Five Big Equipment Shifts Among Amateur Experts Over the Past Five Years
I sorted out the equipment changes over the past five years among the city’s best players, including amateur A-level experts and pros. Their latest gear info, I have placed as today’s second item. The following five changes are the most obvious.
1
Keyword: D09c. Stretching the timeline longer, they at first just wanted to replace the forehand Hurricane 3. But tacky tensors then were not outstanding. They could only set their eyes on tensors. At the time, 5 people used Tibhar’s 1Q on the forehand, and several others used Blue Fire M1. Later, Butterfly’s D05 came out, and many switched to D05. These tensors basically met the ball-grip demand. Later still, more chose the slightly-tacky D09c. Over the past five years, at least 11 of the city’s A-level experts switched their forehand to D09c, including pros. A few also used the Hurricane ZGX and K2 Pro. They say these two have more punch.
2
Keyword: super-fiber. This means SZLC or SALC. Over the past five years, 5 experts switched from the original Taksim or Viscaria to the Super Zhang Jike. 2 inner-blade users picked up the Super Lin Yun-Ju. 2 non-Butterfly users picked up the Fan Zhendong SZLC. 3 embraced the Harimoto SZLC. 2 shakehand experts who played the Vis switched to SALC, the Super Vis or Fan Zhendong SALC. After switching to super-fiber blades, some said faster (good for blocking), some said more power, more able to rip the opponent dead. Those choosing SALC over SZLC said SZLC is still too hard, uncontrollable. Among them, the 3 using the Harimoto SZLC all have very powerful backhands.
3
Keyword: backhand tacky rubber. 5 switched their backhand tensor to 37-soft Hurricane 3, and many of them said the ordinary 37-soft and the provincial-team version sometimes play about the same. Another 5 switched their backhand from a tensor to Butterfly’s D09c. These players happened to have fairly strong backhand defense to begin with.
4
Keyword: 968. Over the past 5 years, at least 6 switched their blade to the W968, including penhold and shakehand. 4 originally played inner blades. Some of them said the backhand grips the ball more stably than before too. Maybe 6 is not many. But if you look again at the young ones, those quasi-A-level players about to enter A-level, many also picked up the custom 968. Then you know this wave is still continuing.
5
Keyword: harder. Harder means not just many blades switching to SZLC and SALC, the thicker and harder-springy fiber. It also includes the experts’ rubber hardness rising. Many who used soft German rubber on the backhand raised the hardness, switching to T05, T80, Glayzer, D05, or the slightly-tacky D09c. On the other hand, many also raised forehand hardness, with more and more trying NEO Hurricane 41 degrees. One reason: a higher hardness keeps the solid feel after boosting. I hope the experts’ gear changes give everyone a reference. Springier, harder, faster affects not just pros — in the amateur realm, the influence is subtle too.