Liam Pitchford signs for Joola

[SlowPower]

Will he boost those zgr?

 

[backspacer]

Will he go for the purple rubber, though?

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

moving to Joola for Pitchford is like Messi moving to Miami

 

[Chang]

moving to Joola for Pitchford is like Messi moving to Miami

Why?

Switching from German-made rubbers to German-made rubbers. The blade doesn´t matter as the handle can be changed whenever.

The durability of rubbers for pros is not a problem either, as they can change them every week, some even every other day.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Money talks

Based on how many people left VICTAS recently I am guessing they wanted to shed some weight off of their payroll. Pitchford is now 31 and a clear casualty of the WTT system and his entrance into MLTT seems like a clear signal that his most serious competitive days are behind him. All this to say I doubt that JOOLA had to enter a huge bidding war. Nice signing nonetheless.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

moving to Joola for Pitchford is like Messi moving to Miami

Entering MLTT is like Messi moving to Miami, not moving to JOOLA. ESN to ESN is a lateral move for the most part.

 

[andzejgolot]

I Hear from one Pro that he didnt like his equipment from Victas. I mean Victas blades are not on the Joola level right now and top rubbers from ESN are similar.

Liam is playing in MLTT and he plays in France too with bad results around 25% but it is sport.
Gorak is playing in first Polish division ( my home give him hard match and 50 + years old great player beat him from 0:2 ) and MLTT at the same time.
Victas ? Germany is their main market they got Duda, if they make 5+4 blades with Aureveil like Darker, yall not ready for the convo

 

[jammmail]

Actually he's trying Dynaryz ZGR both sides, same as Sid Naresh. That's what he wanted to try initially so he will use that in Doha

Great to have this insight @Matt Hetherington - appreciate the replies!

 

[d3nium]

I Hear from one Pro that he didnt like his equipment from Victas. I mean Victas blades are not on the Joola level right now and top rubbers from ESN are similar.

Liam is playing in MLTT and he plays in France too with bad results around 25% but it is sport.
Gorak is playing in first Polish division ( my home give him hard match and 50 + years old great player beat him from 0:2 ) and MLTT at the same time.
Victas ? Germany is their main market they got Duda, if they make 5+4 blades with Aureveil like Darker, yall not ready for the convo

Liam has been injured, plus he suffers with mental health issues.

At his best, he can still beat and be competitive against the top players.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Liam has been injured, plus he suffers with mental health issues.

At his best, he can still beat and be competitive against the top players.

Every top player deals with recurring injury of some sort. Ever since his nice performance at WTT Contender Oman 2023 (October 2023), he has not been competitive at the top level throughout 2024.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

@Matt Hetherington

Are we going to see Liam on 'talking smash'?

Absolutely

 

[Matt Hetherington]

I don't get why the majority of Joola sponsored pros seem to favor ZGR over ZGX. ZGX is such a great rubber and ZGR is previous technology compared to ZGX (and also heavier than ZGX).

You will find that most pro players prefer heavier setups and harder rubbers since the ABS ball. A lot of pro players are using blades that weigh 90-95 grams, you would never have encountered this previously.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

moving to Joola for Pitchford is like Messi moving to Miami

Why? He will actually have a team of people that care about him and want him to succeed and grow as an athlete. Sorry to say it but Victas made almost no effort to promote him at all and the relationship seemed very transactional. Pitch is actually a really great personality and it is in the best interest of the sport for him to put himself out there. Pitch had other offers from other brands but ultimately chose JOOLA, at the end of the day if he feels it is the best decision for him then it's good enough for me

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

I'm pretty sure Pitch is great and JOOLA people are great.

However I'm making a bit of fun here because last time I'm seeing maybe only once or twice a year somebody playing with JOOLA rubbers here. and half of the time its because im seeing people from Team JOOLA which is competing at amateur level here in Japan.

Had a look at their Japanese YT channel and they have a lot of content related to Large (44cm) balls. apparently they decided to put efforts on this niche market and their team is doing well there.

Maybe Pitch could try a new career with large balls or hardbat ...

 

[Matt Hetherington]

I'm pretty sure Pitch is great and JOOLA people are great.

However I'm making a bit of fun here because last time I'm seeing maybe only once or twice a year somebody playing with JOOLA rubbers here. and half of the time its because im seeing people from Team JOOLA which is competing at amateur level here in Japan.

Had a look at their Japanese YT channel and they have a lot of content related to Large balls. apparently they decided to put efforts on this niche market and their team is doing well there.

Maybe Pitch could try a new career with large balls or hardbat ...

Ah yes, Japan has been a tough market for JOOLA but we hired some people from Butterfly recently and opened a subsidiary office near Tokyo so here’s hoping that will start to change 😁

 

[ThePongCommenter]

You will find that most pro players prefer heavier setups and harder rubbers since the ABS ball. A lot of pro players are using blades that weigh 90-95 grams, you would never have encountered this previously.

Interesting - I am mostly hearing the opposite, which is that pros are taking on lighter blades now because of the heavier rubbers and they don't want their racket setups to get too heavy overall...whereas heavy blades 90+ were quite common among pros prior to the hybrid revolution

 

[Fedex78]

You will find that most pro players prefer heavier setups and harder rubbers since the ABS ball. A lot of pro players are using blades that weigh 90-95 grams, you would never have encountered this previously.

Hi Matt, thanks for answering me
That is totally understandable, with the abs ball you need to hit very hard to reach quality on your shot, so increasing the leverage helps a lot. Also the pros have the physical training time and quality needed to handle those heavier setups, something that us mere advanced amateurs not always have.
I might try ZGR for fun somewhere in the future, but as for now let me praise Joola for the amazing ZGX, an awesome mixture of speed, spin and control.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Hi Matt, thanks for answering me
That is totally understandable, with the abs ball you need to hit very hard to reach quality on your shot, so increasing the leverage helps a lot. Also the pros have the physical training time and quality needed to handle those heavier setups, something that us mere advanced amateurs not always have.
I might try ZGR for fun somewhere in the future, but as for now let me praise Joola for the amazing ZGX, an awesome mixture of speed, spin and control.

No prob, i’m with you on that one I use ZGX on my forehand ☺️

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

the JOOLA large ball "3 sisters" girls

 

[piligrim]