Do you prepare more than one racket for league matches / tournaments?

[doppelmoral]

Hi Community,

After seeing some vlogs on youtube (Ricardo Walther, Patrick Franziska, PechPong etc.), I learned that pros prepare multiple rackets for their matches. While this is unsurprising (need a backup in case one of them breaks), I found it interesting that Walther for example plays all of his rackets before a match and then spontaneously decides which one feels best on that particular day.

I want to know if there are players here that follow a similar procedure. Not talking about EJ moments (several setups with different blades and rubber combos), but strictly about setups that are identical in their blade + rubber combination (but maybe different blade weight or thickness of sponge). I guess it could make a difference when playing at different venues that differ due to size, table, lighting etc

Cheers!

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Doubtful that most amateur players can even feel or be affected by that difference, maybe only top level amateurs who almost never bother with this

 

[Lazer]

I have two.
One main and one back up. Trying to get them as close as possible....

I'm an amateur but will definitely be affected. I need to be "played in" with a particular setup...

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

yes. I bring extra. With what happened with WCQ, you'll never know when another Swedish reporter might strike again.

 

[sebi]

I have two.
One main and one back up. Trying to get them as close as possible....

I'm an amateur but will definitely be affected. I need to be "played in" with a particular setup...

Cheers
L-zr

Same for me i have also two but they are the same. The back up racked I use to train our kids team so I have some degree of being used to it and my main racket which I use in training and matches. Also having two rackets for traing the youth and one main stops me from having to glue new rubbers every two months.

 

[Lazer]

yes. I bring extra. With what happened with WCQ, you'll never know when another Swedish reporter might strike again.

Ha ha, the reporter wasn't even remotely Swedish...

Cheers
L-zr

 

[NextLevel]

Hi Community,

After seeing some vlogs on youtube (Ricardo Walther, Patrick Franziska, PechPong etc.), I learned that pros prepare multiple rackets for their matches. While this is unsurprising (need a backup in case one of them breaks), I found it interesting that Walther for example plays all of his rackets before a match and then spontaneously decides which one feels best on that particular day.

I want to know if there are players here that follow a similar procedure. Not talking about EJ moments (several setups with different blades and rubber combos), but strictly about setups that are identical in their blade + rubber combination (but maybe different blade weight or thickness of sponge). I guess it could make a difference when playing at different venues that differ due to size, table, lighting etc

Cheers!

Top pros glue and reglue a lot because of their frequency of using rackets in training and water based glue affects the rackets over time. The considerations that lead to their choices and decisions are very different from how we amateurs usually think based on our training regimen and cost considerations.

 

[Tyce]

Sometimes. It's a bit vague here.
I've brought two nearly identical bats before, but also a faster and slower option to see which one I feel best with at the moment. I've also deliberately brought a single bat to keep me from thinking about using another.

For the future I want to stick to single bat on match day. If it's league night and something bad happens I can always ask to borrow someone else's bat. I don't think it would be much worse than suddenly having to adjust to one of my own.
For tournaments, yeah maybe bring a backup.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I want to know if there are players here that follow a similar procedure. Not talking about EJ moments (several setups with different blades and rubber combos),

I wanted to say tensor backhand, but then you said this, and I lost my smile.
When he went to "spectate" a tournament that Victor played in, he had 8 in his bag (he wasn't going to play that day, and he had 8).

back to serious business.

having at least 2 is very common. It all depends on the seriousness of the competition. More serious ones - you would prepare more rackets.

and yes, warming up with all of them is key.
choosing which one - this is all personal choices. Some have primary setup that they will use, some like Ricardo will determine which one on the day feels right.

Also note - in some matches, especially team matches - you need to hand in your racket before the start of the team match.
So, you can only use your secondary racket to warm up before your turn to play.

I have not really heard of having "different weight" or differences during the warming up. Rather it is the same, but just in case there are quality issues, or glue job (feeling) issues, that you can change before submission to racket control.

In terms of differences, certain players would go into different tournaments (this is more physical attributes of the venue) and prepare a specific set of rackets for such conditions, but again - the same for the backups too.

This is my experience with pros.

