Setup Questions

[Zezima]

Hello everyone,


I am currently playing with:

Blade: Long 5 (200€ version)
FH: G1 2.0mm
BH: Rakza 7 2.0mm
quite tall ~196cm
Playing for 7years now without a coach. Self learning through youtube vids. And training ~4 times a week since 2 weeks now(up from 2).

Watching my videos, I see that I use my FH quite a lot compared to last years. Even against players who have way more RC-Points than me. So thats a good sign actually.
BH Topspins I dont do as much. This Rubber doesnt give me a lot of confidence doing topspins. It´s insane at Blocking though. With my FH a lot of the Topspins I am doing actually comes down to the table. Actually more goes out than into the net. It sometimes makes me not swing as fast as I could be able to because I get scared that it might fly out of the table. I also don´t think there might be a better rubber for me on my fh?

Now to my BH: I like to flick serves with spin (trying to brush the ball) I like to topspin from a backspin ball and follow with another topspin afterward with my elbow up. And currently this rubber makes me only save at blocking. It just feels slow when I try to brush it and my flicks are not very dangerous.

Now I see Dignics are on sale and I heard good things about dignics 09c. That its really good for topspins with bh and also for flicks. Only rubbers from Butterfly that I tried was a very used Tenergy 05 on my bh. It was on a different blade but I remember I had a really good feeling when I brushed it topspinning. Now would the dignics 09c be worth a try? I am already 27 and the money isnt a problem if its gonna strengthen my strokes that I would like to do.

Here are my last League games:

<-- won 3-2

<-- won 3-2

<-- lost 1-3 my best performance even tho I lost

 

[Lazer]

Get a second blade (the same) and try it. Only way to find out...
Dignics 09C will be slower but this is not necessarily a disadvantage.
I went from T05 to Chinese style rubbers on a slower blade than Yours and I am loving it.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[SFF_lib]

I played 09C on BH of my 968. I am a lot smaller than you and I can drive BH with 09C. 09C has a much better grip than R7 - great for top spin and lifting back spin.

09C will feel a little slower than R7 at first. But once you improve your stroke you will feel the wrath of FZD

 

[Migzkulit]

I think he should use D09C on forehand, but not on backhand. I think for you it's too hard, maybe get a rubber that has any sort of tack, even if it doesn't hold the ball, that's within the 50 degree range. You can try D09c on both sides though, not much harm in trying.

 

[Zezima]

I think he should use D09C on forehand, but not on backhand. I think for you it's too hard, maybe get a rubber that has any sort of tack, even if it doesn't hold the ball, that's within the 50 degree range. You can try D09c on both sides though, not much harm in trying.

What makes u think that it might be too high? And why it has to be tacky? Would appreciate some context here so I can understand better your reasoning.

 

[Zezima]

Get a second blade (the same) and try it. Only way to find out...
Dignics 09C will be slower but this is not necessarily a disadvantage.
I went from T05 to Chinese style rubbers on a slower blade than Yours and I am loving it.

Cheers
L-zr

That would be the best but, the blade is expensive, and I am still very unsure if I am gonna stick with this blade for longterm.

 

[Migzkulit]

What makes u think that it might be too high? And why it has to be tacky? Would appreciate some context here so I can understand better your reasoning.

Several things, your forehand is clearly much better compared to your backhand. This affects what kind of rubber you need for backhand. You have an inconsistent swing for backhand, sometimes slow or mostly wrist or a lot of arm. I see that Rakza 7 for you is too catapulty. The point of the tackiness is to slow down the ball when you try to hit.

You need to improve your backhand with a coach to use dignics 09c. You need more consistent power on the backhand to use it properly. You need a slower rubber on backhand, either through more tack or a harder rubber.

Biggest problem is that I can't recommend anything too much for your backhand, only that you should keep using the same rubber because your backhand needs changes if you want to play it more often.
Notice how your practice backhand shots are very different from what you do in your game.

 

[Zezima]

Several things, your forehand is clearly much better compared to your backhand. This affects what kind of rubber you need for backhand. You have an inconsistent swing for backhand, sometimes slow or mostly wrist or a lot of arm. I see that Rakza 7 for you is too catapulty. The point of the tackiness is to slow down the ball when you try to hit.

