. knees properly bent), but it can be very fast an spinny, so it has good penetration.
From Sanwei, I can recommend Target Pro 3 (2022 version with shiny red wrapping), which has a dense, but very tacky and elastic rubber topsheet, and it has a dense sponge with unusually high dynamics - this is certainly a beast to master (some kind of higher risk, higher reward), so be aware of it.

 

[tabletennisdaily1]

Get palio 2 star or 3 star for $13 from AliExpress, shipped to your door in 1 month. cj8000 is great beginner rubber ,I really like the blade to. Comes with a nice case too!

If you want the hassle, err fun, of gluing your own setup, get 7 ply wood blade (sanwei fextra $20, pg-7 $20 etc) and hybrid rubber like big dipper $15 for forehand with soft hybrid or tensor like for backhand.

 

[davizoosk]

I think the best option for begginers in general is a flexible 5ply blade like Sanwei M8, a tacky rubber on forehand for example DHS Hurricane 3 NEO 40deg and a soft rubber with a nice control on backhand like Palio AK47 Blue. Much begginers in my club use combos like this one. One much used too is Sanwei M8, Yinhe Mercury 2 Medium on FH and Soft on BH.

When i was assistant coach at my club practices, one member talked to me and said he purchased two Hurricane 3 41deg on a Sanwei CC and his evolution was surreal.

Combos with more control especially on the first year of training have a high tax of success (on the cases i have see)

 

[davizoosk]

Get palio 2 star or 3 star for $13 from AliExpress, shipped to your door in 1 month. cj8000 is great beginner rubber ,I really like the blade to. Comes with a nice case too!

If you want the hassle, err fun, of gluing your own setup, get 7 ply wood blade (sanwei fextra $20, pg-7 $20 etc) and hybrid rubber like big dipper $15 for forehand with soft hybrid or tensor like for backhand.

I still use my Palio 2 Star case after 2 years i purchased this racket

 

[Louisgenius]

My suggestions:
Sanwei flextra blade, 7ply all wood blade, $35 ish dollars
Hurricane 3 fh, slow and spinny, $30 ish
xiom Vega intro bh, decent speed and control, $30 ish

 

[Dominikk85]

Most coaches in germany (where you seem to be from) seem to suggest slower tensor style rubbers like vega intro on a 5 ply wood.
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Not saying you can't start with chinese rubbers, chinese players do it too but they also tend to start at a very early age, probably not many adult beginners in China.
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[Brs]

TSP swat is a quality blade and that's a great price. You can always change later if you want.

Maybe get the 729 FX for one side and a euro rubber on the other side? The Vega intro is much more than the 729, but it's not an expensive rubber.

That way you get to try both kinds right away. And you may not want a chinese rubber on your backhand. Rubbers wear out and will get replaced anyway, so if you like one of them better for both sides you just buy 2x that one next time.

 

[Der_Echte]

Find a local EJ and but him a rack of Erdinger in exchange for a reject bat with rubbers and call it a day.

Chances are, that EJ was not gunna use it much, prolly has low usage, and prolly better for you than him.

 

[jk1980]

Being an EJ i offered two blades to Meatslurp and perhaps the others like to chime in if they think it is worth the price and if they think it is appropriate.

1> Pongfiniti Sensei (7ply wood) racket with Rubbers changed to Tibhar Aurus Select (1.9mm) and Andro Hexer Duro (1.8mm i think) for 60€
2> Nittaku Acoustic (5ply wood) blade with rubbers Nittaku FastArc G-1 in (2.0mm) and Nittaku Factive (2.0mm) for 100€

All Rubbers have not seen more action than probably 2 weeks (if at all).

I would only sell these that cheap, since i would only need to send it nationally.

What do you guys think ? Are these good combinations for a beginner like him ? The common sense about the first option is that the wood as (the original rubbers) were something rebranded which was originally manufactured by Tibhar(/ESN), so they should have decent quality.

 

[3dnanjan]

i have the same question tbh, i have played before but not in a professional manner, and i failed the game and hated everything because i was fed wrong information's and bought a very hard paddle to play with,

i played with Tenergy 64 both sides and i remember my blade something so freaking fast from butterfly, it was all wood and super heavy and fast, i was not able to keep a single ball on the table,

I'm thinking of returning now that i see a nice club near my house where i can train, but i really don't know what to buy for more control and better feeling of the game,

for me i can rally for 10 sweeps at max (not sure if its considered rally xD) and I'm still trying to figure out how to top spin balls correctly,

i found this amazing combo online that has a good offer too, Yasaka Mark V 2.0mm (both sides) with Donic Perrson power play 7 ply wood

can you guys tell me if its a good combo to start with and learn the game properly

 

[Lazer]

I don’t know much about that blade but I would have preferred a 5 ply all wood All blade but Mark V is excellent.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[3dnanjan]

can you recommend a blade for with those two rubbers? and i'm sorry the rubbers i ment were Yasaka Mark V GPS 2.0mm

 

[Lazer]

I just checked the ratings for that blade it’s alright not too fast. If You like Donic Appelgren all play is an excellent blade to begin with. Let me check the rubber too.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Lazer]

I checked the Mark V GPS, It’s a softer slower version of standard Mark V. Then I think keeping Your Persson powerplay will not be a problem. You can use that combo Persson powerplay + Mark V GPS. Your natural rubber upgrade progression would be. Mark V GPS -> Mark V -> Mark V HPS -> Rakza 7 -> Rakza X. Feel free to skip a step or two 😉


Cheers
L-zr

 

[3dnanjan]

thanks alot,

i'm gonna take a picture of this info for sure and use it later

cheers and thank you for your time

 

[Lazer]

thanks alot,

i'm gonna take a picture of this info for sure and use it later

cheers and thank you for your time

One thing, A soft rubber normally produce a lower throw angle than a hard rubber. This means that you will have some adjustments to do when You later change to a harder rubber. It can be a bit frustrating at the beginning but You should get adjusted in a couple of days.

Cheers
L-zr