I'm coming back from a 10+ year lay off from table tennis. I currently use a Nittaku KVL Defensive blade with Nittaku Spiral rubber and am looking to replace it.
Some blades I'm considering are: Yasaka Sweden Classic, Yasaka Sweden Defensive, Tibhar Defense Plus, Tibhar Stratus Power Defense, Donic Defplay Senso V3, and Andro Timber 5 Def. As you can probably tell, I'm looking to be in that $45 - $60 range for the blade.
For the rubber, I truly have no idea what I should be looking for as far rubber is concerned. So many options from each company and I have no clue what characteristics I should be looking for to pair up with each blade.
Can anyone please give me some feedback on these defensive blades or maybe some blades I've overlooked? What should I be looking for when trying to pair up a suitable rubber for each of the blades?
About my game, I: play close to the table; use my backhand on every shot I can; pick up balls as soon as they hit the table and redirect the ball using my opponents pace while adding topspin of my own; I feel like I have little to no backswing on my backhand due to either blocking the ball or a quick upward motion to create topspin; use larger swings on higher balls or balls hit to my forehand; typically only use slice when I know it's going to help set up the point; my thought process is to keep the ball in play longer than my opponent, move the ball around the table, looking for an opening to find the empty table or hit a sharp angle; as far as rubber I like smooth, super 'grippy', and 'spinny'
My thoughts on my current paddle: I like the weight (a hair lighter might be nice) and feel of the paddle; I'm struggling with it (and improvements in these areas may come with time) on forehand topspin shots from big swings (missing the table by quite a bit) and "defensive" backhands when I try to put extra spin on the ball (these balls miss by 2-5 inches)
Again, any advice/thoughts/opinions/etc. you can give on the above blades and the rubber to match would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance and have a fantastic week!
TripleB
Some blades I'm considering are: Yasaka Sweden Classic, Yasaka Sweden Defensive, Tibhar Defense Plus, Tibhar Stratus Power Defense, Donic Defplay Senso V3, and Andro Timber 5 Def. As you can probably tell, I'm looking to be in that $45 - $60 range for the blade.
For the rubber, I truly have no idea what I should be looking for as far rubber is concerned. So many options from each company and I have no clue what characteristics I should be looking for to pair up with each blade.
Can anyone please give me some feedback on these defensive blades or maybe some blades I've overlooked? What should I be looking for when trying to pair up a suitable rubber for each of the blades?
About my game, I: play close to the table; use my backhand on every shot I can; pick up balls as soon as they hit the table and redirect the ball using my opponents pace while adding topspin of my own; I feel like I have little to no backswing on my backhand due to either blocking the ball or a quick upward motion to create topspin; use larger swings on higher balls or balls hit to my forehand; typically only use slice when I know it's going to help set up the point; my thought process is to keep the ball in play longer than my opponent, move the ball around the table, looking for an opening to find the empty table or hit a sharp angle; as far as rubber I like smooth, super 'grippy', and 'spinny'
My thoughts on my current paddle: I like the weight (a hair lighter might be nice) and feel of the paddle; I'm struggling with it (and improvements in these areas may come with time) on forehand topspin shots from big swings (missing the table by quite a bit) and "defensive" backhands when I try to put extra spin on the ball (these balls miss by 2-5 inches)
Again, any advice/thoughts/opinions/etc. you can give on the above blades and the rubber to match would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance and have a fantastic week!
TripleB
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