You need to improve your backhand with a coach to use dignics 09c. You need more consistent power on the backhand to use it properly. You need a slower rubber on backhand, either through more tack or a harder rubber.

Biggest problem is that I can't recommend anything too much for your backhand, only that you should keep using the same rubber because your backhand needs changes if you want to play it more often.
Notice how your practice backhand shots are very different from what you do in your game.

I thought the harder the rubber the faster it is? Because dignics 09c is a very hard rubber. I think in the warmup my backhand loop technique looks really good. In the match sure spin and placement is different but its quite bad as you say. In the training sessions its way better. I can only tell that by how the ball goes over to the other side since I don´t see how I swinged and hit the ball. So what kind of change are you thinking of my backhand in terms of technique? What am I doing wrong. I agree that its not consistent. I don´t have a coach only one better player but they don´t focus on technique as much as I do. So I got only myself and filming and reviewing my games. So I am happy with any feedback I can get to improve my game.

 

[Lazer]

If You'r backhands go mostly long then You might be hitting the ball too close to Your body. Try hitting it a little further out. Then it is more natural to close the racket angle, it doesn't need to be by much.
No a harder rubber is not necessarily faster. Usually though it has a higher speed ceiling, but a softer rubber normally has more catapult in the low power shots. The top speed is higher but You need to put in more power to reach it.

Rakza 7 is very catapulty. You can try to go down in thickness, this will decrease the speed and catapult (but also the spin) and see how it feels.

You see now how good it is to have a spare blade to experiment with...

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Zezima]

If You'r backhands go mostly long then You might be hitting the ball too close to Your body. Try hitting it a little further out. Then it is more natural to close the racket angle, it doesn't need to be by much.
No a harder rubber is not necessarily faster. Usually though it has a higher speed ceiling, but a softer rubber normally has more catapult in the low power shots. The top speed is higher but You need to put in more power to reach it.

Rakza 7 is very catapulty. You can try to go down in thickness, this will decrease the speed and catapult (but also the spin) and see how it feels.

You see now how good it is to have a spare blade to experiment with...

Cheers
L-zr

No my FH not my BH. It usually happens vs empty balls and when I go in with a flat angle - I guess I have to brush the ball more still. Or when I think it has lots of backspin because opp did a push motion but the ball had not much backspin at all and I would do too much up motion.

Other than that I am quite happy with my FH for now atleast. I can attack a lot and don´t do too many mistakes I think. Will be working more on brushing (faster aswell) and placement next. Would it be a good idea to go max thickness up from 2.0mm here? That would be in about 3-4months from now on (I just got a new sheet on). Maybe it helps with brushing more if there is a thicker rubber on my FH but thats just my theory.

On my BH I want to focus more on brushing and generating spin. And even when I receive the serves with a flick I want to add spin into the ball. I just remember on my old blade (Donic waldner diablo senso) I had this very used Tenergy 05 on my BH and when I did a full stroke it was so effective and it made me think that the faster I loop the more controlled it feels. I know its a different rubber also it was on a different blade.
I always wanted a very spinny BH so I force my opp to block the next ball and then attack the next balls with my FH. But right now I need to put my all for them to give me a bad block. Seems very easy to block for them.

 

[Topspinslinger]

You can try out a wider stance, you'll get a lot more power. I see you are giving large amount of variation in the depth of the ball, but most balls that you loop safely land close to the table. These do get blocked and counter more. Overall i wouldn't recommend Dignics, but you can just try it and see for yourself.

 

[Zezima]

I see you are giving large amount of variation in the depth of the ball, but most balls that you loop safely land close to the table.
Can you give me an example what you mean by this? Sounds to me like: You loop placing the ball around the white line but you end up looping too short so they block and counter? Either I do it or don't do it kinda confused here.

I will stick to my current setup and maybe go for max thickness on both sides next time I have to renew rubbers so in about 4months.

 

[ck1407]

I see you are giving large amount of variation in the depth of the ball, but most balls that you loop safely land close to the table.
Can you give me an example what you mean by this? Sounds to me like: You loop placing the ball around the white line but you end up looping too short so they block and counter? Either I do it or don't do it kinda confused here.

