Describe your very first feeling after playing with Tenergy

[zeio]

This cash grab costs more than 2 pieces of Sriver? My glued Sriver blows it out of the water!

(Only came over to reference old posts and ran into this thread but to my surprise no one has said the above. Making an exception here.)

Here is the backdrop. Tenergy was released in 2008/4/21 in Japan, 5 months before the formal implementation of "VOC-free policy (no glue ban)" on 2008/9/1 as Adham Sharara put it. However, adoption was slow as a snail. People were still snif...ahem...gluing like there was no tomorrow. It sounds crazy now but the status quo back then was that Sriver(1967) and Bryce(1997) still ruled the day in grippy rubber, and H2/H3(2000) and TG2/TG3(2006) in tacky rubber.

(Sriver was 41 years old at that point, "born" at the height of the Vietnam War and the dawn of the Cultural Revolution, two of the most significant events in human history! When I bought my first sheets of Sriver and Mark V, they had already been around for over 30 years, which was used as a selling point by Butterfly and Yasaka.)

It wasn't until the glue ban went into effect after Beijing 2008 that people started seriously migrating and adapting to water-based glue, along with a toxic dose of panicking and cursing. I remember trying Tenergy for the first time in 2009 and the sensation of "ball hold" felt disorienting at first. The feel was totally remote from a glued Sriver or Bryce. It was weird AF. The illusion of lag (ball-in-ball-out) on every shot felt like I was playing long pips that were disguising as anti, but with loads of speed and spin.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/new-butterfly-rubber-dignics-05-2019.19938/post-275522

Bryce was a breakthrough in topsheet, whereas Tenergy was a breakthrough in sponge.

Due to the glue ban, the impact of Tenergy was far more widespread than that of Bryce. After years of dependence, people suffered speed-glue withdrawal. I remember a club mate claiming he forgot how to play without speed glue. That's how bad people craved for that "high" feel. Spring Sponge filled that void with its unique "sucking the ball" feel.

What's so special about Tenergy? The topsheet of Tenergy was essentially an incremental upgrade on Bryce, but the Spring Sponge was a game changer because it literally scared the shit out of many table tennis fans with big-ass holes like those seen in Swiss cheese.

EJs won't even flinch nowadays, but it was unheard of back then. Holes this big were seen in kitchen sponge only, which has an open-cell structure for maximum absorption, as opposed to the closed-cell structure for maximum resilience in table tennis rubber.

Manufacturing closed-cell rubber with big holes proved to be a challenge because of shrinkage. They shrink much more than traditional sponge as the trapped air within all these "bubbles" escape. Butterfly went through a lot of trouble getting it to stabilize.

The best ESN offerings back then were Tibhar Sinus series, Donic Coppa JO Gold/Silver/Platin (the last one being total junk), Andro Plasma series and Roxon series etc. To keep it short, ESN Tensor was known for speed and sound, the Donic Desto F1 being the prime example. Durability was NOT in ESN's dictionary, as Tensor fared the worst among Chinese, Japanese and German rubbers. As soon as you mention German rubbers, people would get the impression that they were fast, loud and transient like a shooting star.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/esn-generation.17635/post-229798

Without boring you with the messy history of ESN rubbers, the wave that has become known for its spin quality and helped ESN reshape the impression of Tensor(good for speed only), is widely regarded as the 4th-generation(Andro's description for Hexer), 4G in short.

The year was late 2009. Andro Hexer, Donic Baracuda and Tibhar Genius were among the 1st wave, closely followed by Joola Xplode, Nittaku Fastarc G1, Xiom Vega Pro, Yasaka Rakza 7 and others. They are easy to spot. Simply look for the porous sponge, which is an imitation of Tenergy spring sponge.

According to Xiom China in 2017, Tensor is already up to 7G.

 

[TensorBackhand]

So what was the standard backhand rubber at the 2008 Olympics? What were the likes of Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao using on their backhand (I assume speed glued)?

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

So what was the standard backhand rubber at the 2008 Olympics? What were the likes of Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao using on their backhand (I assume speed glued)?

I think Ma Lin was using Bryce FX, Wang Hao was using Sriver and Wang LiQin was using Nittaku Hammond (similar vein to Bryce).

