I could not resist this.
Best: well, what one person feels is best is different from what another person will feel is best. So the answers you will get will have to actually reflect more the range of tastes of what different people like.
So, perhaps rokphish’s answer is the ideal one. Which one? Mine! All 900 of them! [emoji2]
But, despite this, it is also worth knowing that the TT EJ Myth that certain blades work better with certain rubbers just isn’t true. The blade does what it does. The rubbers do what they do.
When someone tries a setup and likes it or doesn’t like it, that experience will be influenced by what the player is already using.
I will give you some examples:
1) If you were using a very slow setup, like Stiga Allround Classic with Sriver, and then you tried a Viscaria with Tenergy, it would feel CRAZY FAST. But Allround Classic + Sriver would feel a normal speed.
2) If you then played with Viscaria + Tenergy for 6 months to a year and tried the Allround Classic + Sriver, you would think it outrageously slow. Even though a year ago it felt the right speed.
3) If you were used to H3 and tried Tenergy, you would probably think it was too bouncy and you felt the vibrations of the blade too much on contact.
4) If you were used to Tenergy and tried H3 you would probably think it felt, slow, dead and that the feeling was muted.
Sometimes you feel a pair of rubbers on one blade and then you feel them on another blade and they feel different. However, they still do the same things they do. The topsheet still grabs in the same way. The sponge still responds in the same way. The setup just feels different than you expected.
If you at first thought that was no good but then played with the setup for several months, and then went back to the old setup, it would likely feel different than you were expecting. And perhaps not as good as you thought it would.
I used to work in this yoga studio that had Hot Yoga. People would walk into the lobby from outside and invariably say, “it’s hot in here.” They would go into the heated yoga room to take the class, and they would say, “it’s hot in here.” After the class They would go out of the yoga room and into the lobby and say, “It’s COLD out here!!!!”
Now, was it hot in the lobby? Or was it cold? Why did they first feel it was hot and later feel it was cold? The temperature in the lobby did not change; But their experience of the temperature did change.
Chinese rubbers work on all blades. And there are many different kinds of “Chinese” rubbers. Which blade will you like best? Which kind of Chinese rubbers would work best for you? The kind that are made to play like spring sponge rubbers? Or semi-tacky? Tacky? Hard sponge? What kinds of blades do you like? All wood? Carbon? Faster? Slower? Harder outer plies? Soft outer plies? Sooooo many variables.
The answers to these questions all come down to personal preference and there really is no such thing as best when it comes to personal taste.
Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy