Experience with some other Loki rubbers - Arthur China, GTX Pro (inc)

[7sagittarius7]

Here is my review of the LAC

 

[TensorBackhand]

Here is my review of the LAC

Try the gtx boosted next!

Also your reverse pendulum serve looks wicked to me. It looks like underspin tk my eyes, but it bounces like topspin.

So i have no idea how to return such serve

 

[Emin]

How would you boost the gtx.
Someone wrote in this thread with baby oil and booster i think and im not sure how thats supposed to go.

 

[7sagittarius7]

Try the gtx boosted next!

Also your reverse pendulum serve looks wicked to me. It looks like underspin tk my eyes, but it bounces like topspin.

So i have no idea how to return such serve

I'm thinking of taking some more Loki rubbers for a test, LAC really impressed me.

The first two reverse serves were backspin, and the other two were topspin

 

[TensorBackhand]

I'm thinking of taking some more Loki rubbers for a test, LAC really impressed me.

The first two reverse serves were backspin, and the other two were topspin

I hate playing guys like you. I lose 5 points each game just returning serve.

Anyways, if you like Loki, definitely need to try GTX. With some booster and baby oil, its much better than D09c. Its best rubber i have ever seen for spin, power, control.

 

[TensorBackhand]

How would you boost the gtx.
Someone wrote in this thread with baby oil and booster i think and im not sure how thats supposed to go.

yes exactly. It works wonders. It is seriously a monster with baby oil and booster, but you need both.

 

[7sagittarius7]

I hate playing guys like you. I lose 5 points each game just returning serve.

Anyways, if you like Loki, definitely need to try GTX. With some booster and baby oil, its much better than D09c. Its best rubber i have ever seen for spin, power, control.

It probably means that you are not well focused when your opponent is serving. Because in this example I didn't even try to disguise the serve, but I thought it was obvious which serve was backspin and which was topspin.
If, for example, you are struggling with returning a reverse pendulum serve, it will certainly be much easier for you to return if you learn how to serve it.
Here is a link to my video (

) where I explain how to learn the reverse pendulum in the simplest way I hope I helped at least a little, and thank you for the GTX recommendation, I will definitely try it.

 

[TensorBackhand]

It probably means that you are not well focused when your opponent is serving. Because in this example I didn't even try to disguise the serve, but I thought it was obvious which serve was backspin and which was topspin.
If, for example, you are struggling with returning a reverse pendulum serve, it will certainly be much easier for you to return if you learn how to serve it.
Here is a link to my video (

) where I explain how to learn the reverse pendulum in the simplest way I hope I helped at least a little, and thank you for the GTX recommendation, I will definitely try it.

Cool. I tried GTX in 3 different stages, and I think you should try it that way too

GTX Unboosted - a little slow and strange feeling
GTX with booster - very fast, but hard to control, lack of dwell time, and still feeling a bit weird
GTX with booster and baby oil - greatly increased dwell time and hold on the ball, excellent spin, speed, power, and control

 

[TensorBackhand]

There is also Loki T3. This rubber is very similar to Butterfly Glayzer. It is quite fast, but distinctly lacks grip on the surface. It is a very good punching and blocking rubber, but not so good for spin and loop.

 

[7sagittarius7]

Cool. I tried GTX in 3 different stages, and I think you should try it that way too

GTX Unboosted - a little slow and strange feeling
GTX with booster - very fast, but hard to control, lack of dwell time, and still feeling a bit weird
GTX with booster and baby oil - greatly increased dwell time and hold on the ball, excellent spin, speed, power, and control

I have never heard that you should use both, baby oil and booster. It's like using two different boosters.
Which booster did you use?

 

[TensorBackhand]

I have never heard that you should use both, baby oil and booster. It's like using two different boosters.
Which booster did you use?

Yes, but from my testing, both 2 oils are necessary to create the high performance.

I just used Haifu Seamoon or Taiji booster as the speed booster. And I used Johnson's baby oil as the baby oil to increase the dwell time.

Baby oil just needs 1 thin layer.

Booster can use 1 or 2 layers of booster.

 

[TensorBackhand]

I have never heard that you should use both, baby oil and booster. It's like using two different boosters.
Which booster did you use?

I also have never heard this method before. I stumbled onto it by accident. I found that it works amazingly well for GTX. It doesn't have the same dramatic effect on other rubbers that I tried the method on.

 

[7sagittarius7]

Yes, but from my testing, both 2 oils are necessary to create the high performance.

I just used Haifu Seamoon or Taiji booster as the speed booster. And I used Johnson's baby oil as the baby oil to increase the dwell time.

Baby oil just needs 1 thin layer.

Booster can use 1 or 2 layers of booster.

Nice. Thanks for sharing this. I will definitely try it in stages as you wrote above and see how the rubber reacts.

 

[Attitude]

I hate playing guys like you. I lose 5 points each game just returning serve.

Anyways, if you like Loki, definitely need to try GTX. With some booster and baby oil, its much better than D09c. Its best rubber i have ever seen for spin, power, control.

I really love general solutions to several problems.
If i have opponents who can creat different spins with nearly the same motion so i cant read them i simply react to the bounce with the same reaction in mind.

So to make it clearer. If this mentioned situation comes up in the first set, that i cant read the opponent serve and it is not so much underspin that i cant lift it, i prepare myself to attack every serve with my bh with an open racket, no matter what will happen.
Now i will change how hard i hit my return depending on how the ball will bounce. Usually if it has topspin it will have somewhat of a kick coming to me, in which cases i simply lift my arm and dont make use of my wrist and forearm.
If nothing happens (no spin) or it has underspin i try to partly attack. I usually dont full swing/flick those serves because these return can go too wide in many cases, therefore i pick a stroke that would either land long inside the table (if opponent does no-spin serve) or midlong (underspin serve).