 

[TensorBackhand]

I guess people were not so impressed by Tenergy back in 2008 because they were so used to speed glue.

Because otherwise, the jump between unglued Sriver/Bryce to Tenergy is enormous, completely different galaxies. I guess everybody in 2008 was speed gluing, so those old rubbers were still competitive.

 

[zeio]

They were playing Japanese rubbers.

IIRC,
WLQ was playing Nittaku Hammond Pro (not sure if Alpha or Beta);
MLin was playing Bryce (switching between that and Bryce FX);
WH was playing Sriver topsheet with Bryce sponge.

Check out the pics.

世界各國國手乒器展覽館 World Famous Table Tennis Player's Equipment Exhibition

fotop.net provide easy to use and feature rich online photo sharing service.

www.fotop.net

 

[TensorBackhand]

They were playing Japanese rubbers.

IIRC,
WLQ was playing Nittaku Hammond Pro (not sure if Alpha or Beta);
MLin was playing Bryce;
WH was playing Sriver topsheet with Bryce sponge.

Check out the pics.

世界各國國手乒器展覽館 World Famous Table Tennis Player's Equipment Exhibition

fotop.net provide easy to use and feature rich online photo sharing service.

www.fotop.net

Why didn't they just speed glue Tenergy and use that?

 

[zeio]

Think about it. Top players changing rubbers before the Olympics while gluing was still allowed?

Tenergy had just been released 5 months before Beijing 2008. It was a completely new product. An unknown.

 

[TensorBackhand]

So when speed glue was officially banned, did everybody immediately switch to Tenergy? Or were there other viable options?

 

[Zwill]

For me it was pretty impressive the first time I tried it and it was a T64.
My dad didn't let me speedglue since he thought that shit can't be too healthy, so I only got Butterfly Catapult which was Butterfly's first??? try with a "built-in" speed glue effect and also one of the first Hight Tension rubbers. It was good since I didn't suffer from inconsistency of a bad gluejobs like many of my teammates.
Anyway compared to the Catapult Tenergy it was pretty big improvement. Then around 2010ish my team bought me a T05 and a Spin Art. But I never got too hooked on Tenergy for some reason (probably due to lack of $, and I got hooked more on chicks), but then and even now I kinda feel like it's a rubber for grandpas... It's like the those older ugly ass Mercedes E class cars where it's a requirement to be between 60 and death to own one.

 

[blahness]

Wasn't too impressed when I tried Tenergy - it's terrible at serve receive. Now Dignics on the other hand was a real game changer especially D05, it was just so easy to generate ridiculous amounts of topspin with it compared to any other rubber I tried, and didn't suck at serve receive that bad

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

I remember when i first played against a young training buddy who played with that back in 2012. i felt i had never played against someone whose FH was so powerful, fast and spinny. i asked him a few times to try his racket but i couldn't control anything with it. I still managed to win the young guy a few times, because i was quite good at blocking with fast reflexes and giving him back his own speed.

Only many years later, would i dare to play with Tenergy80. which i stayed with for many years till January this year, where i switched to Tibhar MK. which i find painfully slow, especially on flat hits. but the control is much better for me.

 

[Kolev]

I tried T05 in early 2008 on a friends M.Maze ALC blade. Didn't like it, too heavy too hard, too high of a throw. Then a bit later I tried it on the Mazunov of the second (or maybe third) Belgian player way back then. It was WOW and I will always remember that sweet smell coming out of it.
Then, a few months before the official release of the T64 he gave me one sample (64) and I fell in love immediately. It was soft for him but brilliant for me,with that candy smell again. In couple of years I was already recognizing the odour in the more and more gaining popularity european boosters, but I already knew that the rubbers of the greatest were specially treated for them.
I stayed loyal to T64 until 2015 when I realized that with the new ball the magic was gone and the T05 continued to be N1 , maybe because it was harder with a higher, but not as much as before throw, thus more suitable for the heavier new ball

 

[zeio]

So when speed glue was officially banned, did everybody immediately switch to Tenergy? Or were there other viable options?

