The best thing to use for cleaning your topsheet is a very small amount of water and your hand or a sponge. The cleaners from the companies have chemicals in them that make the rubber degrade and wear out a microscopic amount faster. You may not ever even notice the amount. But why pay for something they causes your rubber to degrade faster.
You don't need the plastic sheets. But I like them. So I use them.
But the important thing to know is that your racket is a piece of equipment. It is designed to handle a certain amount of use and abuse. It is not meant to be hung on a wall and admired. It is a weapon for battle. It will get dings, it will get scrapes, and slams. If it doesn't, I will feel sorry for your racket that it was fated to find its way into the hands of a player afraid of the hazards and spoils of war.
When you sing the edge of your blade on the table because you were trying a challenging loop off a handbreaker serve or push, your blade accrues experience points and its mojo points go up as well. When the edge of your rubber gets scraped because you did a heavy push and caught the table the character and hit points on your rubber go up and ultimately you end up with a racket that trusts you more and is willing to work harder for you because it sees its warrior is willing to take risks to win.
You should know when your rubber is dead and it is time to change it, or, you should.
There are two reasons to change rackets: 1) you just want to try something else! 2) you destroyed it!
Short of that, a racket can be used for several decades. I have a friend who is a pro whose main blade is an Avalox/Nittaku P-700 from 1991. His backup is its twin (same blade, same year). And man that thing might as well be Excalibur! The thing is timeless perfection. There is nothing that feels that good.
Now go out and get some good dings on your new racket and tell us if your weapon has given you its full allegiance yet.
Remember, you have to win the allegiance of your weapon. The racket chooses the player.
Sent from Godric'sHollow using the ResurrectionStone