Nowadays im pretty capable of reading serves, so i dont require this technique that often, but now and then you have opponents who do tricky motions or some kind of serve you dont often see, and then you are screwed if you dont have a solution at hand, and i come back to the mentioned tactic, that helps to react and bring the ball back to other side.

 

[Attitude]

It probably means that you are not well focused when your opponent is serving. Because in this example I didn't even try to disguise the serve, but I thought it was obvious which serve was backspin and which was topspin.
If, for example, you are struggling with returning a reverse pendulum serve, it will certainly be much easier for you to return if you learn how to serve it.
Here is a link to my video (

) where I explain how to learn the reverse pendulum in the simplest way I hope I helped at least a little, and thank you for the GTX recommendation, I will definitely try it.

Reversependulum serves are still way harder to read than almost everything else. For instance you hit from a totally different angle and the way you hit the ball wont tell you much about how much spin there is.
Another problem is, that there are not so many players using this serve, so getting used to it is and issue itself.

To change the spin with reversependulum serves you usually simply change the moment you hit the ball while you usually change the angle of the racket to change the spin completely.

Nearly the same issue comes up with shovel or hook serves but with the hitting point of my racket. I create completely different spin depending if i hit the ball with the upper side (top- or no spin) of the racket or the lower side (side and underspin usually). Getting used to that is an issue itself, especially if you have an opponent who can actually creat some spin with their serves^^.

 

[TensorBackhand]

I really love general solutions to several problems.
If i have opponents who can creat different spins with nearly the same motion so i cant read them i simply react to the bounce with the same reaction in mind.

So to make it clearer. If this mentioned situation comes up in the first set, that i cant read the opponent serve and it is not so much underspin that i cant lift it, i prepare myself to attack every serve with my bh with an open racket, no matter what will happen.
Now i will change how hard i hit my return depending on how the ball will bounce. Usually if it has topspin it will have somewhat of a kick coming to me, in which cases i simply lift my arm and dont make use of my wrist and forearm.
If nothing happens (no spin) or it has underspin i try to partly attack. I usually dont full swing/flick those serves because these return can go too wide in many cases, therefore i pick a stroke that would either land long inside the table (if opponent does no-spin serve) or midlong (underspin serve).

Nowadays im pretty capable of reading serves, so i dont require this technique that often, but now and then you have opponents who do tricky motions or some kind of serve you dont often see, and then you are screwed if you dont have a solution at hand, and i come back to the mentioned tactic, that helps to react and bring the ball back to other side.

Recently I have been taking the opposite approach. If there is a serve I'm struggling with, I just decide that I am going to push it. Then I change my racket angle at the last minute depending on the angle of their pendulum serve.

That way I don't have to decide whether to do topspin or push. I have already removed 1 major decision and will definitely push. I just need to decide what angle to push at.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Nice. Thanks for sharing this. I will definitely try it in stages as you wrote above and see how the rubber reacts.

Look forward to your review and comparison to LAC.

 

[Attitude]

Recently I have been taking the opposite approach. If there is a serve I'm struggling with, I just decide that I am going to push it. Then I change my racket angle at the last minute depending on the angle of their pendulum serve.

That way I don't have to decide whether to do topspin or push. I have already removed 1 major decision and will definitely push. I just need to decide what angle to push at.

The main issue here is, that the result will give a great opening to opponents if you missread the angle. But if you attack the opponent will most likely take a more defensive approach to the return even if the attack is not ideal. He wont do that if you push either way.
For example if we both would play against each other i would mostly do underspin or sideunderspin serves. If you push those, they will come back long and i will attack those in 90% of the cases as i usually do. Not sure if you would like that outcome.
And rarely i will give you really fast sidespin or topspin serves. If you are in the zone of pushing, this will handicap you to attack those in time in my experience. Pushing those will always end in a disaster.

At least my tactic will work until a certain point. Either if i reach a certain level or if my opponent knows me. For example one of my training partners knows me quite well and if i missread the amount of spin my returnattack goes slightly higher, than i want and he counterattacks, which will hit like a truck.
But this rarely happens in actual matches and especially not on my level. I guess this wont change until around 1800TTR.

 

[TensorBackhand]

The main issue here is, that the result will give a great opening to opponents if you missread the angle. But if you attack the opponent will most likely take a more defensive approach to the return even if the attack is not ideal. He wont do that if you push either way.
For example if we both would play against each other i would mostly do underspin or sideunderspin serves. If you push those, they will come back long and i will attack those in 90% of the cases as i usually do. Not sure if you would like that outcome.
And rarely i will give you really fast sidespin or topspin serves. If you are in the zone of pushing, this will handicap you to attack those in time in my experience. Pushing those will always end in a disaster.

At least my tactic will work until a certain point. Either if i reach a certain level or if my opponent knows me. For example one of my training partners knows me quite well and if i missread the amount of spin my returnattack goes slightly higher, than i want and he counterattacks, which will hit like a truck.
But this rarely happens in actual matches and especially not on my level. I guess this wont change until around 1800TTR.

To me, pushing is a lot easier and requires a lot less time to wind up your shot.

Topspin requires a cleaner read of the ball, and requires a fully active flick/loop shot. If the serve is fast, then you don't have enough time to hit a clean shot.

 

[longle]

This Moon 12 Blue on BH got me a few winners in the match yesterday (we are playing an amateur league). Can't believe the rubber I bought for 14$ can perform with such precision, even more comfortable than Glayer09c. Of course there's Bloom Power on FH - 10.55$