how comfortable are you with hard (53+) rubber on your backhand?

[JJ Ng]

I tried moving my hard rubbers to a different blade, and I'm actually starting to play much better. It's starting to feel less absurdly hard to me. Maybe the feeling of the blade helped alleviate some issues, or maybe I'm just getting more used to the hardness itself.

I think blade matters a lot. Today I played with Gambler Black out carbon blade with H3 on the FH and Rakza 7 soft on the BH. I am surprised that I could get a lot of balls back on the table and if I have to turn from defense to offense, it is pretty easy. I mean My second favorite blade is Gambler Fire Dragon Hinoki. Now I have tried Viscaria, Acoustic carbon, Gambler Fire Dragon Fast, and Gambler Vector Hinoki. None of them really feels right. In fact, Gambler Fire Dragon Fast just feels fast and no touch. Hard to describe.

I think blade is absolutely important for you.

 

[TensorBackhand]

I feel like I'm getting better and better at playing with the 55d rubber on my backhand. It's feeling much less foreign to me now, and it almost just feels normal to me now.

I can loop underspin quite well with it, and its pretty good at controlling pushes.

In my practice session today I blocked fairly well with it

 

[Topspinslinger]

Recently i bought Dhs GoldArc 5, 42.5d for a friend. I found it Hilarious, It felt great but not very powerful. I use 39d Hurricane 3 and i can get more speedy shots on my backhand. I think i wouldn't mind a softer rubber on both sides, or harder. Bluegrip C1 is "60d" But is more like 55 degree, and i think it is pretty good for backhand. i think anyone can switch to harder rubbers or softer. It just depends what you enjoy more to play with.

 

[Fnub]

Used to play with very hard BH rubbers. And felt fine. Geospin Tacky is an example(sponge is about 50 ESN, but the topsheet is rock hard and very grippy). Mr. Zhuang advised to try 729 Aurora Max with booster. I had an experience with it but unboosted. Pretty good but lacked grip.(I have a soft sponge version). With booster it still lacked grip but got damn it is a ROCKET. Power drives are so comfortable. I've made a conclusion that I can play hard and soft BH rubbers at the same time(but not medium, I don't feel MX-P and T05(2.2 thickness)). Or maybe I have another explanation. You know that Chinese manufacturers always fail with the sponge thickness. All rubbers I tested were marked as MAX. But I noticed that the sponge is obviously thinner than 2.2 mm. Maybe I just like 2.0 mm thickness rubbers. And hardness doesn't matter.

 

[MikeWarrior]

What about your experience? How comfortable are you in handling hard rubbers on BH? What do you think are the advantages and tradeoffs of using harder BH rubber?

I used hard rubbers for my backhand, one was 50 degrees and the other 53. I discovered the 53 was way too hard for my game. Not much grip at all. But great on punch shots. There is a lot of power with 53-degree rubber. Now the 50-degree with almost perfect, I could loop, and create good serves, the blocking was good. Chopping in return for service or sometimes during the rallying was more difficult. Especially when you are tired. You have to be more relaxed when playing with the hard sponge. I also found myself going further back away from the table. Mid-range it was great. But I like closer to the table as well as further back, it didn't give me the versatility I wanted. The punch shot was great too. Currently, I'm using medium hardness which is more versatile.

 

[greenbeanmachine]

I really detest soft or tensor rubbers on the backhand. Soft rubbers do not block heavy spin very well, and tensor rubbers are out of control.

Unboosted DHS Skyline 2 (tacky Chinese rubber) is my favorite for the backhand, and Hurricane 3 is a close second. I tried Tenergy 05 Hard on the backhand and this was the best non-Chinese rubber I've had so far. Rasanter R53 is also nice. Dignics is ok, but something about the sponge makes it very different from Tenergy 05 Hard imo.

 

[Migzkulit]

Hardness of rubber depends on tactic of winning. My forehand's the one actively winning me points. While my backhand is to reduce mistakes.

Unfortunately, I have weak power on backhand close to table which is why I'm very particular on weight and/or hardness.

 

[Fantastic_Muffin_D]

I'm happy with it, the first rubber that made me comfortable for the backhand was D09C (that's why I'm a backhand dominant now lol). And since there I'm just going around that hardness like D05, C53, K3 and A1, etc. (now I'm with A1). The only type of rubber makes me feel little bit uncomfort is chinese rubber (H3), it's kind of slow and doesn't help me much in some fast rally, it's just safe to control the short game, for H3 in open-up I need to hit the ball then brush to get the best effect, sometimes it's exhausting.

 

[greenbeanmachine]

I'm happy with it, the first rubber that made me comfortable for the backhand was D09C (that's why I'm a backhand dominant now lol). And since there I'm just going around that hardness like D05, C53, K3 and A1, etc. (now I'm with A1). The only type of rubber makes me feel little bit uncomfort is chinese rubber (H3), it's kind of slow and doesn't help me much in some fast rally, it's just safe to control the short game, for H3 in open-up I need to hit the ball then brush to get the best effect, sometimes it's exhausting.

Interesting that you don't like H3 as a backhand-dominant player. You know you can boost it, right? I guess I also use a very fast blade, so that might make the Chinese rubbers more playable for me.

I am also backhand dominant when I play shakehand grip, and my shakehand setup is basically the reverse of yours: Skyline 2 on backhand because I can use it to hit powerful spinny shots, and hybrid rubber on forehand (it gives more power since my forehand isn't as strong). I've been meaning to give D09c a try on the backhand, but the price is deterring me How is your experience with it?

 

[vossi39]

I also like hard rubbers on BH. Currently playing Tronix ZGR (56 ESN Scale) and my backhand is more consistant than ever.
Also tried chinese rubbers (H3, H3Neo, SkyLine etc), but they all have this non linear behaviour. Passiv play they are dead and actively played they explode.
ZGR is very linear and not to fast in active play. For a middle class player like me, the ideal compromise. Hard for short play and passive block, but still supporting active play without extreme catapult and speed.

 

[Fantastic_Muffin_D]

Interesting that you don't like H3 as a backhand-dominant player. You know you can boost it, right? I guess I also use a very fast blade, so that might make the Chinese rubbers more playable for me.

I am also backhand dominant when I play shakehand grip, and my shakehand setup is basically the reverse of yours: Skyline 2 on backhand because I can use it to hit powerful spinny shots, and hybrid rubber on forehand (it gives more power since my forehand isn't as strong). I've been meaning to give D09c a try on the backhand, but the price is deterring me How is your experience with it?

I think the most important part of backhand is the wrist movement the moment you contact the ball, immediate acceleration at that time rewards a good shot. D09 is a good rubber, lots of spin and speed potential, durable too, nothing go wrongs with it.
I tried H3 38 boosted. I’m little bit uncomfortthat the dwell time is short, but the ball shoots out not fast. However, I got good feeling on my BH (at the moment I touch the ball on BH, I know it’s gonna make it or not), dwell time doesn’t matter much (some people prefer short dwell time on BH), I just don’t like it’s speed, it’s safe to use H3 on BH.
I play A1 right now (outperform D09C in many aspects with half the price), the one that I like is when I need slow it’s gonna be slow, and i can speed up the shot to the maximum when I like. When I play slow, I swear the dwell time of A1 is much longer than D09C, and the spin it creates is enormous, my friends often surprise to block my slow openup shots.