 

[sebi]

I wanted to say tensor backhand, but then you said this, and I lost my smile.
When he went to "spectate" a tournament that Victor played in, he had 8 in his bag (he wasn't going to play that day, and he had 8).

back to serious business.

having at least 2 is very common. It all depends on the seriousness of the competition. More serious ones - you would prepare more rackets.

and yes, warming up with all of them is key.
choosing which one - this is all personal choices. Some have primary setup that they will use, some like Ricardo will determine which one on the day feels right.

Also note - in some matches, especially team matches - you need to hand in your racket before the start of the team match.
So, you can only use your secondary racket to warm up before your turn to play.

I have not really heard of having "different weight" or differences during the warming up. Rather it is the same, but just in case there are quality issues, or glue job (feeling) issues, that you can change before submission to racket control.

In terms of differences, certain players would go into different tournaments (this is more physical attributes of the venue) and prepare a specific set of rackets for such conditions, but again - the same for the backups too.

This is my experience with pros.

Ricardo Walthee showed in on off his vlogs that all of his blades are 1g difference so from 93g to 89 or something like that.

 

[Doum]

I have two identical setup. I play with both each week, to wear them equally. I don't need to do this, but it's fun to know that if something happen i can switch and keep playing like nothing happened.

 

[Sedis]

I tend to get two blades of the same model and weight so I can have one as a back up, but in reality I always end up using the 2nd one to try out a different rubber before committing to it on my main blade.

 

[K.K]

i have two identical bats that i change depending on location i play in. even though they are the same model and weight one of them is a bit more bouncy and the other one has a bit more power. nothing major but usefull when either venue is big or small, if the table is stop or slip, or if they have a slow or fast floor (quite common in germany to play in old school gyms that have either wood or pvc floor)
it is enough to decide before a game and use the 1 hour warm up to get used to everything

 

[backspacer]

Coincidentally to be honest. I declined an opportunity to turn my racket into a smart racket because I only had one I used at the time. My first racket was way too different to use it for the two weeks I would have needed to wait for my smart racket to get to me and I had a tournament lined up. I got interested in my current blade because I wanted a friend to buy it for me while she was in Japan because it's cheaper there, but her luggage was already full and I ended up buying it here. Now I have two similar rackets and my case can fit both so I always have the "spare" with me. I never throw my stuff so it's pretty safe from breaking.

 

[land_killer]

I am playing h3 which need booster to stay at the best condition. But I am too lazy to keep boosting two blades all the time. so even though I have a backup setup, it hasn't been boosted for 3 months which feel quite different with my main one.

 

[Dr Evil]

I have two identical set-ups that I rotate. The back up is the one with older rubber that I feel still has another few hours of decent play left in it. For tournaments I prefer the main blade rubber to be as close to brand new as possible. If I were a pro I'd bring half a dozen to tournaments for sure.

 

[backspacer]

I have two identical set-ups that I rotate. The back up is the one with older rubber that I feel still has another few hours of decent play left in it. For tournaments I prefer the main blade rubber to be as close to brand new as possible. If I were a pro I'd bring half a dozen to tournaments for sure.

Or just be an EJ.

 

[NetProphet]

Hi Community,

After seeing some vlogs on youtube (Ricardo Walther, Patrick Franziska, PechPong etc.), I learned that pros prepare multiple rackets for their matches. While this is unsurprising (need a backup in case one of them breaks), I found it interesting that Walther for example plays all of his rackets before a match and then spontaneously decides which one feels best on that particular day.

I want to know if there are players here that follow a similar procedure. Not talking about EJ moments (several setups with different blades and rubber combos), but strictly about setups that are identical in their blade + rubber combination (but maybe different blade weight or thickness of sponge). I guess it could make a difference when playing at different venues that differ due to size, table, lighting etc

Cheers!

Yeah I have two but they're not the same as each other.
The second one is my old blade with my old rubbers on it and it's just in case something were to happen to my main racket that I'd have something to play on with.
It would definitely affect my game negatively if I were forced to swap over but it would be better than having to borrow something I've never used before.

 

[SFF_lib]

As an EJ, it's not surprising we have more than 5 blades? 🤣

I always carry 2-3 setups. Once my boosted H3 peeled off, I over boosted I think.

 

[Chrono]

I always carry a backup but not identical. I would like to carry the same setup but hard to justify the cost currently. Maybe in the future..