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Hello everyone! I'm Matteo, I'm from Italy. I have been a silent reader on this forum (and all table-tennis related forums that I can read) for quite a long time. What better way to introduce myself than by telling you about my EJ journey.
A little bit of a background first : I started playing at age 15, and I was absolutely hooked right from the get go, trained more and more seriously in a good club in Italy and got to a decent level (playing in the 4th national league, around 2200 U.S. level give or take) by age 22-23. I then went to live abroad, Melbourne in Australia for a year, then Bangkok in Thailand another year, then Madrid, a parenthesis in Lisbon and back to Madrid, where I have lived for the last 8 years. I am 36 y.o. now.
In all of these places, the first thing I would look for on arrival was a club to play, and occasionally coach as well, and I was always fortunate enough to not only find a place to play table-tennis but also tons of new friends who would immerse me in the local culture.
But back to the topic: once in Madrid, work and life got in the way and I went for a 5 year stint without playing ping-pong. But we all know it: ping-pong will always find a way back to our life.
This is the story of my return to it, told by the many rackets and rubbers used in these three years.
The return (2022-2023): Clipper and then Infinity VPS with Evolution MX-P and Evolution EL-P
The return started gradually, a couple of training sessions a week. The rackets were the same I had left with, and the rubbers the same old trusted ones that I had used for many many years.
I'm not a fool, I wisely and knowingly told myself, there is no point in changing what worked for so long: I was never an EJ, I certainly was not going to start now!! After all, what counts, we all know it deep inside, is the hand holding the racket. And the arm speed. And engaging the core when we forehand topspin. And the legs taking us to the ball. And the brain not playing games during competition. We get it, we get it, table tennis is such an awesome and multi-faceted sport Matteo, go on with your story, we are here for the material!
My level had not dropped too hard, I could still play at a national level, and I could blame that level difference on the break and on training only a little.
The beginning of the fall (January - June 2024):NITTAKU ACOUSTIC INNER with Tenergy 05 and Tenergy 05fx, then Primorac Carbon with Evolution MK-PRO and Evolution EL-P
A change of job allowed me to finally go back to my real sport-love seriously, I could now train 4-5 times a week, and I went back to coaching amateurs and kids as well.
A couple of months was all I needed to go back to my old glorious level wasn’t it? Why was I not returning to it? “It can’t be that long,” I thought. “it must be this new plastic ball, I can’t give the same vicious spin I used to give.” I thought it wise then to try something fast but with feeling, something I have never ever tried before neither wood nor the rubbers. I got the Acoustic inner with the two Tenergy. I resisted for maybe a month with it. Awful, felt incredibly soft, I bottomed out the rubbers every two seconds. I just thoroughly hated it.
“I remember a glorious year I played in B2 in Italy with a Schlager off+, yes that must be it, I’m training a lot now, I’m sure I can handle it, I’ll get one!” The Schlager off+ is not in production anymore, so I took the closest thing to it, Primorac Carbon.
Disastrous. Catastrophic.
Three months of me training and waiting to get a feel for it. They ended with a resounding defeat in the last tournament of the season with a player I had never lost a set with. Angry with the table-tennis Gods, I vouched never to touch that blade anymore.
The dark side (June 2024 - February 2025): TIBHAR STRATUS DEFENSE, TIBHAR MK PRO and BUTTERFLY FEINT LONG III
Deeply disturbed by the 3 months Primorac stint, a change was needed. “I have always had a fascination for modern defenders. I’ll learn that, and going back to learning something from scratch (please notice at my best, I am a very aggressive left-handed attacker) will fill me with joy and motivation”.
FUN. It was, I can’t deny it, extremely fun. My level stayed the same as it was at the end of the season before (because I could still win matches with service and forehand). As fun as learning backhand chopping was, I feel that after months of it, it gave me back a feeling for my very spinny forehand.
But my nature didn’t change. When there were pivotal points in a match, I was all-out attack. Serve, pivot, bomb. It was time to leave this very fun journey and go back to my real ping-pong self.
The Renaissance (February - now): TIBHAR STRATUS POWERWOOD OFF-, TIBHAR MK PRO and TIBHAR MK PRO then DHS LONG 5 with K3 AND MK PRO. I recently changed the K3 on forehand with the Bluegrip J1.
Back to an all-wood, after 2-3 weeks of settling back into my game, I started having a GOOD feeling again. Results were getting a bit better, as was my game. But the wood felt a bit chunky in my hand and it was INCREDIBLY HEAVY (I think I got the heaviest Powerwood ever). My forehand and backhand technique were finally stable again. I was close.
No outer carbon for me, I learned the hard way. I got a second hand DHS LONG 5 and I am finally in love. Exquisite, much lighter than the powerwood I had, a bit head-heavy (which I like), very nice touch on the table and packs a punch when swung seriously.
MK pro on the backhand feels absolutely perfect.
K3 on the forehand felt great too, but I didn’t like that it had such little durability. I have the new Bluegrip J1 now, and it feels even greater than the K3.