I will stick to my current setup and maybe go for max thickness on both sides next time I have to renew rubbers so in about 4months.

You can also swap sides during training and see if you like G-1 on your bh. G-1 feels more controlled compared to rakza7 since G-1 has less catapult effect during low powered shots. When you choose to put more power in your bh shot, G-1 will deliver good quality too


Based on your videos, I won't suggest you going for rubbers that are a lot harder than your current rubbers should you choose to change rubbers. Your playstyle seems to lean towards controlled aggression since most shots you won in your matches are done with good spin during topspin exchanges.
You can focus on which rubbers provide you with good feeling/feedback when playing. This helps you identify what rubbers gives confidence in your strokes so you can still perform under pressure.

 

[ben1229]

You're improve alot since your last videos posted. Keep going!

 

[Zezima]

You can also swap sides during training and see if you like G-1 on your bh. G-1 feels more controlled compared to rakza7 since G-1 has less catapult effect during low powered shots. When you choose to put more power in your bh shot, G-1 will deliver good quality too


Based on your videos, I won't suggest you going for rubbers that are a lot harder than your current rubbers should you choose to change rubbers. Your playstyle seems to lean towards controlled aggression since most shots you won in your matches are done with good spin during topspin exchanges.
You can focus on which rubbers provide you with good feeling/feedback when playing. This helps you identify what rubbers gives confidence in your strokes so you can still perform under pressure.

are both sides the same for my long 5 blade? I never tried it out but appearently there are blades that feel different if you change the sides. So FH is where the logo is.

True I will not go for any hard to play rubbers and first get a consistent technique down. You also described my game pretty well. Kind of blocking a lot with my bh pivoting a lot so I can use my FH but only against a passive shot from my opp. Either stop his aggression with a good block (which happened in that game where I lost quite a lot) and then Attack 2nd Attack I try to go for placement. This should change so I can do controlled opening with my bh and also overall pressure more with my bh and not just push a weak push from my opp back.

Right now I have this whipping going on with my BH which you need but the whip itself is not a consistent motion if that makes sense. It´s a bit too loose and that makes me miss a lot of the balls aswell I think.

What about the rubber thickness? Is it a big change if I go for max instead of staying at 2.0mm?

 

[Zezima]

You're improve alot since your last videos posted. Keep going!

Thank you still a lot of work to do. What vids did you compare it to?

 

[backspacer]

Since you are from Germany and you don't get regular discounts here on Butterfly stuff, just get the Dignics while it's on sale.

 

[WingTT]

The Long 5 and Hurricane 3 was made for each other on the FH. It is not very expensive to try it out unless you go for the National versions. The Hurricane should allow you to attack with more confidence. If you got a good Long 5, you can hit very hard and the ball will feel like it magically goes in due to the spin and deep hold. If you spend a bit more for the provincial version you don't even need to boost as it is faster than the commercial.

 

[ben1229]

Thank you still a lot of work to do. What vids did you compare it to?

I thinks it's the first video you Post on the forum

 

[ck1407]

are both sides the same for my long 5 blade? I never tried it out but appearently there are blades that feel different if you change the sides. So FH is where the logo is.

True I will not go for any hard to play rubbers and first get a consistent technique down. You also described my game pretty well. Kind of blocking a lot with my bh pivoting a lot so I can use my FH but only against a passive shot from my opp. Either stop his aggression with a good block (which happened in that game where I lost quite a lot) and then Attack 2nd Attack I try to go for placement. This should change so I can do controlled opening with my bh and also overall pressure more with my bh and not just push a weak push from my opp back.

Right now I have this whipping going on with my BH which you need but the whip itself is not a consistent motion if that makes sense. It´s a bit too loose and that makes me miss a lot of the balls aswell I think.

What about the rubber thickness? Is it a big change if I go for max instead of staying at 2.0mm?

I only have experience with G-1 2.0mm so I don't know the exact details of how the 2 are different.

But I think a safe guideline in the decision of thickness will be if you feel that you are confident with your control, the MAX version should be fine as you will be rewarded with shots with more power.