London Worlds: Some Important Equipment Reflections, Part 2
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Players’ own views on gear also waver. For example, Kanak Jha, who recently said the Boll ALC is softer, switched his bat from the Super Vis to the Boll ALC then. At this Worlds, he went back to the Super Vis, probably feeling the Super Vis’s ball quality is heavier. Sometimes you just want better control; sometimes you just want more power. Nothing is perfect, so you waver. Franziska is about the same. So his rubbers D05, D09c, Z03 are swapped frequently on both wings. There really is no perfect answer; it only depends on how you answer it.
But there are two types here. One, like Qiu Dang, feels the blade and rubber should stay as unchanged as possible, so his feel gets better and better. The other, like Koki Niwa and Falck, feels different halls need different blades. Even the once-honest Fan Zhendong now occasionally switches to D09c on both sides, by the changes in match tables and balls. It is hard to say which answer is most correct. Pros’ views are just one view. Behind it, they have their thinking at that moment, and that is all. Past that moment, the view may differ again. So ultimately, you still have to ask yourself.
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What exactly does “thickness” mean? Speaking of the match lost to Liang Jingkun, Tomokazu Harimoto said speed was his advantage, but in toughness and thickness, Liang Jingkun was stronger. “Thickness,” simply put, is not erring. Of course, thickness surely refers more to technique. But if we add equipment, the answer is the one I gave before, which players ask me: why are the blades I design now on the softer side? Because, by the current trend, the god-blade suiting most people is still “soft yet powerful.” Soft lets you better make temporary adjustments and not err easily — that itself is a kind of “thickness.” After all, a match differs from everyday play: you must first land the ball and have better maneuvering ability. Blade design is just trying to achieve few errors and power at once. This is very hard, but all are striving for a balance point.
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Adaptability to gear. I have seen several friends who used T05 on the forehand; after switching to D09c, they felt slower. But the threat to the opponent may be about the same. T05 is springier, but its second bounce is flatter, so the opponent backs off and defends easily. D09c is slower, but the arc is better, and you can hit the second bounce more penetratingly. Including many players who switched from T05 or D05 to D09c — Ovtcharov, Cheng I-Ching reported this too. Though ball speed slowed, they could more actively add spin and quality.
I think one thing is essentially key: most of us have adaptability to gear. As long as it is a good thing, you can ultimately adapt — it just takes time, and whether you have patience. Look at Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun, Chen Xingtong, who played Vis structures and later played the 968. After adapting, there is no problem. We may just be bound by habit, or follow our inner feeling, sticking to one type of blade or rubber. That is no problem either — as long as you like it. But know that gear’s real impact is not that big, especially the blade. Relatively, rubber’s impact is bigger than the blade’s. For the blade, the current demands are decent ball-holding (deformation tension), stability, decent support — about that is enough. Look at Szocs’s seven-ply all-wood, Kedun’s Nailiwen — these are not especially outstanding blades, or the blade-making demands are not high, but paired with suitable rubber, they can play thrivingly. Rubber is clearly more important — ball-holding ability, spin ability, explosive speed, give-and-take and support are all needed. It is just that brands’ rubbers now, especially German rubbers, are basically ESN products. The new models’ effects are actually about the same.