It’s the end of my story. EJing did not help me get back to my level, two years of training almost every day did. But it was FUN.
A little bit of a background first : I started playing at age 15, and I was absolutely hooked right from the get go, trained more and more seriously in a good club in Italy and got to a decent level (playing in the 4th national league, around 2200 U.S. level give or take) by age 22-23. I then went to live abroad, Melbourne in Australia for a year, then Bangkok in Thailand another year, then Madrid, a parenthesis in Lisbon and back to Madrid, where I have lived for the last 8 years. I am 36 y.o. now.
In all of these places, the first thing I would look for on arrival was a club to play, and occasionally coach as well, and I was always fortunate enough to not only find a place to play table-tennis but also tons of new friends who would immerse me in the local culture.
But back to the topic: once in Madrid, work and life got in the way and I went for a 5 year stint without playing ping-pong. But we all know it: ping-pong will always find a way back to our life.
This is the story of my return to it, told by the many rackets and rubbers used in these three years.
The return (2022-2023): Clipper and then Infinity VPS with Evolution MX-P and Evolution EL-P
The return started gradually, a couple of training sessions a week. The rackets were the same I had left with, and the rubbers the same old trusted ones that I had used for many many years.
I'm not a fool, I wisely and knowingly told myself, there is no point in changing what worked for so long: I was never an EJ, I certainly was not going to start now!! After all, what counts, we all know it deep inside, is the hand holding the racket. And the arm speed. And engaging the core when we forehand topspin. And the legs taking us to the ball. And the brain not playing games during competition. We get it, we get it, table tennis is such an awesome and multi-faceted sport Matteo, go on with your story, we are here for the material!
My level had not dropped too hard, I could still play at a national level, and I could blame that level difference on the break and on training only a little.
The beginning of the fall (January - June 2024):NITTAKU ACOUSTIC INNER with Tenergy 05 and Tenergy 05fx, then Primorac Carbon with Evolution MK-PRO and Evolution EL-P
A change of job allowed me to finally go back to my real sport-love seriously, I could now train 4-5 times a week, and I went back to coaching amateurs and kids as well.
A couple of months was all I needed to go back to my old glorious level wasn’t it? Why was I not returning to it? “It can’t be that long,” I thought. “it must be this new plastic ball, I can’t give the same vicious spin I used to give.” I thought it wise then to try something fast but with feeling, something I have never ever tried before neither wood nor the rubbers. I got the Acoustic inner with the two Tenergy. I resisted for maybe a month with it. Awful, felt incredibly soft, I bottomed out the rubbers every two seconds. I just thoroughly hated it.
“I remember a glorious year I played in B2 in Italy with a Schlager off+, yes that must be it, I’m training a lot now, I’m sure I can handle it, I’ll get one!” The Schlager off+ is not in production anymore, so I took the closest thing to it, Primorac Carbon.
Disastrous. Catastrophic.
Three months of me training and waiting to get a feel for it. They ended with a resounding defeat in the last tournament of the season with a player I had never lost a set with. Angry with the table-tennis Gods, I vouched never to touch that blade anymore.
The dark side (June 2024 - February 2025): TIBHAR STRATUS DEFENSE, TIBHAR MK PRO and BUTTERFLY FEINT LONG III
Deeply disturbed by the 3 months Primorac stint, a change was needed. “I have always had a fascination for modern defenders. I’ll learn that, and going back to learning something from scratch (please notice at my best, I am a very aggressive left-handed attacker) will fill me with joy and motivation”.
FUN. It was, I can’t deny it, extremely fun. My level stayed the same as it was at the end of the season before (because I could still win matches with service and forehand). As fun as learning backhand chopping was, I feel that after months of it, it gave me back a feeling for my very spinny forehand.
But my nature didn’t change. When there were pivotal points in a match, I was all-out attack. Serve, pivot, bomb. It was time to leave this very fun journey and go back to my real ping-pong self.
The Renaissance (February - now): TIBHAR STRATUS POWERWOOD OFF-, TIBHAR MK PRO and TIBHAR MK PRO then DHS LONG 5 with K3 AND MK PRO. I recently changed the K3 on forehand with the Bluegrip J1.
Back to an all-wood, after 2-3 weeks of settling back into my game, I started having a GOOD feeling again. Results were getting a bit better, as was my game. But the wood felt a bit chunky in my hand and it was INCREDIBLY HEAVY (I think I got the heaviest Powerwood ever). My forehand and backhand technique were finally stable again. I was close.
No outer carbon for me, I learned the hard way. I got a second hand DHS LONG 5 and I am finally in love. Exquisite, much lighter than the powerwood I had, a bit head-heavy (which I like), very nice touch on the table and packs a punch when swung seriously.
MK pro on the backhand feels absolutely perfect.
K3 on the forehand felt great too, but I didn’t like that it had such little durability. I have the new Bluegrip J1 now, and it feels even greater than the K3.
It’s the end of my story. EJing did not help me get back to my level, two years of training almost every day did. But it was FUN.