Adoption took a while. Pros were reluctant to switch at first (see Butterfly's "Front Runner" series). IIRC, pros and amateurs alike turned to boosting Sriver and Bryce at first.

世界は信頼を選択する｜バタフライ卓球用品

選ばれる用具は時代とともに変わっても、選ばれるブランドは変わっていない。この事実が、世界のバタフライに対する信頼を物語る。バタフライは選手をはじめ卓球を愛する皆様のために、ラバーやラケットなどを製造販売する卓球用品メーカー。製品の紹介や比較、契約選手情報、ストーリー、初心者卓球ガイド、ラケット＆ラバーおすすめ組み合わせ等、各種コンテンツをお届け。。

www.butterfly.co.jp

 

[Tyce]

This cash grab costs more than 2 pieces of Sriver? My glued Sriver blows it out of the water!

(Only came over to reference old posts and ran into this thread but to my surprise no one has said the above. Making an exception here.)

Here is the backdrop. Tenergy was released in 2008/4/21 in Japan, 5 months before the formal implementation of "VOC-free policy (no glue ban)" on 2008/9/1 as Adham Sharara put it. However, adoption was slow as a snail. People were still snif...ahem...gluing like there was no tomorrow. It sounds crazy now but the status quo back then was that Sriver(1967) and Bryce(1997) still ruled the day in grippy rubber, and H2/H3(2000) and TG2/TG3(2006) in tacky rubber.

(Sriver was 41 years old at that point, "born" at the height of the Vietnam War and the dawn of the Cultural Revolution, two of the most significant events in human history! When I bought my first sheets of Sriver and Mark V, they had already been around for over 30 years, which was used as a selling point by Butterfly and Yasaka.)

It wasn't until the glue ban went into effect after Beijing 2008 that people started seriously migrating and adapting to water-based glue, along with a toxic dose of panicking and cursing. I remember trying Tenergy for the first time in 2009 and the sensation of "ball hold" felt disorienting at first. The feel was totally remote from a glued Sriver or Bryce. It was weird AF. The illusion of lag (ball-in-ball-out) on every shot felt like I was playing long pips that were disguising as anti, but with loads of speed and spin.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/new-butterfly-rubber-dignics-05-2019.19938/post-275522


The best ESN offerings back then were Tibhar Sinus series, Donic Coppa JO Gold/Silver/Platin (the last one being total junk), Andro Plasma series and Roxon series etc. To keep it short, ESN Tensor was known for speed and sound, the Donic Desto F1 being the prime example. Durability was NOT in ESN's dictionary, as Tensor fared the worst among Chinese, Japanese and German rubbers. As soon as you mention German rubbers, people would get the impression that they were fast, loud and transient like a shooting star.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/esn-generation.17635/post-229798

It's amazing how you link to yourself as a source, then within that post link to yourself as a source, only to ultimately link to The Guardian.
I mean, you may be perfectly right here, but your presentation is certainly posing credibility problems.

I would *love* to see the scientific backing behind these claims. No sarcasm here, I love a good bit of research.

 

[Tyce]

I guess people were not so impressed by Tenergy back in 2008 because they were so used to speed glue.

Because otherwise, the jump between unglued Sriver/Bryce to Tenergy is enormous, completely different galaxies. I guess everybody in 2008 was speed gluing, so those old rubbers were still competitive.

I wasn't speed-glueing, and the difference between traditionals and Tenergy was indeed massive. It was regarded at my club as something only for the best of the best offensive players due to being so hard to control.
To this day, I still feel a bit "afraid" to use Tenergy (05). Haven't actually used it at all, so big chance that this is all in my head.

 

[Lazer]

Love Tenergy in the offensive game,
Hate it in the short game, and the short game makes it or breaks it in a game situation for me…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

“Why didn’t I play with that before ???”

(Said the same after every change)

 

[Creek]

Tried it for the first time and hated it! I was asking myself: why the hell do so many people praise it as the best ever?!?

Retried it 1 year later and ended up loving it for 12 years

 

[Aizen]

Apart from speed, spin, control topics, tenergy felt the closest as feeling and sound as speed glue back than.
As like same short game reasons with majority, I've give up using.
Years later I've tried again, still it's a different thing. (especially dead like hybrids)